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Where there is no law, but every man does what is right in his own eyes, there is the least of real liberty
Henry M. Robert

Economic Foretaste of NATO Question

10 April, 1999 - 00:00

By Vyacheslav YAKUBENKO, The Day
A new attempt by the Left to push through Parliament an anti-NATO resolution
has failed. However, they promise to return to the issue soon.

The vote by names showed that a purely ideological anti-NATO viewpoint
are only accepted by the Left segment of the assembly.This includes: considering
Ukraine's further participation in NATO partnership programs impossible,
considering invalid the not yet ratified agreements with the alliance,
recalling Ukraine's permanent representative from Brussels, closing the
Kyiv-based NATO Information Center, opposing retention of public office
by those who "pursue a pro-NATO course," and halting the destruction of
strategic air force units and missile silos.

The Communists understood this, and chairman of the National Security
Committee Heorhy Kriuchkov took to economic reasoning: Ukraine has lost
$4-6 billion from the embargo of Yugoslavia, the Danube Shipping Company
alone has suffered a $500-million loss from the NATO strikes. The resolution
included items that serve the interests of diverse lobbies, for example:
to exempt temporarily the Danube basin maritime and river transportation
sector from taxes and duties, convene the Danube Commission to discuss
shipping safety, identify exactly the amount of Ukrainian embargo losses,
and assess the environmental damage resulting from the arms race. Member
of the Communist Party Central Committee Viktor Ponedilko assured The
Day that the initiators of this resolution would lay further 
emphasis on figures to persuade their opponents. Mr. Kriuchkov added that
they would "work with" all factions and each Deputy an hour before a new
discussion of the draft. To take into account their interests, the text
may be altered. Should this fail and NATO continue its bombing, Mr. Kriuchkov
does not rule out "any kind of steps," including obstruction of parliamentary
proceedings.

The Right cannot openly support NATO under the conditions of non-stop
bombing. Rightists primarily fear that breaking relations with NATO could
push Ukraine into Russia's embrace. They draw attention to the legal side
of the matter. Deputy Speaker Viktor Medvedchuk told journalists that Ukraine's
relationship with NATO should be regulated not by resolution but by a special
law (a law, unlike a resolution, must  also be signed by the President
- Author). According to Mr. Medvedchuk, the competent committee
has long had a draft bill on the fundamentals of Ukraine's domestic and
foreign activities, but there is no consensus in the assembly hall about
enacting it.

Hromada also lost no time in seizing this chance of publicity. One of
the party leaders tried to spread a rumor that the NATO problem is directly
connected with the Lazarenko affair: the United States has allegedly promised
to extradite Mr. Lazarenko only if Ukraine (Parliament, in particular)
does not make abrupt anti-NATO moves and that Prosecutor General Mykhailo
Potebenko had spent the whole previous day in Parliament exactly for this
reason. But Mr. Potebenko himself told The Day he was rejecting
any possibility of linking the two issues. In his words, he communicates
with People's Deputies on each opening session day, a Tuesday.

 

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