Aggressiveness with Kowtowing

There had already been many initiatives: Kyiv tried to reconcile Chisinau with Tiraspol, to mediate in the talks between NATO and Moscow, to make peace in Yugoslavia, to sell Caspian oil to Europe, etc. The result was nil, for the Ukrainian initiatives were not even heard, which was hurtful to Kyiv.

Why the Ukrainian initiatives, not so bad in essence, were dealt with in this way, became clear during the visit to Ukraine of Russian Prime Minister Sergei Stepashin, who first called Ukraine an ally and secured the introduction of double citizenship, he did not disavow the speech of his compatriot Admiral Komoyedov who said, "We will stay in Sevastopol forever." The Russian Premier behaved like a full-fledged master, and he got away with it. We simply swallowed the pill. Only the proposal of double citizenship, which Mr. Kuchma indignantly repudiated five years ago, was reportedly treated this time without special delight. How exactly, the report does not say. All the Balkan initiatives ended up with Moscow, which had clearly been giving Milosevic hope by demonstratively recalling its representative from NATO, staging a provocation by seizing Pristina airport, and now inviting Ukraine to participate in its program of Yugoslav reconstruction. Kyiv's silence in reply must have meant consent. It is hard to imagine that, given such "aggressiveness," Ukraine will be further reckoned with.

The guideline of Ukrainian foreign policy meanders between "yours" and "ours." With the elections approaching, there is no question of aggressiveness and any clear-cut policy, foreign included. This especially refers to Russian policies which seem to be drawn up no one knows where and by whom.

Meanwhile, the situation is vague: whose ally and whose partner Ukraine is, what it wants from the West, how it plans to build its further relationship with Russia, what is its true attitude toward Lukashenka, and what it is really capable of in the Caucasus and Transnistria.

Ukraine's initiatives will interest no one while the production of its aircraft is being funded by Russia, while it continues to humbly bend its head and heed everything that runs counter to its interests, with the sole purpose of having its old debts written off and borrowing something again.