Ukraine at five: a progress report on U.S. policy (10/20/96)

Ukraine at five: a progress report on U.S. policy

Following is the text of the address by Strobe Talbott, acting U.S. secretary of state, opening The Washington Group's 1996 Leadership Conference at the Embassy of Ukraine on October 11.

Thank you, Yaroslav [Voitko], very much. My friend Yuri Shcherbak has delivered a better speech than the one I'm about to give, and he's not even here. But I do want to thank him, despite the fact that he's not able to be with us tonight, my friend Mr. [Valeriy] Kuchynsky - and also my sympathies to Mr. Kuchynsky - and to Yaroslav [Voitko] and George [Masiuk], and to The Washington Group for including me in your celebration.

I know that some of you this evening have come from out of town. You've come from other parts of the country to take part in what promises to be a very stimulating and important and thoughtful conference. To those of you who are coming from out of town I want to say: welcome to Washington. During the Cold War, this city was often called the "capital of the free world." Washington still qualifies as exactly that today. In fact, with the collapse of Soviet Communism, with the disappearance of the USSR, and with the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact, the free world not only still exists, it's a much bigger place today than it was just a few years ago - and today the free world includes an independent, democratic Ukraine.

Over the past three and a half years, I've had six opportunities to visit that brave young democracy. It's good to be back this evening on sovereign Ukrainian territory, and I'm grateful to the Embassy for opening its doors not just to me but to my colleagues from the administration: John Deutch [Director of Central Intelligence] gets applauded just for coming a few blocks to be on sovereign Ukraine territory [laughter] - imagine the reception you'll get, John, when you go to Kyiv for the first time [laughter] - also my friend and colleague Melanne Verveer from the Office of the First Lady who educated me a little on both Ukrainian history and on the Ukrainian language when we were together in Kyiv not too long ago, and Taras Bazyluk with the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, and Bill Taylor and Bruce Connuck of the State Department, and Carlos Pasqual of the National Security Council. These are just a few of the members of the team that works in the executive branch on U.S.-Ukrainian relations.

President Clinton and Secretary of State Christopher have asked me this evening to convey two messages to all of you: First, they have asked me to extend their thanks for all that everyone here has done both for Ukraine and for U.S.-Ukrainian relations; and second, they have asked me to review briefly, from the vantage point of the Clinton administration, the past five years.

Everyone here tonight knows very well how far Ukraine has come in that short period of time. This room is filled with witnesses of the transformation that George [Masiuk] spoke of in his opening remarks. Some of you here this evening were a part of the "Chain of Unity" that stretched from Kyiv to Lviv on January 22, 1990. Some of you were in the Verkhovna Rada on August 24, 1991, the day when an honor guard brought in a giant blue and [yellow] flag and Ukraine declared its independence.

Others here were in Kyiv or Lviv or Kharkiv during the landmark presidential election in 1994, when Ukraine became the first new independent state of the former Soviet Union to transfer power from one democratically elected government to another. Or you've been back for subsequent regional elections that have produced victories around the country for a new generation of leaders who have made the cities and towns they lead into hubs of reform and sources of new ideas and new hope for the future. Or maybe you were there this past June, when Ukraine adopted a new Constitution that has codified the country's commitment to democracy and equal rights for all of its citizens.

Many of you - I'd guess most of you - have seen with your own eyes the industry and entrepreneurship of the Ukrainian people, which have spawned thousands of small businesses throughout the country. Those small businesses now account for more than half of Ukraine's national income. You've seen the hospitals where there are now MRIs and other modern diagnostic equipment, and you've seen the maternity wards where there are now for the first time incubators for premature babies. You've seen the churches and synagogues that are once again filled with worshippers.

In fact, many of you here this evening have been more than just witnesses of all this - you've been benefactors and participants in the process, and your contribution goes back a lot longer than just five years. For more than seven decades, the Ukrainian American community kept alive the dream of an independent and democratic homeland. Your faith nurtured the spirit and the substance of independence until the dream finally came true in 1991. Since then, you have labored on behalf of Ukrainian democracy, Ukrainian rule of law, Ukrainian freedom of the press, Ukrainian medicine and science, the Ukrainian environment-and Ukrainian prosperity.

Many of you have worked especially hard to put the Ukrainian economy on the right track. We all realize that that has been a monumental effort, and there have been some scary moments along the way. Not too long ago, Ukraine was looking over the edge of the abyss of hyperinflation. Yet last month, inflation was running at only 2 percent - which is a huge and very hopeful improvement. In September, Ukraine successfully launched its new currency, the hryvnia, which is already stronger than the karbovanets, the provisional currency that it replaced.

If Ukraine is to continue this progress - if it is to fulfill its tremendous economic potential - there is much hard work still to be done. That means cutting taxes and bureaucracy, promoting land reform, and building the legal foundation for a market economy.

