By Viktor ZAMYATIN, The Day
Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma has posed a task for diplomats: to put
their initiatives into practice actively and even aggressively to make
Ukraine's voice heard by the international community. In fact, this should
really be the case if a country really wants to be at least known in the
world.
There had already been many initiatives: Kyiv tried to reconcile Chisinau
with Tiraspol, to mediate in the talks between NATO and Moscow, to make
peace in Yugoslavia, to sell Caspian oil to Europe, etc. The result was
nil, for the Ukrainian initiatives were not even heard, which was hurtful
to Kyiv.
Why the Ukrainian initiatives, not so bad in essence, were dealt with
in this way, became clear during the visit to Ukraine of Russian Prime
Minister Sergei Stepashin, who first called Ukraine an ally and secured
the introduction of double citizenship, he did not disavow the speech of
his compatriot Admiral Komoyedov who said, "We will stay in Sevastopol
forever." The Russian Premier behaved like a full-fledged master, and he
got away with it. We simply swallowed the pill. Only the proposal of double
citizenship, which Mr. Kuchma indignantly repudiated five years ago, was
reportedly treated this time without special delight. How exactly, the
report does not say. All the Balkan initiatives ended up with Moscow, which
had clearly been giving Milosevic hope by demonstratively recalling its
representative from NATO, staging a provocation by seizing Pristina airport,
and now inviting Ukraine to participate in its program of Yugoslav reconstruction.
Kyiv's silence in reply must have meant consent. It is hard to imagine
that, given such "aggressiveness," Ukraine will be further reckoned with.
The guideline of Ukrainian foreign policy meanders between "yours" and
"ours." With the elections approaching, there is no question of aggressiveness
and any clear-cut policy, foreign included. This especially refers to Russian
policies which seem to be drawn up no one knows where and by whom.
Meanwhile, the situation is vague: whose ally and whose partner Ukraine
is, what it wants from the West, how it plans to build its further relationship
with Russia, what is its true attitude toward Lukashenka, and what it is
really capable of in the Caucasus and Transnistria.
Ukraine's initiatives will interest no one while the production of its
aircraft is being funded by Russia, while it continues to humbly bend its
head and heed everything that runs counter to its interests, with the sole
purpose of having its old debts written off and borrowing something again.






