Kuchma underlines Ukraine's significance during visit to Britain (01/14/96)

Kuchma underlines Ukraine's significance during visit to Britain

by Tony Leliw
Special to The Ukrainian Weekly

LONDON - On a three-day visit to Britain, President Leonid Kuchma reaffirmed that a strong, sovereign and independent Ukraine must be an important factor in the stability of Europe.

He told The Weekly that its course would not be deflected by the elections going on in Russia, irrespective of the results.

"I do not expect any instabilities between Ukraine and Russia. We have done a lot with each other to understand what the other side wants: equal partnership and mutual benefit," he said. "President Yeltsin is president of Russia, and I am president of Ukraine," he added.

Hundreds of Ukrainians met President Kuchma at Kensington Town Hall, where community leaders welcomed him, but expressed concern about continued Russification in Ukraine and chauvinist and Communist forces intent on returning Ukraine to Russian rule.

Lubomyr Mazur, leader of the Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain, said, "We are perturbed by the decline of Ukrainian culture and education." These sentiments were echoed by Ostap Czujko, head of the Federation of Ukrainians in Great Britain, who mentioned the decline of the Ukrainian language.

Stefan Terlezki, the first Ukrainian to sit in the British Parliament said, "Rome was built in one day, but Rome was build. And we will rebuild Ukraine."

President Kuchma informed his audience that the future of Ukraine's rebirth depends on its economic base. "Last year we took radical course on economic reforms, made them a practical reality. These changes have been painful to our society, but today we can see the first results of our work. This year's inflation level compared to 1993 has been reduced by 40 times and we have stabilized our manufacturing industry."

President Kuchma said all these changes had been achieved without bloodshed. "Even in the most complex situations we have not used force. For this the world respects us," he underIined.

The president's agenda included meeting British Prime Minister John Major and the queen at Buckingham Palace. President Kuchma was pleased to announce outside 10 Downing Street that Mr. Major would be visiting Ukraine in the first half of next year.

Later, when asked at a press conference how British-Ukrainian relations were progressing, he said that after officially inviting the queen to Ukraine, he had a definite feeling that Prince Charles will be coming next year. Defense Valeriy Minister Shmarov, meanwhile, would be visiting Britain in February.

President Kuchma stressed that what Ukraine could learn from the British experience was stable conservatism. "I do believe that the most important thing we need as a country is stability," he said.

Among other places on President Kuchma's itinerary were: Westminster Abbey, the Tower of London and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development tour of the famous British store Harrods and enjoyed a trip to the theater to see "Sunset Boulevard."

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