Moscow Upbraids Herbst

Moscow did not leave unanswered US Ambassador to Ukraine John Herbst’s statement that, in his opinion, it is not quite consistent with Ukraine’s interests to join the Single Economic Space with Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan. “This kind of statement made by a US diplomat in the traditions of the epoch of US-Soviet confrontation, moreover, at a time when the presidents of Russia and Ukraine were discussing in Yalta the prospects of CIS economic integration, is surprising, to say the least,” a Kremlin source told Interfax. He also emphasized that a third country’s diplomat “should have known better than in fact criticize the two presidents” and that the Russian side “would like to clarify the situation.” It is not ruled out that the problem of US State Department control over the diplomats serving abroad may be raised by the Russian side during the coming visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to the US. Addressing a press conference Thursday before last in Kyiv, Mr. Herbst said joining the Single Economic Space was not quite in Ukraine’s interests and could hinder its Euro-Atlantic integration.