Western Wallet Still Closed to Us

The greater part of the Ukrainian population “now lives worse than in Soviet times,” admitted President Leonid Kuchma in an interview published on October 5 in the German newspaper Frankfurter Rundschau Interfax-Ukraine reports.

This is why, in his opinion, it becomes more and more difficult for the Ukrainian government apparatus to persuade people to accept reforms. “After all, we don’t have a West Germany of our own to help its poor Eastern brothers get on their feet,” the President said.

From this standpoint, the strategy of “returning to the old times” looks quite practical at first glance: suffice it to remember nearby Belarus. “But we do not put the question this way,” Mr. Kuchma said. In his opinion, Ukraine has clearly chosen democracy and a social market economy, i.e., the way to Europe.

But Ukrainians are disappointed that Western Europe feels no genuine responsibility for this complex process. Up to now, investors wishing to invest their money in the continent’s second largest country are more the exception than the rule. “The West gives us precise advice about what should be done. But when it comes to work, its wallet remains closed,” Mr. Kuchma notes.

If only for this reason alone, close relations with Russia are of great importance for Ukraine, the Ukrainian President believes. “They have not only a broad historical basis. Russia is our largest trade partner. Russia cannot be of secondary importance to us,” Mr. Kuchma stated.