An Association of Ukrainian-American Professionals
TWG REVITALIZED – NEW TWG BOARD OF DIRECTORS ELECTED – Laryssa Courtney new TWG President
On November 20, 2022 a provisional TWG Board of Directors was elected. It was tasked to revitalize TWG and prepare a TWG Annual Meeting for February 2024 to be fully compliant with TWG by-laws. The new TWG Board of Directors consists of: Laryssa Courtney, President; George Masiuk, Vice-President; George Hnatiw, Treasurer; Tania Chomiak-Salvi, Secretary; George Masiuk, acting Membership Director; Michael Drabyk, Public Relations Director; Alexa Chopivsky, Events Director; Andrew Bihun, Immediate Past President; Laryssa Courtney and Christine Lucyk, TWG Cultural Fund Co-Directors; Adrian Karmazyn, TWG Fellowship Fund Director; Members-at-Large – Arthur Belendiuk, Orest Deychakiwsky, Natalie Korytnyk, Lydia Martinec, Rosalie Norair, Oksana Shulyar.
Please take a look at our recent and past accomplishments by clicking through the slide show below.
6/26/2023 “Sacred Land: Music and Poems of Resilience from Ukraine” – Ensemble Cherubim – Marika Kuzma Director – John Paul II National Shrine
6/26/2023 “Sacred Land: Music and Poems of Resilience from Ukraine” – Ensemble Cherubim – Manu Kumasi reciting Taras Shevchenko’s “Zapovit”- John Paul II National Shrine
6/26/2023 “Sacred Land: Music and Poems of Resilience from Ukraine” – Ensemble Cherubim – Rev. Mark Morozowich reciting poem “Singing Underground”- John Paul II National Shrine
6/26/2023 “Sacred Land: Music and Poems of Resilience from Ukraine” – Ensemble Cherubim – Marika Kuzma Director – John Paul II National Shrine
3/16/2023 Ukraine Benefit Concert “This Ukrainian American Life” artists contralto Vira Slywotzky and pianist/composer Dina Pruzhansky
3/16/2023 Ukraine Benefit Concert “This Ukrainian American Life” – TWG President Laryssa Courtney presents 17thC Map of Ukraine by French cartographer Guillaume de Beauplan to Embassy of France DCM Aurelie Bonal.
3/16/2023 Ukraine Benefit Concert “This Ukrainian American Life” – Deputy Chief of Mission of the Embassy of Ukraine, Yaroslav Brisiuck, greets audience.
3/16/2023 Ukraine Benefit Concert “This Ukrainian American Life” – Audience
3/16/2023 Ukraine Benefit Concert “This Ukrainian American Life” – Estonian Ambassador Kristian Prikk and wife Liis congratulate singer Vira Slywotzky
3/16/2023 Ukraine Benefit Concert “This Ukrainian American Life” – Estonian Ambassador Kristian Prikk and wife Liis at post concert reception with Ukrainian DCM Yaroslav Brisiuck.
