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Ukraine's Yushchenko gets Kennedy award

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, right, accepts the John F Kennedy Profile in Courage award from Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of former US president John F Kennedy, and US Senator Edward Kennedy, second left, at the JFK Library in Boston, Massachusetts on Tuesday. Yushchenko was honored for his courage through the assassination attempt on him during last year's Ukrainian presidential elections. PHOTO: EPA

Ukraine President Viktor Yush-chenko, the populist politician who survived dioxin poisoning while forcing out Ukraine's pro-Russian government last year, was honored with this year's John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award.

Senator Edward Kennedy praised Yushchenko's personal courage and said he has inspired those struggling for democracy across the globe.

The award, given in a ceremony on Tuesday in Boston, comes a little more than two months after Yushchenko took office riding the crest of a popular uprising during which masses of supporters camped out in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, claiming that a Kremlin-backed candidate stole a disputed election.

The government was forced to allow a second vote, which Yushchenko won.

After the election, Yushchenko claimed the Russian-backed regime of his predecessor, Leonid Kuchma, had tried to assassinate him. Yushchenko suffered near-fatal dioxin poisoning during last fall's presidential election, which left his once-smooth face sallow and pock-marked.

"At a critical moment in his nation's history, he took a strong and courageous stand for what he knew was right. He risked his life, and nearly lost it, in the ongoing struggle for democracy in Ukraine," Kennedy said.

The illness took Yushchenko off the campaign trail. For months, he suffered from liver and pancreas troubles and severe back pain. Last week, Yushchenko said investigators are closing in on those responsible for the poisoning.

"I could not calmly watch as the hopes of her citizens were replaced by disillusion, as millions of people were forced to look for work abroad, as oligarchical clans stole the national wealth," he said on Tuesday.

"With every cell of my body, I felt that millions of honest people were behind me, that we could win, that we would undoubtedly win," he said.

Caroline Kennedy, president of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation and daughter of the assassinated president, praised Yushchenko's faith in the Ukrainian people.

"For those of us who are free, he has reminded us that we can never take our freedom for granted," she said.

"And for people with no voice in their own government, President Yushchenko and the Ukrainian people have given them hope," she said.

Before accepting the award on Tuesday, Yushchenko went to Shriners Hospital to visit 5-year-old Nastya Ovchar, who became a hero in her country when she saved her 2-year-old sister Lyuda from a fire in their home last month.

"Millions of people care very much that she recover," Yushchenko said.

Yushchenko is on a three-day trip to lobby for aid and investment, win Washington's support for joining NATO and greet Ukrainian-Americans. He was scheduled to address a joint session of Congress yesterday.

The Profile in Courage award, named after President John F. Kennedy's 1957 Pulitzer Prize-winning book Profiles in Courage, is presented annually to public servants who have made courageous decisions of conscience without regard for the consequences.
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