But Ukraine does not face that challenge alone. The American people as a whole have followed the example of the Ukrainian American community. Which is to say, we've all joined together in the great task of supporting a free and prosperous and democratic Ukraine. President Clinton has led the way. He's done so by calling on the international community to secure $1.9 billion in cash commitments for Ukraine in 1996. He has gone beyond the mandates of Congress to provide Ukraine with $330 million in bilateral grants and $860 million in trade and investment credits.

We're in Ukraine not just with our dollars but also with our know-how, our expertise, our can-do bent for licking the toughest problems. We're on the ground, making a difference for the better, working with real people. Americans are in Ukraine today training the next generation of entrepreneurs. And, by the way, our exchange programs work both ways. Through the U.S. Information Agency and the Agency for International Development, nearly 8,000 Ukrainians have come to our country to share our ideas, to learn first-hand about our way of life and work.

By early next year, we will have helped Ukraine privatize virtually its entire small business sector, and also a significant share of its larger enterprises. We have already helped Ukraine build democracy by sponsoring town hall meetings, and sending legal advisors and constitutional experts, and assisting Ukraine's growing independent media.

Let me also make special mention of America's efforts - both public and private - to help Ukraine deal with one of the defining disasters of our time. Ten years ago, an obscure town on the Prypiat River became world-famous overnight. When reactor No. 4 at the Chornobyl nuclear power plant blew its top, it was more than an isolated accident; it marked the beginning of the meltdown of the Soviet Union itself. But Chornobyl also left Ukraine with a health crisis that will last a generation - and it left the world with an obligation to ensure that such a tragedy never happens again. Through the work of numerous volunteer groups, many of whom are represented in this audience, there has been an outpouring of support for the victims, and especially the children of Chornobyl.

A number of you were present at the White House when Vice-President Gore and the First Lady commemorated the anniversary of the disaster - not just by looking backward in horror and in compassion, but by looking forward with hope and resolve. In this spirit, the United States has delivered over 100 tons of medical supplies to hospitals in Ukraine and Belarus. We have also used our leadership position in the Group of Seven major industrialized democracies to make available $3 billion to support Ukraine's decision - its very courageous decision - to close Chornobyl by the year 2000.

Let me assert a key point here: Everything that we've done for Ukraine - and everything that we will do in the future - we do not just because we Americans are a generous people, although that is certainly the case. We've done it and we'll keep on doing it also because it is in our own nation's interest to see an independent, secure, democratic Ukraine survive, succeed and prosper.

Let me explain why that is by quoting our president. I was with him - as, of course, was Marta [Zielyk]) - on a lovely spring day in May 1995 when he spoke to an audience of enthusiastic, welcoming students in front of the main building at Shevchenko University in Kyiv. President Clinton told that young audience that support for Ukraine's young democracy reflects our most deeply held American values and advances our most fundamental interests. He said a Ukraine that fulfills the hopes of its 52 million citizens will also, as he put it, and I'm quoting, "provide an essential anchor of stability and freedom in a part of the world that is still reeling from rapid change. " We have said over and over again - and we mean it every time we say it - that Ukraine is a key European country. It is a bellwether for a vast region that matters deeply and enduringly to the United States. If Ukraine stays on course toward a better future for its own people, that will be good for all of Europe and it will be good for the larger trans-Atlantic community of which we are a part. If, however, Ukraine goes off course, that will be bad for all of us. The rationale for a steadfast policy of American support for Ukraine is just that simple.

The fact is, while Ukraine still faces numerous challenges, it has already emerged as a force for stability and integration in Europe. It has done so through its courageous decision in 1993 to join the Non-Proliferation Treaty as a non-nuclear-weapons state. In exchange for assurances worked out with the help of the United States, Ukraine in that decision enhanced its own security, and it set a valuable example for the rest of the world. As a result of that landmark of Ukrainian wisdom, the whole world is a safer place today, and it will be safer still in the next century.

Ukraine has shown similar statesmanship and strategic foresight by forging strong new ties with the West while maintaining and strengthening constructive relations with its neighbors to the east - and, of course, to the north. Ukraine was the first new independent state to join the Partnership for Peace program in February of 1994. This past summer American, Ukrainian, Russian and Polish troops trained together for peacekeeping operations on Ukrainian soil.

And that training is already paying off. Today, American and Ukrainian soldiers are together in Bosnia, working side by side to deal with the first major threat to the peace of Europe since the end of the Cold War. And a Ukrainian-Polish peacekeeping battalion is taking shape.

Ukraine has also managed its complex relationship with Russia with prudence and balance, working hard to defuse problems before they become crises. From time to time, when both parties have asked us to do so, the United States has helped, and it stands ready to do so again in the future.

We in the United States government fully understand the difficulty that often attends the right decisions. Therefore we will use every occasion, including this one here this evening, to reaffirm our determination to ensure that there is a proud and prominent place for Ukraine in the growing community of market democracies - and in the institutions that undergird our common values, our common interests and our common aspirations.