11/10/2019 Alexandria Lyceum: SpivZhuttya – Left side of photo – L-R: Yaromyr Oryshkevych, Ryan Mulvey, Olenka Dobczanska, Xenia Jowyk, Halyna Breslawec, Andrew Bihun, Jurij Dobczansky
11/10/2019 Lyceum: SpivZhuttya – Right side of photo – L-R: Natalia Nikolenko, Lesia Bihun, Michael Hoobchaak, Oksana Lassowsky, Larisa Pastuchiv, Lesya Brannman, Victor Morozov
5/19/2019 Lyceum: TWGCF 25th Anniversary: pianist R. Timothy McReynolds and soprano Stefania Dovhan
5/19/2019 Lyceum: TWGCF 25th Anniversary – TWGCF Co-Director L. Courtney, Y. Bihun, soprano Stefania Dovhan, R. Norair, S. Sonevytsky, TWGCF Co-Director C. Lucyk
3/17/2019 Lyceum: Shelest Duo – Anna and Dmytro Shelest
6/5/2015 Embassy of Ukraine: soprano Sofia Soloviy and pianist Elia Andrea Corazzo
3/28/2014 Embassy of Ukraine: Shevchenko in English Translation – presentation by author Peter Fedynsky
1/1/2015 Lyceum: singer Vira Slywotzky and pianist George Shevtsov
11/13/2013 Lyceum: violinists Marc Bouchkov and Zino Bogachek and Natalia Bogachek
3/24/2013 Lyceum: Tribute to Bohdanna Filts – violinist Ivanna Husar, pianist Oksana Skidan, soprano Oksana Krovytska, composer Bohdanna Filts, TWGCF Director Svitlana Shiells, and flautist Andrei Pidkivka
2/13/2013 Lyceum: soprano Oksana Krovytska, pianist Douglas Martin, and violinist Ko Sugiyama
4/10/2011 Westmoreland Church: Exec Dir of Washington Conservatory Kathy Judd, pianist Alexej Gorlatch, NN, Laryssa Courtney; Reception Hosts Jane and Hon. Charles Erwin
5/2/10 Lyceum: pianist Thomas Hrynkiw and cellist Nestor Cybriwsky
3/14/2010 Lyceum: violinist Oleh Krysa and pianist Tatiana Tchekina
4/6/2003 Lyceum: Laryssa Courtney, Bass Stepan Szkafarowsky, NN
3/9/2003 Lyceum: Leontovych Quartet with pianist Tetiana Tchekina – Borys Deviatov, Vladimir Panteleyev, Jassen Todorov, Tatiana Tchekina, Oleh Krysa
11/3/2002 Lyceum: Harmonia Concert – Jozef Janis (violin), Alexander Fedoriok (cimbalom), Beata Salak (vocalist), Andrei Pidkivka (flute)
3/24/2002 Lyceum: Horowitz Competition Winners – Kyrylo Keduk, Mariya Kim, Dmytro Onishchenko
3/14/2002 Embassy of Ukraine: Politics of Looted Art – Konstantin Akinsha, Patricia Grimsted
10/21/2001 Leadership Conference: Rev. Gudziak
10/20/2001 Leadership Conference: Yara Zubalskyj, Maria Pryshlak, Rev. Borys Gudziak, Modern Art Collector Olga Hirshhorn
10/20/2001 Leadership Conference: Alexandra Hrycak, Vera Andrushkiw, Robert de Lossa, Iryna Kurowycky, George Masiuk, Amy Heyden
10/20/2001 Leadership Conference: The Hon. Borys Tarasyuk
10/20/2001 Leadership Conference: Ukraine Ambassador Kostyantyn Gryschenko, Ihor Kotlarchuk, Nadia Diuk, Slovak Amb. Martin Butora, Hungarian Amb. Geza Jeszenszky, George Masiuk, Bulgarian Amb. Philip Dmitrov
10/20/2001 Leadership Conference: TWG President Ihor Kotlarchuk, General Nicholas Krawciw
10/20/2001 Leadership Conference Reception: Former Foreign Minister Borys Tarasiuk, Former U.S. Ambassador William Miller, Ukrainian Ambassador Kostyantyn Gryschenko
10/7/2000 Leadership Conference: NDI Katie Fox, IRI Judy van Rest, Helsinki Commission Orest Deychakiwsky, Assistance Programs Coordinator Amb. William Taylor
10/7/2000 Leadership Conference: Former Director International Management Institute Andrij Masiuk, RAND Corporation Analyst Roman Solchanyk, Senior Advisor IMF Oleh Havrylyshyn
10/7/2000 Leadership Conference: U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Carlos Pascual
