Putin Unambiguous about The Main Points

Last week the presidents of Russia, Belarus, and Azerbaijan visited Kyiv to take part in the celebrations of the 60th anniversary of Ukraine’s liberation from the Germans (See more on page DAY AFTER DAY).

On the first day of his visit, Mr. Putin appeared live on three national Ukrainian television channels to answer viewers’ questions. The Ukrainians who were “allowed” to phone in were quite friendly to the foreign leader.

Their questions were mostly about crossing the border and speeding up the pace of integration in the post-Soviet space, particularly within the framework of the Single Economic Space (SES). Among other things, Mr. Putin revealed that he is planning to abolish the decision requiring Ukrainian citizens to travel to Russia on foreign passports from 2005 on. “Citizens of Ukraine must be able to enter the Russian Federation without any restrictions on their internal passports. I will issue an order to this effect to the Ministries of Internal and Foreign Affairs, and the presidential administration as soon as I return to Moscow,” he said. The president also discussed the problem of Ukrainian citizens’ registration in Russia. “The only problem is with the registration. And I think this problem can be resolved by attaching a special insert in the passport when the border is being crossed,” Mr. Putin pointed out. The president sounded rather cautious about dual citizenship for residents of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus. “We must think about it, not just Russia, but Ukraine as well. We cannot make a decision on this unilaterally. But I believe that if we see that people in Ukraine want this, we will not only consider it, we will actually implement it,” Russia’s leader stressed.

Mr. Putin was equally cautious in his answer to a question about integration in the post-Soviet space. The president categorically ruled out the possibility of restoring the Soviet Union. He emphasized that the SES does not aim to establish cooperation in the defense field (the president reminded callers that this is the domain of the Collective Security Treaty Organization to which Ukraine is not a party). Asked if Russia is planning to create or support a political force in Ukraine that would encourage “maximum rapprochement between the two fraternal peoples,” Putin said, “We would be happy if such forces were strengthening, developing, and achieving their goals in Ukraine. But creating or supporting a Ukrainian political force from abroad, especially from Russia, is a very dangerous and counterproductive thing. This should be an internal process, one generated from inside Ukrainian society,” he emphasized. Mr. Putin also praised the Yanukovych government for its economic progress. “The government of Ukraine managed to cut unproductive expenses to a reasonable level and rally all basic resources to address such fundamental social problems as pension increases,” the president of Russia said. The opposition immediately interpreted Mr. Putin’s opinion about the government of a neighboring state as endorsement of the pro-governmental presidential candidate.

Mr. Putin also spoke about elections in Russia, including the likelihood of a third term in office. He rejected this possibility because the constitution of Russia only provides for “two consecutive presidential terms.”