My boss, Secretary Christopher, recently delivered a major speech on European security in Stuttgart, Germany. He laid out the President's strategic vision for a Europe that is increasingly stable, secure, prosperous and democratic - a Europe that will be undivided for the first time in history. Let me quote just one part of what Secretary Christopher had to say about Ukraine in that speech. "A critical goal of the New Atlantic Community," he said, "is to achieve Ukraine's integration with Europe."

That statement will serve as a guiding principle for the United States in the months and years ahead. It means that we will support Ukraine's active participation in the Council of Europe and in the Organization on Security and Cooperation in Europe, the OSCE. It means that we will continue to assist Ukraine in its effort to join the World Trade Organization, and that we endorse Ukraine's interest in the Central European Free Trade Area, the European Union, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the OECD, which is the international forum for monitoring economic trends in free market democracies.

That same guiding principle - that same commitment to Ukraine's integration into the community of nations - will also help dictate our leadership of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. NATO is, and will remain, essential to the evolution of a new, post-Cold War Europe.

A solid, cooperative relationship between NATO and Ukraine is vital to European security. As all of you know, NATO is preparing to take in new members. There will be concrete steps in that direction next year. We are determined that the process of NATO enlargement will serve the larger cause of peace, security, prosperity, democratization and integration on the Continent of Europe.

This is more than just a matter of asserting a negative: it's more than being determined that NATO enlargement not create new dividing lines or harm the legitimate security interests of any of the new democracies that emerging from the old Soviet empire. Rather, it is also a matter of asserting a positive proposition - namely, that NATO will respect and enhance the security of the region as a whole and the security of all European states that deserve and aspire to integration. And that emphatically includes Ukraine.

As a vigorous, path-breaking participant in the Partnership for Peace, Ukraine is already cooperating closely with NATO. We've laid the basis for steadily developing relationship of cooperation and consultation. There is nothing to limit how that enhanced relationship might develop over time.

Let me underscore two simple statements of fact - and of principle: first, Ukraine and only Ukraine will decide what associations or memberships it aspires to in the future; and second, NATO, and only NATO, will decide whom to admit to its ranks.

The watchwords of NATO enlargement bear repeating here: the process will continue to be deliberate; it will be transparent; it will be open; it will be inclusive; it will be respectful. "Inclusive" means that none of the emerging democracies is to be excluded. None means none. It means there will be no special categories for inclusion into NATO, and none for exclusion from NATO. "Respectful" means that the rights and interests of all those states will be taken fully and properly into account in the way that enlargement occurs. Both of these principles apply to Ukraine.

Now, how we apply those principles is one of the most important items on the ever-growing agenda of U.S.-Ukrainian cooperation and consultation. No subject has occupied more attention than European security in the dealings that Secretary Christopher and I have had with our friend Foreign Minister Hennadii Udovenko, or in the talks that Tony Lake and I recently had with Volodymyr Horbulin, the very able secretary of the National Security and Defense Council. By the way, Foreign Minister Udovenko will be here again in just over a week for meetings with Secretary Christopher, Secretary Perry and National Security Advisor Lake.

The subject of Ukraine's important role in the building of a new Europe will also figure, along with a wide array of other topics, in a new channel that is opening between Washington and Kyiv: the U.S.-Ukraine Binational Commission, to be headed by President Kuchma and Vice- President Gore.

Now, I do not want to impose on your kind attention very much longer. Nor do I want to delay the next stage of the embassy's hospitality. I've been here before for this event and I know that there's going to be a lot of good cheer and some excellent adult beverages in due course. But I do want to make one final point.

All of us in the Clinton administration - starting with the president and the vice-president themselves - are optimistic - we are fundamentally optimistic - about Ukraine's future, and I sense that you are too. One reason for our optimism is that Ukraine has come so far in such a short period of time.

The United States' own historical experience should make us Americans humble, patient, persistent and admiring when we look at Ukraine. After all, our own democracy has been a work in progress for 220 years. We must remember how long it has taken us to get it right (in fact, we're still working at it). The United States became a "new independent state" in 1776. When we celebrated the fifth anniversary of our own independence in 1781, we still had a very long way to go. It would take us another six years just to draft a Constitution. Independent, democratic Ukraine accomplished that task before it turned five. In our own evolution as a civil society and a multi-ethnic democracy, it took us 89 years to abolish slavery, 144 years to give women the vote, and 188 to extend full constitutional protections to all citizens.

All of which is to say that, even by the accelerated, fast-forward standards of the modern world, Ukraine at the tender age of five has much of which to be proud, much to make it confident about the future, and much that we Americans can be proud to support, to applaud and to join in celebrating- for Ukraine's sake, and ours. So, happy birthday, Ukraine. Mnohaya Lita, Ukraino.