10/7/2000 Leadership Conference: TWG Cultural Fund Committee – Larysa Kurylas, Daria Stec, Nadia Diuk, Laryssa Courtney, Rosalie Norair, Marta Zielyk
10/3/2000 Rosslyn Spectrum: Benefit Concert – Zenoviy Bogachek, Laryssa Courtney, Volodymyr Vynnytsky, Igor Leshchishin, Elizabeth Davis, Bob Odmark, Greg Drone, Chrystia Sonevytsky, Uri Wassertzug, Joan Hurley
6/22/2000 Library of Congress’s Coolidge Auditorium: (L to R): Bach in Kyiv – TWGCF Director Laryssa Chopivsky, Amb. William Green Miller, Larysa Kurylas, researchers and speakers Christoph Wolff and Patricia K. Grimsted, Jurij Dobczansky of the LCPA Ukrainian Language Table, and Ruth Foss of the Music Division
2/23/2000 Chevy Chase Women’s Club: Laryssa Courtney, violinist Solomiya Soroka, Amb William Miller, Suzanne Miller
12/2/99 TWG Cultural Fund Icon Exhibit: Katya Bowers, Lydia Piaseckyj, Ivan Mitsyk, Christina Dochwat, TWGCF Director Laryssa Chopivsky, Yevhen Prokopov, Vera Senchuk, Victoria Varvariv
6/27/99 Crystal City Hyatt Regency: Joint Conferences – Vocal Ensemble Pikardiyska Tertsia from Lviv
6/26/99 Joint Conferences: Amb. William Miller, Judge Bohdan Futey
6/26/99 Joint Conferences: Ukrainian Broadcast Network Executive Ihor Dlaboha, Ambassador-at-Large for Newly Independent States Steve Sestanovich, Amb. Anton Buteyko, Conference Organizer Dr. Roman Goy
6/26/99 Joint Conferences – UABA: Lawyer, Banker, Philanthropist President of Ukrainian American Heritage Foundation Julian Kulas
6/26/99 Joint Conferences: Director of Security Services of Ukraine Leonid Derkach and Congressman Don Bonker
6/26/99 Leadership Conference: Former U.S. Ambassador William Miller, National Endowment for Democracy Nadia Diuk, National Security Council John Tedstrom, Carnegie Endowment Sherman Garnett
6/26/99 Leadership Conference: President International Academy of Astronautics Michael Yarymovych
6/26/98 Amb. Stephen Pifer and International Research and Exchange Board (IREX) President Daniel Matuszewski
6/26/98 TWG & IREX hosting Amb. Stephen Pifer, TWG President Orest Deychakiwsky
3/23/98 Presentation of Honorary Membership Award to Amb. William Miller, TWG President George Masiuk
12/20/97 White House: Kyiv Chamber Choir
10/11/97 Leadership Conference: Amb. William Courtney and George Masiuk
10/12/96 Leadership Conference Banquet: TWG’s Friend of Ukraine Award recipient Hobart Earle with his parents and sister and TWGCF Director Laryssa Chopivsky
10/11/97 Leadership Conference: Roma Hayda, Bohdan Vitvitsky, Myron Kuropas, Bohdan Watral, Rev. Stefan Zencuch
7/23/97 Embassy Reception for Ukrainian Journalists
3/21/97 Director State Department Office of Ukrainian, Belorusian, and Moldovan Affairs Jack Segal
2/15/97 Annual Meeting: Mike Drabyk, Yaro Bihun, Marta Zielyk, Roman Stelmach, George Masiuk, Laryssa Chopivsky, John Kun, Orysia Pylyshenko, Orest Deychakiwsky, Sonia Melnyk, Anya Silecky
10/12/96 Leadership Conference: Interpreter George Sajewych and Ukrainian Supreme Court Justice Olexander Volkov
10/12/96 Former UN Ambassador and Dole Campaign Representative Jeanne Kirkpatrick flanked by PR Director Jane Kunka and TWG President George Masiuk
10/11/96 Leadership Conference Reception: Director Central Intelligence John Deutch, TWG President George Masiuk
10/11/96 Leadership Conference Reception: Director of Central Intelligence John Deutch, unknown, Maria Shcherbak, Russian Ambassador Juli Vorontsov
10/11/96 Leadership Conference Reception: Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott, Assistant to President and Chief of Staff to the First Lady Melanne Verveer, Ukrainian Embassy Official
