The tension in relations of Moscow and Kiev reached the peak past weekend. Chief of General Staff of the RF Armed Forces Yuri Baluevsky, on the photo, threatened by taking military actions should Ukraine joins NATO.
Photo: Dmitry Dukhanin
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Ukraine to Defend against Russia
The tension in relations of Moscow and Kiev nearly reached the peak past weekend. Chief of General Staff of the RF Armed Forces Yuri Baluevsky threatened by taking military actions should Ukraine joins NATO, and Kiev rebuffed by calling on Moscow to stop hawkish rhetoric and by pledging to defend its sovereignty. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vladimir Ogryzko is due to arrive in Moscow tomorrow to canvass the problems with Russia’s counterpart Sergei Lavrov. But little could be expected from that get-together, the analysts forecast.
It looks like the Bucharest summit of NATO, where Ukraine was rejected the MAP but promised the membership in some distant future, finally clouded the relations of Moscow and Kiev. The diplomatic squabble continued all week.
“Russia will unambiguously take actions aimed at protecting its interests near the borders. It won’t be just the military but other actions as well,” Chief of General Staff Yuri Baluevsky announced, as if clarifying the previous statement of Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Russia “will make every effort” to prevent NATO membership of Ukraine and Georgia, Lavrov openly said in the interview with Echo Moskvy broadcaster.
The threats of the military were the last straw for Kiev. Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry rebuffed Saturday, demanding from Russia “to stop the practice of threats against Ukraine and follow provisions of the Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation and Partnership between Ukraine and the Russian Federation.”
Foreign ministers of the countries meet tomorrow to go through the alarming situation during their private get-together. But the list of mutual claims is so long that no breakthrough is expected. In addition to the NATO clashes, Moscow is concerned about discrimination of the Russian language in Ukraine, making heroes of the military criminals cooperating with the Nazi, describing the topic of 1930s hunger as genocide against the Ukrainians and about the actions taken against monuments to Soviet Soldiers-Liberators and their graves.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Apr. 14, 2008
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