Solomon’s Decision
The National Security and Defense Council resolved Saturday that President Leonid Kuchma take part in the meeting of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council in Prague, October 22, and that Foreign Minister Anatoly Zlenko take part in the sitting of the Ukraine-NATO Commission. According to NSDC Secretary Yevhen Marchuk, the resolution was passed unanimously. It reads, in particular, that “Ukraine over the past several years has been a predictable and reliable partner in international relations. Ukraine has made a lot for the new European security architecture to become a reality.”
Ukraine disowned the world’s third largest nuclear potential and settled extremely complicated issues in its relationships with Russia, turning the east of Europe into an area of peace and stability. At NATO member countries’ request, Ukraine closed the Chornobyl nuclear power station. In most critical situations in the recent years, including Kosovo and the antiterrorist operation, Ukraine acted in unison with the Alliance. Last but not least, this country set its foreign political course on European integration and it will not alter it, come what may.
Ukraine thus reaffirms the invariability of its European course aimed at European integration. The NSDC resolution (the council is chaired by the president) was supported by Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn and chairmen of the Verkhovna Rada foreign affairs and national security and defense committees Dmytro Tabachnyk and Heorhy Kriuchkov.
The intrigue, however, is that the North Atlantic Council (ambassadors of the member states) voted for the Ukraine-NATO Commission’s sitting at the Prague summit to be at the foreign minister level. The foreign ministers of the NATO member countries met in Reykjavik, in May 2002, and resolved to invite Ukraine to the Prague summit, but no mention was made of the Ukrainian president’s invitation.
The Day’s source at the NATO headquarters had this to say about Ukraine’s participation in the summit, strictly off the record: “President Kuchma’s visit to Prague would not be a wise decision. On our part, we have long made our point clear, saying that there is a certain political problem and that a lot of signals have been sent to the effect. It would be extremely difficult to predict the reaction of, say, President Bush and Prime Minister Blair under the circumstances. In addition, other delegations, particularly the Polish one, might well show a different attitude.”
By an unofficial information, preliminary agreements already exist on Leonid Kuchma’s bilateral meetings during the summit. Thus, emotions have probably lost in this case, too.
Borys Tarasiuk, chairman of the VR European integration committee, told The Day that the NSDC resolution is “half correct and half wrong.” He believes that “the only right decision would be for the foreign minister to take part in the sitting of the Ukraine-NATO Commission, otherwise it would be impossible to adopt two documents prepared for the meeting, which will determine Ukraine’s prospects for the next couple of years. What makes the decision wrong is the part about the president’s participation [in the summit], because everyone knew and it was further confirmed that he would be an unwelcome guest there. How would he look under the circumstances? It has been made known that, should he take his seat there, other seats in the audience might remain empty.”
President Kuchma stated his stand last Friday, prior to his visit first to Moscow and then to China: “If the president doesn’t go to the Council of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership, no one will.”
Earlier, stating Ukraine’s response to the US allegations about the involvement of the Ukrainian political leadership with the Kolchuha deal with Iraq (actually the reason for NATO’s decision on Ukraine), Viktor Medvedchuk, head of the Presidential Administration, stressed that Ukraine was prepared to cooperate with the United States and NATO, but on condition that the groundless accusations are refuted.
After all, the Ukrainian decision “worthy of Solomon” can be summed up as follows: Anatoly Zlenko will sign the documents prepared by both sides for the Ukraine-NATO Commission (precisely as desired by the NATO envoys), namely the Ukraine-NATO action plan meant to start an intensive dialog to bring Ukraine closer to the alliance, with an eye to its possible membership, and an annual national program. Ambassador Pascual said the documents could serve as a basis for a new format of Ukrainian-NATO relationships, and that he saw this as an actual possibility. The NATO summit in Prague will focus on the alliance’s further expansion and its transformation as a tool of Euro-Atlantic security; it is another opportunity for all parties to show an ability to at least agree on the prospects. From this standpoint, the decision on Ukraine’s participation is adequate, in that it secures this country’s prospects.