10/11/96 Leadership Conference Reception: Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott
1/19/96 Washington Post Correspondent James Rupert
1/19/96 Washington Post Correspondent James Rupert with Bohdan Kantor and George Sajewych in back
10/8/95 Leadership Conference: Pianist John Stetch and TWGCF Director Laryssa Chopivsky
10/8/95 Leadership Conference: TWG President George Masiuk and Ukrainian Ambassador Yuriy Shcherbak
10/7/95 Leadership Conference: Historian Orest Subtelny, International Management Institute Director Andrew Masiuk, TWG President George Masiuk
10/7/95 Leadership Conference: TWG Journalism Award: VOA Ukrainian Service Chief Wolodymyr Bilajiw, VOA Director Geoffrey Cowan, Former Ukrainian Service Chiefs Michael Terpak and Mykola Francuzenko
1/20/95 Former Ukraine President Leonid Kravchuk flanked by TWG President Mykola Babiak and President Federation of Ukrainian-American Business and Professional Association Lydia Chopivsky
12/8/94 TWG President Mykola Babiak and Modern Art Collector and Museum Benefactor Olga Hirshhorn
12/8/94 St. Sophia Religious Association: TWGCF Director Laryssa Chopivsky presents Ruslan Naida’s First Warrior to Modern Art Collector Olga Hirshhorn
10/15/94 Leadership Conference: Lviv Institute of Management Students
10/15/94 Leadership Conference: Ukraine’s First Minister of Defense Kostyantyn Morozov and Coordinator for Newly Independent States James Collins
6/5/94 TWG Cultural Fund (TWGCF) inaugural event: Les Kurbas Young Theater of Lviv: Volodymyr Kuchinsky, Tetiana Kaspruk, Oleh Drach, Natalka Polovynka, Andrei Vodichev
3/16/94 Front: Theodor Kostiuk, Ross Chomiak, Ukr. Embassy Press Attaché Dmitro Markov, U.S. Representative Maurice Hinchey, TWG President Mykola Babiak, Marta Chomiak, George Sierant__Back: Roman Stelmach, George Masiuk, Mike Drabyk, Raymond Arent
1/26/94 Economic Delegation: Presidential Advisor Anton Buteyko, National Bank Chairman Victor Yushchenko, Economics Minister Roman Shpek, Amb. Oleh Bilorus, Presidential Advisor Bohdan Hawrylyshyn, TWG VP Andrew Bihun
10/9/93 Leadership Conference: Director at the Washington National Opera Roman Terlecky
10/9/93 Leadership Conference Banquet: TWG President Mykola Babiak presents Friend of Ukraine Award for George Soros to Oleh Havrylyshyn IMF Executive Director for Ukraine
10/8/93 Leadership Conference Reception: Amb. William Miller, President Carter’s National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski, Amb. Oleh Bilorus
3/21/93 Ukraine Deputy Prime Minister Victor Pynzenyk
1/22/93 Amb. Oleh Bilorus, Larisa Bilorus, President of the Ukrainian People’s Republic in Exile Mykola Plawiuk
12/1/92 TWG Breakfast Forum: Editor of Foreign Policy Charles Maynes
11/13/92 First Peace Corps to Ukraine: Peace Corps Director in Ukraine Jerry Dutkewych (suit jacket) and in purple Nadia McConnell
11/14/92 Kennedy Center Washington Opera: R to L – Wolodymyr Bilajiw, Marika Jurach, Isha Pryshlak, Marta Zielyk, Hanya Cherniak, Washington National Opera Stage and Production Director Roman Terleckyj
11/14/92 Kennedy Center Washington Opera: L to R – Martha Jarosewich, Larysa Kurylas, Daria Stec, Tenor Volodymyr Hryshko, Laryssa Chopivsky, Washington National Opera Stage and Production Director Roman Terleckyj
10/10/92 Leadership Conference: U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Roman Popadiuk and Ukraine Ambassador Oleh Bilorus
