Yanukovych (not Ukraine) is rejecting NATO

Last Thursday the Verkhovna Rada approved Viktor Yanukovych’s rejection of NATO. The bill on the foundations of domestic and foreign policy was No. 1 on the agenda. Prime Minister Mykola Azarov himself came to present it. He noted that Ukraine “will now be an understandable and predictable state.”

As the bill was being discussed, a symbolic event occurred: a thunderbolt struck the Verkhovna Rada building. This caused a power cut, which made sidelights go out at the press gallery and on the first floor, where the assembly room is situated. Naturally, the lights were on again a few minutes later, but some MPs saw this as a bad omen.

Yet, in spite of the “signs from heaven,” the law was successfully approved in the first reading, with 253 MPs voting “for.” If the document is passed on the whole (which is practically beyond any doubt), aspiration for NATO membership will be struck off the list of Ukraine’s top political priorities.

Nevertheless, the document mentions cooperation with the alliance and other military-political blocs. The Europe-bound course also remains a foreign-policy priority. It’s something at least, so to speak.

But what does a “European course” mean for Viktor Yanukovych? A visa-free regime? The document does not clarify this.

The NATO issue is also rather ambiguous. On the one hand, Ukraine declares it does not intend to join the alliance; on the other, this country is carrying out the annual NATO Membership Action Plan (MAP). When NATO Deputy Secretary General Jiri Sedivy was visiting Kyiv, he called this an “unprecedented” case.

“Ukraine has muddled so much in these matters that NATO itself cannot understand what course we are in fact pursuing,” Ukraine’s first President Leonid Kravchuk told The Day. “On the one hand, we are fulfilling the MAP, but [at the same time] we are rejecting the idea of accession. We have likewise failed to make a choice in many foreign-policy issues. There is still no absolute clarity. We are somewhere on the way. We say the Europe-bound course is a topmost priority, but when it comes to concrete steps and concrete organizations, we are in a total mess.”

Does this mean we are going to be a gray buffer zone between Russia and Europe for many years to come?

“Yes, and this is going to stay. In 20 years, Ukraine has failed to make a clear choice in its foreign policy. Every new president began to pursue a foreign-policy course on the basis of his own vision, instead of following what is written in documents. And there is so much written in our documents… Our words and actions differ a lot.”

Is the fact that our foreign policy varies from president to president a sign of our state’s immaturity?

“This means we do not have a foreign policy. The leaders elected by the Ukrainian people are not prepared to rule the country the way responsible states do. They have not reached a statesmanlike understanding that foreign policy is not a thing to toy with.

“I have just come back from Poland. The West is already viewing us as ballast. They are happy that we have at least some kind of stability.

“All we are expected to do is follow a course towards developing a deeper integration with Russia because Russia is interested in this even more than Ukraine. But Ukraine is unable today to play with Russia as an equal. While Russia is pursuing strategic goals, Ukraine is trying to reap short-term tactical benefits, and it is unclear how all this will further develop.”

QUOTING THE DOCUMENT

Under the draft law, DOMESTIC POLICY is based on the following principles:

- a top-priority approach to defending national interests;

- rule of law, observance of the rights and freedoms of man and citizens, respect for the dignity of every individual;

- equality of all the subjects of ownership rights before the law, protection of competition in the field of economic activity;

- exercising political power on the basis of dividing it into the legislative, executive, and judicial branches;

- openness and transparency of decision preparation and making by central and local government bodies;

- stable development of a socially-oriented market economy;

- a balance of national, regional, and local interests;

- freedom, social justice, creative self-realization, and participation of individuals in public and social administration;

- social partnership and civil solidarity.

It is also set out that FOREIGN POLICY is based on the following principles:

- sovereign equality of states;

- renunciation of the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any foreign state one way or another;

- respect for the territorial integrity of foreign states and inviolability of state borders;

- peaceful settlement of international disputes;

- respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms;

- non-interference into the internal affairs of states;

- mutually-advantageous cooperation among states;

- conscientious fulfillment of the undertaken international commitments;

- supremacy of the generally

recognized norms and principles of international law over the norms and principles of national law;

- use of the Armed Forces of Ukraine only in the case of armed aggression against Ukraine, any other armed encroachments on territorial integrity and the inviolability of state borders, fighting against international terrorism and piracy, or in other cases stipulated by Ukraine’s international treaties which the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine deems binding;

- resorting to international sanctions, countermeasures, and diplomatic protection measures in compliance with international law in the case of international illegal actions which cause harm to Ukraine, its citizens and legal entities;

- timely and adequate measures to protect national interests and counter the real and potential threats to Ukraine, its citizens and legal entities.

According to the document, the fundamental principles of DOMESTIC POLICY in the field of statehood-building are as follows:

- developing democracy by improving the mechanism of public administration and exercising parliamentary control;

- improving the system of elections to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and local government bodies;

- modernizing the civil service system, with due account of European experience, on the principles of professionalism and political neutrality;

- increasing the openness and transparency of decision preparation and making as well as of any actions connected with the formation and utilization of budgetary funds and appointment to top offices in central executive bodies, courts, and law-enforcement authorities;

- ensuring effective, equitable and accessible judicial practices;

- meeting international standards of the independence of judges;

- increasing the struggle against corruption and unfair economic practices, fully adhering to the principles of legality – first of all, by top governmental officials, politicians, judges, and topmost officials in the law-enforcement bodies and other uniformed services;

- combating crime by way of improved coordination among the law-enforcement bodies, optimization of their structure, and adequate logistic support of their activities.