The Foreign Affairs Ministry made a statement concerning the anti-Ukrainian
declarations of Russian State Duma deputies, which can be described only
as territorial claims toward Ukraine.
Everybody knows that relations between Ukraine and Russia are cloudy
not only in the trade, but also in the political sphere. And the declaration
by the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry concerning the fact that Duma failed
to ratify the joint agreement on the system of preventing missile attack
and space control is merely additional evidence.
The anti-Ukrainian declarations of the Duma members, among who there
is the chairman of the committee for CIS Georgy Tikhonov, basically mean
that the agreement on integrating Ukrainian anti-aircraft systems into
the Russian defense system cannot not be ratified, because one of them
is stationed in Sevastopol. And Sevastopol is a Russian city, according
to the decision adopted by Supreme Council of Russian Federation, which
was ousted by Yeltsin.
The Duma CIS Affairs Committee recommends the Russian government to
negotiate with Ukraine on new agreement, which would proceed from this
(which?) point of view.
Five years ago Ukraine was forced to turn to the United Nations because
of Moscow's hysteria about the Crimea and Sevastopol. The UN Security Council
verified that beyond any doubt Crimea and Sevastopol belong to Ukraine.
However, Ukrainian diplomats told The Day, this question has not
been finally canceled from the agenda - because they cannot draw any conclusions
in Russia. "They (Duma deputies -The Day) have obviously counted
on our toothlessness, that they could work it out with us," one high-level
Ukrainian diplomat told The Day. "But it did not. The Foreign Ministry
statement is a unique signal that we will not leave this unnoticed."
Then, on November 23, you could have heard anything in the Duma on the
ratification. For instance: "For the first time we see this document, which
states that Sevastopol belongs to Ukraine. According to all legal and international
documents, Sevastopol has been given Ukraine. If we adopt this document,
it will be the first in which we present Sevastopol to Ukraine." This is
what Chairman of the CIS Affairs Committee Tikhonov said. Or: "We should
not have divided the fleet. We should have solved our political problems
with Ukraine. We know how political problems are solved. In 1968 they were
successfully solved in Czechoslovakia." This is what Liberal Democratic
Deputy Mitrofanov said. We can also add, that Duma Speaker Selesniov openly
hinted during his stay in Kyiv that the grand agreement would be ratified
only after Ukraine makes union with Russia.
The fact that Russia's highest legislative organ periodically turns
to the problem of Crimea and Sevastopol demonstrates that there are forces
in the Russian Parliament, which refuse to abide by the existing realities
and are not aware of the negative consequences of such actions, the Ukrainian
Foreign Affairs Ministry declaration read.
In particular, military servicemen say, anti-aircraft radar stations
in Mukacheve and Sevastopol will not work for Russian security, although
they were built to protect Moscow.
The international consequences could also be quite palpable for Russia,
though the diplomats do not mention it. Russian diplomacy advises paying
attention to the position of not the Duma, but of the executive, which
favors constructive cooperation and partnership with Ukraine.
However, the Russian executive branch is obviously so busy with internal
problems, that it does not insist on ratification of the grand and free
trade agreements. And meetings between governors and businessmen, like
the one held in Kharkiv last weekend usually end up with paper progress.







