Yanukovich Enlists Washington
Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich is making his first official visit to the United States. His main goals are to counter his negative image in the West since the Orange Revolution. He will also earn political points in his battle against his country's president, showing that he doesn't need democracy and that he is the real power in Ukraine now.
Two Days
Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich's four-day visit to the United States is important to him for reasons of domestic as well as international politics. Therefore, he has made this trip an altogether serious one. His schedule is full of meetings with important people in the presidential administration, State Department and Congress. In his first days in Washington, Monday and Tuesday, Yanukovich managed to visit almost all the necessary offices in the White House and on Capitol Hill.
Among those who saw him were some who are altogether skeptical about his political position. He spoke with U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, presidential national security adviser Stephen Hadley, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Senate Republican leader Bill Frist and U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Dick Lugar. U.S. President George W. Bush did not receive Yanukovich. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack was quick to state that the absence on Yanukovich's schedule of a meeting with the president was not a cold shoulder.
However, sources in the U.S. presidential administration told Kommersant that the American political elite's reception of the pro-Russian Ukrainian prime minister was not due to their positive attitude toward him. His meetings were reserved in tone and Rice and Cheney refused to met the press with him after their meetings or participate in any press conferences or photo opportunities with him.
Yanukovich was received in Washington out of purely pragmatic considerations. It appears that they are using the chance to judge the possibility of engaging in a dialog with him, since the presidential authority of Viktor Yushchenko has been slipping. “We don't choose whom we meet with,” commented Terry Davidson of the State Department European division press service said. “Yanukovich was elected by the Ukrainian people, whom he represents in the post of prime minister.” Former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Steven Pifer was even blunter. He told Kommersant, “There are concerns in the administration about his earlier actions as prime minister, but the U.S. has decided not to let them show, but to invite Yanukovich for a walk and see how serious the disagreement between him and Yushchenko is.”
Two Images
His cool reception in America is not upsetting Yanukovich. He is trying to use the visit to destroy the negative stereotype of him that has arisen in the West since the Orange Revolution. Behind various podiums, he presented himself as a predictable politician with strong democratic convictions. “Our government will operate for the next five years. Those will be years of predictability and stability. So you can forget about Ukraine's unpredictability,” he said at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. He stated firmly that the democratic processes that have taken place in Ukraine are irreversible. In an effort to look democratic himself, he even criticized neighboring Belarus lightly, saying that he was concerned about the development of democracy in that country.
The main topic of discussion at Yanukovich's meetings was energy. During talks with Rice and Cheney, e guaranteed stable transit of Russian natural gas to Europe and promised not to sell Ukraine's gas transit system to Russia. “That question will not be on the agenda,” he said. Another important mission for the prime minister is to speed up Ukraine's accession to the WTO, and to get in before Russia, if possible. Yanukovich spoke about those issues with U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab yesterday.
But as he was doing reverence in America, Yanukovich did not forget for a second that the Kremlin was watching him closely. Thus, as he was declaring the priority Ukraine places on integration with Europe, he repeated endlessly that Ukraine was not ready for admission to NATO. “Ukraine's position on integration with NATO remains unchanged,” he stated. “We said it in Brussels and confirmed it in Washington. There cannot be two or three truths. There can only be one – in Washington, Brussels, Moscow and certainly in Kiev.”
Two Leaders
His trip to American may earn Yanukovich points in the mounting battle at home between the prime minister and president. Yanukovich has begun an onslaught against Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko that is so far quite successful. Last week, the Supreme Rada approved the dismissal of two of the three key cabinet ministers loyal to the president. The parliamentarians voted to oust Interior Minister Yury Lutsenko and Foreign Minister Boris Tarasyuk. The next to go is potentially Defense Minister Anatoly Gritsenko. A draft resolution on his dismissal was registered in the Rada yesterday. The explanatory note accompanying the resolution reads that, as a result of Gritsenko's activities with the armed forces, defense of the country “has changed substantially, which has deprived Ukraine of the most powerful element in the preparation of armed protection in case of armed aggression or armed conflict.”
The president's supporters took advantage of Yanukovich's absence for a counterattack. Tarasyuk announced yesterday that “I petitioned the Shevchenkovsky Court in Kiev to declare that resolution [dismissing him] illegal in its full content. The court examined my petition and ruled to suspend the action of the Rada's resolution.” At the same time, Yushchenko signed an order saying that candidates for lead positions in the Foreign Ministry, Interior Ministry, Defense Ministry and other enforcement agencies must be agreed upon directly with him. He is thus trying to preserve his influence in those bodies, which have practically been wrested from his control by Yanukovich.
It appears the main battle will begin after Yanukovich returns. “The prime minister doesn't want to be just a domestic politician, he is claims on international status,” Vadim Karasaev, director of the Institute of Global Strategies in Kiev told Kommersant. “To be in a major role, he needs at least symbolic approval from Washington. The very fact of his visit to the U.S. is a signal to domestic, Russian and Western elites that Yanukovich is a politician on the international level.” Karasaev added that it is important to Yanukovich to demonstrate that he has to be taken into account as well as the president. “After the visit to the U.S., Yanukovich can claim to be a compromise figure in the Washington-Brussels-Moscow triangle. Yushchenko has a perception problem in Moscow and Yanukovich is taking advantage of it. Although he fulfills the president's directives, he still refused to declare a course toward NATO admission. So the battle for foreign policy is continuing and will not end with the firing of the ministers,” Karasaev said.
Dmitry Sidorov, Washington; Vladimir Solovyev
All the Article in Russian as of Dec. 06, 2006
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