10/9/92 Leadership Conference: – Reception at Hungarian Embassy: Ambassador Pal Tar
5/15/92 TWG President Lydia Chopivsky-Benson and First U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Roman Popadiuk
1992 Chairman of Verkhovna Rada Ivan Plyushch and Radiation Chemist Leonid Huebner
5/13/92 TWG Breakfast Forum: New Yorker Journalist Robert Cullen (center)
1/17/92 TWG Breakfast Forum: Former Direstor Centtral Intelligence William Colby
12/6/91 Founder of Center for the Study of Soviet Change Susan Eisenhower
11/16/91 Minister of Environmental Protection Yuriy Shcherbak
10/12/91 Leadership Conference: Ukrainian Foreign Minister Anatoliy Zlenko, Ada Kulyk, Laryssa Chopivsky, Ukraine Representative to U.N. Guennadi Oudovenko, Greg Hulka
10/12/91 Leadership Conference: Ukrainian Business Digest Publisher Richard Shriver and Luncheon Speaker Deputy Foreign Minister Guennadi Oudovenko
10/12/91 Leadership Conference: National Endowment for Democracy President Carl Gershman
7/26/91 TWG hosts International Management Institute Students: TWG President Lydia Chopivsky-Benson, Roman Shpek, Serhij Ovcharenko, Mykola Deychakiwsky
7/16/91 Sovereignty Day: Panelists – Maxim Kniazkov, Adrian Karatnycky, TWG President Lydia Chopivsky-Benson, Marusia Drohobycky-Sloniewsky, Robert McConnell
5/17/91 Artist Ilona Sochynsky
5/4/90 Guides to Donbas: Peter Sawchyn, Tania Chomiak, Marta Pereyma, Marta Zielyk, Adrian Karmazyn
3/25/90 Antonovych Awards: Roman Szporluk, Omelian Antonovych, Award Recipient Lina Kostenko, Tetiana Antonovych, John Fizer
2/27/90 Orysia Pylyshenko, Environmental Activist and future Member of Ukrainian Ministry of Environmental Protection Andrij Demidenko, Historian Marta Bohachevsky-Chomiak
2/27/90 Fellow Institute of Literature Ukrainian Acedemy of Sciences Viacheslav Briukhovetsky
2/26/90 Lviv Representative to the Congress of People’s Deputies of the USSR Rostyslav Bratun’
2/23/90 Soviet Demographics: Murray Feshbach
1/31/90 Ukrainian Independence Day: Wolodymyr Sulzynsky, Yaromyr Koropecky, Hlib Taran, Inia Yevich, Sandfal, Andrij Bohdan Hetmanskyj, George Turiansky, Jurij Petrenko
10/7/89 The Hotel Washington: Leadership Conference Banquet – Metropolitan Mstyslav and Wolodymyr Pylyshenko
10/7/89 Leadership Conference: Editor-in-Chief Ukrainian Weekly Roma Hadzewycz and Historian and Chornobyl Researcher at University of Alberta David Marples
10/7/89 Leadership Conference: Representative to Soviet Congress of People’s Deputies and Leader of Popular Movement for Perebudova Rukh Volodymyr Yavorivsky
10/7/89 Leadership Conference: Music Director and Conductor Las Vegas Symphony Orchestra Virko Baley
10/7/89 Leadership Conference: Poet and Former Political Prisoner and Member of Rukh Coordinating Committee and Member of Helsinki Union Mykola Horbal
10/7/89 Leadership Conference: Former Political Prisoner and First President of Ukrainian Helsinki Group and Head of its External Representation Mykola Rudenko
10/7/89 Leadership Conference: Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Paula Dobriansky
10/7/89 The Hotel Washington: Leadership Conference Keynote Address – U. S. House of Representatives Co-Chairman, Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, Steny Hoyer, Laryssa Chopivsky
7/13/89 Poet Pavlo Movchan, Leader of Memorial Les Taniuk, Union of Soviet Journalists and Union of Soviet Theatrical Activists Nelli Kornienko
5/21/89 Antonovych Award Recipients: Hryhorij Kostiuk, John Paul Himka, Yuriy Shevelov, Award sponsors – Tetiana and Omelian Antonovych
