Pascual Dispels Anti-American Myths
On April 11 US Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Ukraine Carlos Pascual addressed the public for the first time after the parliamentary elections, trying to “set the record straight” in the issues that give rise to disputes between Kyiv and Washington. The public at large was represented by students of the Kiev-Mohyla Academy. The ambassador soberly brought home to the audience what the two countries had managed to achieve recently, but what he seemed to be mostly doing was dispelling “anti-American” myths. At times, however, the ambassador expressed criticism - especially in a rather emotional statement-cum-complaint: instances of anti-American propaganda are on the rise in Ukraine. Mr. Pascual noted, however, that people forgot the positive aspects of US-Ukrainian cooperation. Then he began to enumerate all the things “forgotten,” such as US aid, US investments, etc.
Mr. Pascual stated that the United States of America would investigate accusations that Ukraine has been illegally supplying weapons to Iraq. He did not say whether Washington had any concrete proof of this. Instead, he “calmed” the audience: the matter is so serious that the US would conduct an investigation not only of Ukraine but also with respect to its “closest partners” Germany and France if similar charges were leveled against them. The ambassador also failed to answer the question of what steps the US would take if the weapons supply information was confirmed. Still, he reminded his audience of UN sanctions against Iraq and the US law that calls for sanctions against countries selling arms to Iraq, adding that American laws are very clear in this respect: they call for discontinuing aid to countries that break the rules.
The ambassador decided not to comment this time on the Ukrainian parliamentary elections. Earlier, the day after the elections, a US State Department spokesperson had already expressed disappointment over the Ukrainian government’s efforts to prevent election fraud. Kyiv was hurt by Washington’s “premature” appraisal because neither the final results are known nor has the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe made its final conclusions about the election process. Ambassador Pascual pointed out it was the OSCE statement that would be most important in appraising the race. The United States, as one of the 53 members of this organization, will support its conclusions, the ambassador said.
The ambassador also touched upon the warming of relations between the US and Russia. That Russia began to develop a new relationship is a good chance for Ukraine, Mr. Pascual noted. The ambassador emphasized that Russian reforms were beneficial to Ukraine, while reforms in Ukraine also helped Russia, thus rejecting the opinion that Ukraine is now a soccer field for Washington and Moscow to play geopolitical games on, for Ukraine is an independent and sovereign state that must pursue its own interests, while US interests lie in supporting sovereignty and helping the Ukrainian people. So the best way for Ukraine to ward off this kind of accusation is to be guided by its national interests, the ambassador stressed. Mr. Pascual also believes that, for the first time since Ukraine won independence, the president, premier, minister of foreign affairs, OSCE, and perhaps the majority of Verkhovna Rada deputies have the same European attitude. Moreover, although the Russian and American vectors are considered important, the European direction takes priority over them.
Ambassador Pascual also recalled the supplies of Ukrainian weapons to Macedonia, discontinued last July (not without US pressure — Author). He characterized those events as a misunderstanding. Accordingly, this should not have affected US-Ukrainian relations. Incidentally, many experts think Ukraine’s intention to continue military technical cooperation with Macedonia may be the reason why Kyiv will not be invited to the NATO summit in Prague. Asked by journalists, Mr. Pascual said that Ukraine’s participation in the Prague autumn summit is not a political question and depends on the results of the Kyiv-Brussels dialogue. The ambassador recalled that Ukraine and NATO had set up a consultative mechanism in Brussels by means of which they discuss, among other things, security in the Balkans. The two sides exchange information on transfer of weapons to one country or another.
The ambassador also failed to avoid the Heorhy Gongadze affair. Mr. Pascual disclosed, in particular, that a team of US Federal Bureau of Investigations experts is now in Ukraine, consulting for the Prosecutor General’s Office and other law enforcement bodies in the investigation of the journalist’s death. Although the ambassador did not say how long the American experts would stay in Ukraine, he emphasized that the FBI people would not carry out any investigation of their own. The experts are expected to make public the results of their mission in Ukraine early this week.
