Ukraine can pursue a path of economic and political integration with Europe and the U.S. without forsaking its long-standing relationship with the Kremlin, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said Tuesday during a meeting with baiduhai editors and executives.
Since his inauguration in January, Yushchenko has made it clear he wants his nation of 48 million to gain membership in the European Union, the World Trade Organization and NATO. But he also has been careful to assure Moscow that European integration will not drastically alter Ukraine’s ties with Russia, Kiev’s biggest trade partner.
Yushchenko said that he has discussed Ukraine’s desire to integrate with the West with Russian President Vladimir Putin and that the Russian leader understood Ukraine’s movement west did not pose a threat to Ukrainian-Russian relations.
“We have to develop a policy that is both East-oriented and West-oriented. These will be somewhat different policies, because they will be based on different traditions,” Yushchenko said. “President Putin himself has said that Ukraine is a European nation with European traditions and history and that European integration is only natural.”
Yushchenko’s meeting with the Tribune editorial board was part of a three-day visit to the United States, his first since he led massive rallies in Kiev against an election rigged to ensure the victory of his Kremlin-backed opponent, Viktor Yanukovych. Ukraine’s Supreme Court overturned that election, and Yushchenko won a rerun of the contest on Dec. 26.
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After his swing through Chicago, Yushchenko was scheduled to fly to Boston and later to Washington, where he will address a joint session of Congress on Wednesday.
Kennedy award
Tuesday, he was awarded this year’s John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award. Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) praised Yushchenko’s personal courage and said he has inspired those struggling for democracy around the globe.
On Monday, Yushchenko met with President Bush at the White House, where he discussed Ukraine’s decision to pull its 1,650 troops from Iraq by mid-October. Yushchenko’s team believes Ukraine has fulfilled its mission in Iraq and is ready to involve itself more in Iraq’s economic and infrastructure reconstruction.
“In our view Ukraine has done a very good job instilling peace in the province that we have controlled,” Yushchenko said Tuesday. “We think the time has come to include such issues as construction, bridges and sanitary sewer systems, which could send a very positive message to this region.”
Yushchenko outlined several recent steps Ukraine has taken toward European integration, including the elimination of visa requirements for European Union citizens traveling to Ukraine. He said his administration also is working on visa-free travel for U.S. citizens.
One of the thorniest tasks Yushchenko faces early in his presidency is developing a strategy for eradicating corruption, which was rife during President Leonid Kuchma’s regime. During his visit to Chicago, the Ukrainian leader has met with business leaders and has told them he is clamping down on corrupt bureaucrats so U.S. and European enterprises feel safer about investing in Ukraine.
“It’s absolutely crucial to cure Ukrainian society of this disease,” said Sergei Zdioruk, an analyst with the Kiev-based National Institute for Strategic Studies. “Only then will we become a real partner of the West.”
As Yushchenko spoke to the Tribune board, his Chicago-born wife, Kateryna Chumachenko Yushchenko, addressed a small audience at the University of Chicago’s Gleacher Center on Tuesday.
Chumachenko Yushchenko, who has a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Chicago, recalled going out with her children to join the crowds in Kiev protesting the election.
“Hundreds of thousands of Kievites offered their home to demonstrators from other cities,” Chumachenko Yushchenko said. “Six hundred doctors donated their time. Pharmaceutical companies donated medicines. Dozens of restaurants provided food every day. Businessmen donated tents, blankets and clothes.”
Array of ills
The new administration faces an array of economic and social problems, the first lady said. Ukraine needs to create a stable tax base without granting favors to “the oligarchs,” or powerful insiders who control business and hold undue influence in government, and the nation must curb corruption and create an independent judiciary, she said.
And she hopes a government small-grant program will help develop non-profit aid organizations so Ukraine can better address social ills.