3/28/89 Poet Ihor Rymaruk
3/28/89 Literary Critic Mykola Zhulynsky
3/28/89 Novelist and Historian Raisa Ivanchenko
3/28/89 Author of Internationalism or Russification Ivan Dziuba
3/24/89 Violinist Oleh Krysa and Discographer Stefan Maksymjuk
2/17/89 Historians Zenon Kohut and Orest Subtelny
2/3/89 Policy Advisors Helsinki Commission: Orest Deychakiwsky, Ron McNamara, John Finerty
1/25/89 Ogonyok editor Vitaliy Korotich
8/24/88 Ukrainian Polish ties: Khrystyna Mokry, Marta Pereyma, Jagellonian University Professor Wolodymyr Mokry, TWG President Daria Stec, Ross Chomiak
3/20/88 Antonovych Awards: Jaroslav Pelenski, Bohdan Rubchak, Author Ekzod Tarasa Shevchenka Leonid Plyushch, Omelian and Tetiana Antonovych, Author Harvest of Sorrow Robert Conquest, Ivan Fizer, Roman Szporluk
3/20/88 Antonovych Awards: Award Recipient for Harvest of Sorrow, Robert Conquest
2/9/88 TWG Reception for Virsky Dancers; 2nd from left TWG member Chrystia Shashkevych Oryshkevych
10/21/87 Interpreter George Sajewych, Former Political Prisoner Danylo Shumuk
10/10/87 Mayflower Hotel: Leadership Conference – Assistant to Amb. Schifter Katia Chumachenko, Luncheon speaker Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights Amb. Richard Shifter, TWG President Daria Stec
4/8/87 Head of President’s Initiative on Soviet American Exchanges Stephen Rhinesmith
3/18/87 Policy Advisor U.S. Helsinki Commission Orest Deychakiwsky, Ambassador to Soviet Union Jack Matlock
2/27/87 Recent Travels in Ukraine: National Geographic Senior Editor Michael Edwards
12/10/86 TWG President Daria Stec, Research Associate at Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies at University of Alberta David Marple, Marta Pereyma
10/18/86 Capital Hilton: Leadership Conference Keynote Address – President Carter’s National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski
10/18/86 Capital Hilton: Leadership Conference Opening Address – American Author and Theologian Michael Novak
7/19/86 TWG Trip to Artist’s Studio: Artist Orest Poliszczuk
4/18/86 TWG President Natalie Sluzar, Gloria y’Edynak, Executive Director Ukrainian Famine Commission Jim Mace, Patricia Filipov, Marta Mostovych
1/22/86 Ukr. Independence Day: Yaromyr Koropecky, Hlib Taran, NN (Mil Phys), Jurij Petrenko, Leonid Kondratiuk, Bohdan Dombchewskyj, Ihor_Procinsky, Yaromyr Oryshkevych, NN, Dr_Novosivskyj, NN, Orest Hawryluk, NN
12/7/85 Religious Freedom in Ukraine: Andrew Sorokowski
11/26/85 Film Director Producer of Film Harvest of Despair – a Documentary on Ukrainian Famine, Slavko Nowytski
10/19/85 TWG-UABA Gala: Assistant Attorney General William Bradford Reynolds
5/17/85 Holodomor Researcher Marko Carynnyk
3/25/85 History of Christianity in Ukraine and Millennium Celebrations: Bohdan Bociurkiw
12/6/84 Counselor to State Department Edward Derwinski, TWG NEWS editor Eugene Iwanciw
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Former TWG President Ihor Kotlarchuk (1943-2024) has Died
It is with great sadness that I share with you the news that our former TWG President (2000 -2005) Ihor Kotlarchuk has passed away. His leadership of TWG was exemplary and he will be missed by his many friends and colleagues. Ihor passed away after a long and courageous battle with Parkinson’s disease. Our hearts go out to his beloved wife Natalia Holub, who was an active member of the TWG Cultural Fund when she was Cultural attaché at the Embassy of Ukraine. May he rest in peace.
