“Quite a threatening tendency”

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski discussed the situation in Ukraine. The press office of the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed that Clinton and Sikorski had a telephone conversation on February 11 on the initiative of the US and mainly touched upon the situation in Syria. “They also spoke about the situation in Ukraine. Minister Sikorski shared his observations after his recent visit to Kyiv,” the press office reported. We remind our readers that during his visit to Kyiv last week the Polish foreign minister took part in the meeting of the heads of the Ukrainian and Polish foreign ministries, met president Viktor Yanukovych, Ukrainian oppositionists, and former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s daughter Yevhenia.

During the meeting with the Ukrainian and Polish journalists 12 of whom accompanied the head of the Polish foreign-policy department Sikorski remarked: “I am concerned about the political conflict in Ukraine that hinders Ukraine’s integration into the EU.” He expressed hope that the parliamentary election this October would be honest and competitive which implies the participation of the Ukrainian opposition. The Polish minister informed that the Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych had assured him that the election would be held to meet the highest European standards.

What does the discussion of the situation in Ukraine by the heads of the American and Polish foreign-policy departments mean? The Day asked the deputy director general of the Razumkov Center, former foreign minister of Ukraine Valerii CHALY to comment this information spread by the Polish foreign-policy department.

“It is clear that if such information is made public it means something. It means that there is a certain emphasis on the questions discussed. I take it as signal. It means that there is a certain discussion and there might be coordinated actions in the US, EU and even in the countries standing the ground of compromise, such as Poland, concerning further possible actions. These actions might be provoked by the invariable political situation and absence of any reaction to the remarks made privately during personal meetings with the highest Ukrainian authorities and publicly through the documents of the European institutions clearly pointing at the problems in Ukraine that make impossible moving towards the European integration if not resolved.

“That is why I take the telephone conversation between Clinton and Sikorsky as one more signal. However, there have been a lot of similar messages. By all appearance, they are seriously discussing specific steps. It is quite a threatening tendency since not only personalities but the whole state might become a prisoner of our internal political situation.”

Is it a usual thing in the international practice when two countries discuss a third one?

“As a rule, during meetings and conversations, between heads of the foreign-policy departments, too, the whole spectrum of questions concerning not only bilateral relations but regional development and global challenges and threats is discussed. It is not something surprising. If this or that country is discussed, as a rule, it is the evidence of possibilities or problems. In our case you should come up with a conclusion yourself.”