Foreign Ministry “Brought Together” The Past and Explained the Present

Instead of delivering a note or making an official statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine attracted attention on January 10 by presentation of a book that collected historical information about the activity of Ukrainian diplomats over the past 85 years. The book bears a rather pretentious but fitting, according to the authors, name: A Building on Mykhailivska Square that Overlooks the Whole World. The publication is very well illustrated, laid out, and made up. Foreign Minister Anatoly Zlenko, who presented the book in the company of Ukrainian veteran diplomats, noted that “ A Building on Mykhailivska... brings together the “antagonistic epochs” (the times of the Ukrainian People’s Republic and the Ukrainian SSR) and presents “an integrated view of the past and the present.”

The journalists attending the function seemed to be more interested in the present, for, after the presentation, they showered the minister with many ticklish questions. One of the first ones was about the Kolchuga radar affair. Asked if he considered the Kolchuga scandal exhausted, the minister said, “It never did or could exist.” “I can assure you that Ukraine did not breach the UN Security Council sanctions. This problem is not worth the pains,” Mr. Zlenko pointed out. He recalled that the issue is now under study at the UN SC Committee 661, where Ukraine’s permanent representative is in touch with the new committee members. Nor did the minister escape questions about a likely war against Iraq. In this case, Mr. Zlenko confined himself to well-known facts. Yet, there was something new in the phrase that “Baghdad must submit full information and answer the questions put by the inspectors.” The last question to the foreign minister was more about Russian diplomacy: is the government going to satisfy the request of people’s deputies to have Russian Ambassador to Ukraine Viktor Chernomyrdin dismissed from his diplomatic office in Kyiv? The minister replied there are no grounds for expelling Mr. Chernomyrdin because his “emotions” in defending the Russian Federation’s interests are quite “understandable.”

THE DAY’S QUOTATION

“IRAQ is suspected of a fresh breach of UN sanctions after buying military logistics equipment from Ukraine, a US official has told The Times... The US official said that a pontoon bridge had been transferred... More evidence emerged of fresh sales on Monday, he said, but details were scarce.”

“It is no secret that Ukraine sold pontoon bridges, but not to Iraq. If there are bridges over there, they were not sent by Ukraine. Ukraine has never supplied such bridges directly to Iraq.”