Laryssa Courtney
President, The Washington Group
Ihor Kotlarchuk and wife Natalka Holub at Pro-Ukraine Rally in Washington, DC circa 2023
Pianist, Stanislav Khristenko — Saturday, July 13, 2024 at 3pm at Alexandria Lyceum
Described as a “poet of piano” by Le Soir (Belgium), Ukrainian-born American pianist, originally from Kharkiv, Stanislav Khristenko has performed in many of the world’s major concert halls. He has been praised for “emotional intensity”, “charismatic expression”, “pallette of touches”, “solid” and “precise technique” by The New York Times, The Washington Post and Miami Herald , The Gramophone and BBC Music Magazine and El Pais. Mr. Khristenko is a Steinway Artist.
Program includes preludes by Barvinsky, Feinberg, Kapustin, Lyatoshinsky, Prokofiev, Revutsky, Skoryk and others, all born in Ukraine, and also preludes by Bach.
The Lyceum — 201 S. Washington Street — Alexandria, VA 22314
Suggested donation $20, students free. — Reception to follow.
Embassy of Ukraine Selects TWG Intern
The Embassy of Ukraine has selected Daniil Miroshnichenko, a School of Public Affairs student at American University, for the summer internship. Daniil Miroshnichenko is studying Political Science, Global Security, and International Political Economy. He is a Research Assistant at the Eurasia Center where he analyzes Russian information warfare. He is a co-founder and volunteer in the charity organization “Kozhen Maye Znachennya” (Each of Us Matters).
Many thanks to the TWG Internship committee consisting of Adrian Karmazyn, Orest Deychakiwsky, and Natalie Korytnyk for providing the Embassy with excellent internship candidates from which the Embassy has made the selection. The committee received more than 20 applications for the internship.
RECENT PAST EVENTS
April 20, 2024 Nobel Laureate Oleksandra Matviichuk Addresses TWG Luncheon
On April 20, 2024, The Washington Group organized a luncheon for Nobel Peace Prize laureate Oleksandra Matviichuk at the historic DACOR Bacon House, a private club for foreign affairs professionals located near the White House.
TWG president Laryssa Courtney welcomed the audience to the organization’s 40th Anniversary Distinguished Speakers Luncheon and thanked Ms. Matviichuk for taking time to share information about the important work of her organization. Just forty years old, she heads up the Center for Civil Liberties, which was awarded the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize, the first Nobel Prize bestowed upon a Ukrainian individual or organization since Ukraine’s independence in 1991.
In her introduction of Ms. Matviichuk, TWG Events Director Alexa Chopivsky mentioned the Center’s many activities aimed at protecting human rights and promoting democracy in Ukraine and the OSCE region. Since the beginning of Russian aggression in Ukraine in 2014, these activities have included monitoring political persecution in occupied Crimea, documenting war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Donbas and conducting the #LetMyPeopleGo and #SaveOlegSentsov international campaigns to release political prisoners detained by Russian authorities.
After the beginning of Russia’s full-scale aggression in February 2022, Ms. Matviichuk together with other partners created the “Tribunal for Putin” initiative to document crimes under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. She authored numerous reports to the UN, the Council of Europe, the European Union, the OSCE and the International Criminal Court. Ms. Matviichuk received many honors and awards, including a fellowship in the Ukrainian Emerging Leaders Program at Stanford University. In 2022, the Financial Times recognized her as one of the 25 most influential women in the world.
