[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 177 (Wednesday, December 2, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Page S12153]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      60TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE VOICE OF AMERICA'S UKRAINIAN SERVICE

  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, for six decades the Voice of America's, 
VOA, Ukrainian-language service has been providing an invaluable 
service through its consistent broadcasting of factual and 
comprehensive news and information to the people of Ukraine.
  During the first four decades of its existence, the Ukrainian service 
reached a Ukrainian population starving for information under an 
extremely strictly controlled, propagandistic Soviet media environment. 
Ukrainians went to great lengths and some risks to overcome Soviet 
censorship, which included the jamming of VOA and other shortwave 
international broadcasting.
  During the Cold War VOA Ukrainian provided its listeners with 
uncensored news about such monumental events as the Hungarian 
Revolution, the Prague Spring, rise of Solidarity, and the fall of the 
Berlin Wall. A variety of shows worked to open the outside world to 
Ukrainian listeners, including a Popular Music Show, a Youth Show, and 
the long running series Democracy in Action, which was about how 
democracy works in the United States.
  The Ukrainian service also focused on developments within Ukraine 
itself. VOA broadcasts about Soviet human rights violations in Ukraine, 
including its coverage of activities of the Helsinki process and the 
Helsinki Commission, gave sustenance to Helsinki Monitors and other 
Ukrainian human rights activists, especially those languishing in the 
gulag for daring to call upon the Soviet government to live up to its 
Helsinki Final Act obligations. They knew that they were not forgotten. 
Furthermore, the Ukrainian service also provided objective information 
about the Chornobyl nuclear disaster and the development of Ukraine's 
movement for democracy and independence, culminating in the December 1, 
1991, referendum in Ukraine in which an overwhelming majority of 
Ukrainians voted for the restoration of their nation's independence.
  For nearly two decades since, VOA's Ukrainian service has continued 
to fill an important role in Ukraine's evolving democracy. VOA reported 
on the challenges that Ukraine faced and on the U.S.'s considerable 
support and assistance for Ukraine, including in the dismantling of the 
nuclear arsenal it inherited from the Soviet Union. During the Orange 
Revolution, VOA Ukrainian helped to reassure millions of Ukrainians 
that the international community would not sanction electoral fraud.
  As Ukraine has evolved, so has the Ukrainian Service. While no longer 
broadcasting on radio as it did for most of its 60 years, it reaches 
more Ukrainians than ever with daily broadcasts over Ukrainian 
television--something unthinkable during Soviet rule--and reporting on 
its website. It continues to report on what is happening in Ukraine, 
but also it continues to cover every aspect of American life and 
society. As Chairman of the Helsinki Commission, I commend the ongoing 
role of VOA's Ukrainian service in helping Ukraine fulfill its 
aspirations in becoming a more fully democratic, independent, and 
secure.

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