Rusyns seek divorce from Ukraine, like Czechs and Slovaks

October28200819:33

“We are not Transnistria, we are not Georgia, we are a different people and we hope Ukrainians will give us a divorce in a peaceful way, like the Czechs and Slovaks did,” Father Dymytrij Sydor, head of Carpathian Rusyns parliament, told ZIK Oct. 28.

The Rusyns seek autonomy for the Zakarpatya oblast of Ukraine. “The conflict in Transnistria erupted because the proud Moldova refused to divorce Transnistria, Sydir argued. He considers Ukraine to be a totalitarian state without the rule of law – because the authorities refuse to engage in talks with the Rusyns and do not meet their demands. The Rusyns are waiting for Zakarpatya oblast council session due Dec. 1 to endorse the results of the referendum of Dec. 1, 1991 in which residents of Zakarpatya supported autonomy of the region. “The regime has ignored our calls for autonomy for 17 years,” Yevhen Zhupan, Our Ukraine faction council member and activist of the Rusyns movement.

Dymytrij Sydir warned that, if the oblast council does not support the Rusyns on Dec. 1, they will wait for some time and then start to fight for their rights. “We demand autonomy in a peaceful way. But how we will fight for it is our national secret. If Lviv residents do not support us, we will have supporters coming from Rivne, Kyiv and Odesa.”