In her inspiring remarks, Ms. Matviichuk described the wide-ranging human rights abuses integral to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. She made a compelling case for why the international community should uphold the rule of law.
Among the human rights abuses Ms. Matviichuk cited: deliberate shelling of civilian infrastructure including schools and hospitals; taking children to Russia and imposing a Russian identity on them; and killing, torturing, and raping civilians. The Center seeks to document all Russian war crimes even in the smallest of settlements. Sixty thousand cases have already been documented.
Ms. Matviichuk said the international order based on rule of law was collapsing. There was a conflict at the civilizational level between democracy and autocracy. The war was not only between Russia and Ukraine. China, North Korea, Iran, and Syria were helping Russia. Democracies needed to cooperate.
The consequence of the breakdown of a rules-based order will be the massive rearmament of the world’s nations. Resources that should be spent to improve the standard of living will be diverted to the military.
If we wanted to prevent future war crimes, she said, the perpetrators must be punished. Historically, war criminals were punished only after a war ended. “We should not wait that long. We need to establish a tribunal for war crimes right now.”
Ms. Matviichuk addressed misguided calls for peace at the expense of justice and of Ukrainian territory. This would only encourage the commission of crimes with impunity. She finished by asserting that Ukrainians would never agree to Russian subjugation.
During the Q and A, TWG Board Member Orest Deychakiwsky, who spent many years with the U.S. Helsinki Commission covering Belarus and Ukraine, highlighted the plight of Nobel Prize co-recipient Belarusian human rights activist Ales Bialiatski. Ms. Matviichuk decried his continuing imprisonment by dictator Alexander Lukashenka. She noted that many Belarusians recognize the linkage between Belarus’ freedom and Ukraine’s freedom, including the opposition volunteer Kalinouski brigade actively fighting on Ukraine’s side.
Editorial Notes: A version of this article was published in the 04/27 edition of The Ukrainian Weekly. A well documented example of Russian atrocities is the massacre in Bucha.
From left ro right, TWG board members Rosalie Norair and Alexa Chopivsky; Embassy of Ukraine First Secretary Kateryna Smagliy; Oleksandra Matviichuk; TWG president Laryssa Courtney; TWG board members George Masiuk and Marika Jurach.
Summer 2023: TWG Summer Interns at the Embassy of Ukraine Comment on Their Experience
From L-R: Karolina Naidon, Amb. Oksana Markarova, Mariana Piontkovska
Two university students who participated in summer internships at the Embassy of Ukraine with financial support from The Washington Group have sent letters of appreciation to TWG expressing thanks for “the opportunity to work closely with Ukrainian diplomats and gain more insight into Ukrainian-American relations and international affairs more generally.” They referred to the internship as “a meaningful experience” especially because they “plan to pursue a diplomatic career path and work for the bright future of Ukraine.”
The aspiring diplomats who served as TWG-sponsored interns are Karolina Naidon, a student at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York, and Mariana Piontkovska, a student at Georgetown University.
June 26, 2023. Sacred Land: Music and Poems of Resilience from Ukraine performed by Ensemble Cherubim. The choral benefit concert for Ukraine, in the beautiful and sparkling mosaic filled sanctuary of the Saint John Paul II National Shrine, was a great success. It was well-attended and featured an ensemble of twenty professional singers, Ensemble Cherubim, who sang in Ukrainian, but, with just one exception, were not of Ukrainian heritage. English translations were provided. The format of this concert was unique, combining beautiful singing in Ukrainian with movement, acting, and powerful poetry recited in English. It highlighted the past in Ukraine, as well as the present circumstances amid war. By weaving together all the different elements, the expressive and talented conductor and music director, Marika Kuzma, an actor in her own right, choreographed this fluidity and created a very engaging kind of musical theatre. Proceeds from the concert went to United Help Ukraine. Concert Program. Concert Flyer. VIEW COMPLETE CONCERT. Photos from this concert are part of the slideshow “TWG Professional Events” in the Archive below.