JOURNALIST'S NOTEBOOK IN UKRAINE: What if... musings on the Kuchma visit (03/10/96)

JOURNALIST'S NOTEBOOK IN UKRAINE

by Marta Kolomayets
Kyiv Press Bureau

What if... musings on the Kuchma visit

Did you ever wonder what would have happened if Abraham Lincoln had not gone to the theater on that fateful April day in 1865? Or if Napoleon Bonaparte had not met Josephine? Or if Bohdan Khmelnytsky had not signed the Treaty of Pereyaslav with Tsar Peter the Great in 1654? Or if there had been no putsch in Moscow in August 1991? Or if Bill Clinton had not won the Democratic presidential nomination in the summer of 1992?

I often wonder what if...And my most recent musings concern President Leonid Kuchma's latest trip to the United States, his meetings with President Bill Clinton, Vice-President Al Gore, Michel Camdessus and James Wolfensohn. And I wonder how much his life has changed now that he has won the 1996 Freedom Award.

Mr. Kuchma received the 1996 Freedom Award, which was created in 1943 and is "bestowed to individuals for outstanding contributions to the cause of human liberty."

Now, don't get me wrong, I like President Kuchma a lot. And, indeed he deserves to be commended for his commitment to reforms, his ability to keep people - even now in the dead of winter - believing that things still will get better, after almost five years of independence. But, to be totally blunt, I was quite surprised that he was named as the recipient of this coveted honor.

In receiving the Freedom Award he joins an illustrious list of past recipients including Winston Churchill, Gen. Dwight Eisenhower, Yugoslavian dissident Milovan Djilas, President Lyndon B. Johnson, Vaclav Havel, the Dalai Lama, Russian human rights advocate Sergei Kovalyov and a group of Soviet dissidents who won in 1973, including Andrei Sakharov, Anatoly Marchenko and our own Ukrainian dissidents Gen. Petro Grigorenko (co-founder of the Ukrainian Helsinki Group) and journalist Vyacheslav Chornovil.

Now, being on the same list as these people - many of whom lived through the Gulag archipelago (by the way, Alexander Solzhenitsyn also is a recipient) - is already, as my British friends would say, "brilliant."

President Kuchma received the Freedom Award with an inscription that read: "Presented to His Excellency Leonid Kuchma, president of Ukraine, for his contributions to world peace, regional security and inter-ethnic cooperation." Thus, the scope of his human rights trophy was limited. Mr. Kuchma accepted with humility, noting that, "in receiving this award, I accept it as a sign of your support for our state, Ukraine, which has lived as an independent country for just five years, and as a recognition of the importance of its place and role in the European and international community."

"In choosing President Kuchma, Freedom House cited his pledge to maintain Ukraine as a nuclear-free state signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, his promotion of Ukraine's neutrality in close cooperation with international and regional organizations, including NATO, and his safeguarding the rights of Ukraine's large Russian, Crimean Tatar and Jewish minorities, which has allowed Ukraine to avoid the often bloody inter-ethnic conflicts in much of the former Soviet Union," states the organization's press release.

Now bear with me, while I think out loud. What kind of influence can this award have on the Ukrainian leader? Joining the ranks of such prestigious men must affect an individual in some way, shape or form. Time will tell, as President Kuchma chooses Ukraine's course and steers its destiny.

Indeed, over the last year, President Kuchma has shown his commitment to Ukraine's independence. Although his presidential platform was focused on Russia and pointed Ukraine toward a Eurasian course, he now understands that Ukraine is the heart of Europe and is, indeed, a pillar of stability on the geopolitical map of the world.

Ukraine is in an envious position right now. While U.S.-Russian relations have seen better days and the Communist threat looms over Russia once again, Ukraine becomes a crucial strategic partner.

And it seems that both the U.S. and Russia understand this and are courting Ukraine. No sooner did President Kuchma return home from Washington than the Russian Communists came calling for Ukraine's attention. In just a few weeks, U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher will be dropping by in Kyiv, and in the first week of April Russian President Boris Yeltsin will be coming to Kyiv on a state visit - his first since Ukraine gained independence, as he hopes to gain the support of his southern neighbor during Russia's turbulent presidential campaign.

The great leader Napoleon Bonaparte said, "A leader is a dealer in hope." And President Kuchma showed during this trip to Washington that he is a dealer in hope to the 52-million-strong state of Ukraine.

I do believe that, as the recipient of the Freedom Award, as the president of an independent and sovereign Ukraine, President Kuchma is committed to the award's lofty ideals. Ending his speech at the testimonial dinner, President Kuchma gave an optimistic prognosis for the future of Ukraine.

"And, I have a basis for this optimistic note," he said, explaining "firstly, the unique mentality and historic experience of our people, who - dating back to the Middle Ages - laid the foundations for democracy in their daily lives. They had private land, a large number of owners, a high level of education and culture. Take for example, even the Kozak Republic, which had many traits and traditions that were later adopted by future generations.

"Secondly, the fact that Ukraine is progressively overcoming its current difficulties and problems. The roots of democracy, freedom and an open society, which are deeply embedded, are impossible to tear up. History has given our people the chance to enter the common European home of free, democratic nations, and to become an integral part of European and world processes and of the extended space of democracy and freedom," he said.

"We will take advantage of this and join the ranks of the leading democracies of the world. This will be a victory for all. So, let's fight for it together," said the 1996 Freedom Award recipient.

President Kuchma has done Ukraine proud. And if he does achieve all he has set out to do, to my mind he does deserve his place among the men on the list of Freedom Award winners.

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