By Natalia VIKULINA, The Day
As expected, there was a place for traditional "friendly" rhetoric during
the Russian premier's long-awaited visit to Kyiv. Verkhovna Rada Speaker
and presidential candidate Oleksandr Tkachenko, for example, said that
"without integrating the economies of Ukraine Russia, and Ukraine, Ukraine
will not rise." But Sergei Stepashin gave the impression of a man who came
to resolve a concrete problem - to collect debts - rather than to talk
about life in general.
Moscow agreed to Kyiv's proposal to supply farming and other products
as payment for oil debts. And the Ukrainian Premier Valery Pustovoitenko
agreed to Moscow's opinion that Kyiv "pays unsatisfactorily for energy
resources." This is why the Ukrainian government head intends to continue
talks on this subject in Moscow in the immediate future.
Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Economic Relations and Trade Andriy Honcharuk
noted that Russian oil would be delivered to this country as soon as July-August.
Ukraine will gain from the "our goods for your oil" exchange at least
because only Russia will take goods that have no other sales markets.
The creation of a Ukrainian-Russian program tentatively dubbed "Oil
for Food" is so far the only tangible result of Mr. Stepashin's visit.
Mr. Stepashin assured us that debt payments should be made within a month.
Moscow does not want to drag its feet. Mr. Stepashin seems certain that
what was planned would be fulfilled. He already said that the summer of
1999 - "with a good little rain I brought you from Moscow" - is beneficial
for Ukrainian-Russian relations.
PS: All Black Sea Fleet problems will be solved within a month,
Mr. Stepashin said categorically while visiting Sevastopol last Saturday,
The Day's Serhiy ZGURETS reports. As of today, there are
about 30 additional intergovernmental agreements still in the making, which
are to spell out the details of the three basic documents on the stationing
of the Black Sea Fleet in Ukraine, already ratified by both countries.
The premiers of Ukraine and Russia signed only one agreement last Friday
in Kyiv: on the procedure of using air space over the Black Sea. Such a
meager output testifies to the still outstanding basic differences over
the contents of the overwhelming majority of other agreements. An example
is the situation with Black Sea Fleet warplanes, where Russia wants to
replace the Su-17 with the more modern Su-24 capable of carrying nuclear
weapons.
Ukraine has agreed for the first time that retired Black Sea Fleet officers
will not have to change their citizenship to stay behind in the Crimea.
They will also be paid a Russian pension there.
Kyiv has also become more tolerant toward Moscow's military initiatives.
The Black Sea Fleet is going to hold in the nearest future, at Mr. Stepashin's
instruction, an exercise that simulates a military action concerning Yugoslavia
and is aimed at testing the counteraction systems.
Thus it is unequivocally clear that the Russian side is fully utilizing
the special features of the Ukrainian pre-election situation. For the uncertainty
of political prospects compels the team of the current President of Ukraine
and Leonid Kuchma himself to actively demonstrate to Moscow their ability
to take Russia's interests into account.







