Memorandum to the Government of the United States on the Recognition of the Ukrainian People's Republic

UKRAINIAN MISSION
Washington, D.C.
May 12, 1920.
The Honorable, The Secretary of State, Department of State, Washington.
Sir:
In view of the present status in eastern Europe, and in deference to the unsettled affairs of the territory of the former Russian empire, which are now pressing for a definite solution, I, as the representative of the Government of the Ukrainian People's Republic, conceive it to be my duty to submit for your consideration this memorandum setting forth the just claims of the Ukrainian people to political and economic independence. As a consequence of the facts herein explained, I respectfully ask the Government of the United States of America to extend recognition to the Ukrainian People's Republic as a free state.
The national aspirations of Ukraine embrace political liberation for all Ukrainians, consolidation of all free Ukrainians into one state, the erection of a constitutional democratic republic, and economic co-operation with neighboring and other states.
Ukraine's claim to independence is based upon the following principal grounds:
(1) The existence of the Ukrainians as a well-defined, separate, group-conscious race, with a continuous historic and cultural tradition;
(2) Their occupation, over a period of centuries, of the lands where they now dwell;
(3) Their age-long efforts, increasingly of popular origin, to achieve and maintain political independence;
(4) The obvious interest and desire of the entire Ukrainian population to organize and sustain its economic life free of exploitation by neighbors and foreign powers; and