Ukraine, Russia sign long-awaited bilateral treaty (06/08/97)

Ukraine, Russia sign long-awaited bilateral treaty

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - Russia's President Boris Yeltsin came to Ukraine on May 30 on his first official state visit and signed a comprehensive treaty on friendship and cooperation with his Ukrainian counterpart, President Leonid Kuchma. In the document Russia formally recognizes the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country that for centuries was a centerpiece of its empire.

The treaty marks "a new era" in the often bitter historic relations between the two countries, said President Yeltsin after signing the "big treaty," as the two leaders have been calling it.

Later, at a ceremony at the monument to the "Liberator Soldier," not far from where the two presidents signed the historic document, President Yeltsin explicitly stated Russia's recognition of the independence of Ukraine. "Ukraine is an independent country, and we will hold this premise sacred," he said. He added that Russia "does not lay claim on any part of Ukraine or on any of its cities."

The two leaders signed three documents in all at the Mariinsky Palace in Kyiv on May 31: the big treaty called the Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation and Partnership, a statement on the Black Sea Fleet and an agreement of cooperation in the development of a common space industry.

The bilateral treaty, which has a life of 10 years but is automatically extended unless either side calls for its cancellation, is a far-reaching document that addresses increased military, political, cultural and economic relations between the two countries. In the document the two parties agree on the inviolability of their territories, and pledge to build mutual relations on the basis of "non-use of force or threat of force, including economic or any other means," and "not to conclude with third parties any agreements aimed against the opposite side."

The treaty underscores compliance with the United Nations Charter and the Helsinki Accords and its subsequent agreements, and reaffirms adherence to the Tripartite Statement signed by the presidents of Ukraine, Russia and the United States in January 1994 and the Budapest Memorandum of security guarantees given Ukraine by the nuclear states in December 1994.

There are also statements on the development of free trade between the neighbors, cooperation in scientific-technical development in the fields of outer space exploration, aircraft and nuclear engineering, metallurgy, electronics, and the fuel and energy sector; and establishment of information-cultural centers in Kyiv and Moscow.

Speaking to reporters as he saw President Yeltsin off at Boryspil Airport, Mr. Kuchma said, "This was an event of huge importance that opens a new stage in relations between our two countries."

"Ukraine is a smaller country than Russia, but there are fewer politicians in Russia now who think that Ukraine can be strangled by force and kept as a vassal," Reuters quoted the Ukrainian president as saying.

Arrival on the seventh try

After six previous failed attempts to visit Ukraine in the last two years, President Yeltsin finally made it on the seventh try. In Moscow before his departure for Kyiv, he explained that more than elections in Russia or his ill health, it was the issue of the Black Sea Fleet that had kept him away. "I could not come to Kyiv until we had an agreement on the Black Sea Fleet," said the Russian leader, according to Interfax-Ukraine. He explained that except for resolution of the Black Sea Fleet issue, the treaty had been basically ready for almost two years.

Two days before President Yeltsin arrived here, his prime minister, Viktor Chernomyrdin, signed an accord on the division of the Black Sea Fleet, which has been a source of serious friction between the two countries almost from the day the Soviet Union fell apart.

Finally having crossed all the "t's" and dotted all the "i's," which is how Prime Minister Chernomyrdin described final preparations for the big treaty after he had signed the Black Sea Fleet accord, President Yeltsin and the whole Russian delegation made overt efforts to express their pleasure with the historic occurrences in Kyiv. Upon his arrival at Boryspil Airport outside Kyiv, the Russian president, looking fit although a bit slow, spoke of "breaking the big knots" in relations between Ukraine and Russia, after which "the little and medium-size knots would fall apart." As for his first visit to Ukraine since 1990, he said, "It is with great excitement that I set foot on Ukrainian soil."

Russia's Foreign Minister Primakov emphasized the need for closer relations between the two countries. "The relations between our two countries should be more than neighborly, they should be fraternal," he said during a meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart Hennadii Udovenko. He used the phrase "fraternal relations" three times in his short introductory statement.

Many here speculate that Russia has become eager to cooperate more closely with Ukraine to lure it away from NATO, with which the Kyiv government is seeking closer ties, although not membership. While visiting the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on May 30, Mr. Yeltsin, even promised that Russia would defend Ukraine in an emergency. The chairman of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, Volodymyr Horbulin, was quick to explain later that evening that the remark was unsolicited and that Ukraine had requested no security assurances. "Even though President Yeltsin may have had good intentions, it was never requested by the Ukrainian side," said Mr. Horbulin.

Many issues have complicated Russian-Ukrainian relations in the last six years, from Russian claims on the Ukrainian city of Sevastopol to the splitting of the Black Sea Fleet, to the status of the Ukrainian language in Russia and Russian in Ukraine and problems of oil and gas supplies, for which Ukraine is overwhelmingly dependent on Russia. There is also the historical aspect of Russia's more than 300-year hegemony over Ukraine, the consequences of which is a Ukraine rightfully leery of moving closer than necessary to its former "big brother."

The treaty that Presidents Yeltsin and Kuchma signed far from settles many of the disagreements between Ukraine and Russia. For one, there is still no delineated border between the two states. However, in the week before the summit an interstate commission was formed to solidify a border, which is expected to take a month. Also, Ukraine remains the only country on which Russia assesses a tax of 20 percent on imports and exports from its territory. President Yeltsin assured Ukrainian government officials before he departed that he would make sure the tax would be halved. He called the double taxation "banditry."

For Ukraine it was the culmination of what can be considered to be among the most important several days in the past six years. On May 29, on the eve of President Yeltsin's visit, the two countries agreed to the division of the Black Sea Fleet. Also that day Foreign Minister Udovenko initialed the Ukraine-NATO charter in Sintra, Portugal, with all 16 ministers of NATO present.

These events were sandwiched by two other major occurrences: an agreement with Belarus that delineates borders between the two countries and one with Romania that was signed on June 2 that will recognize existing borders and lands. Thus, Ukraine finally will have border and friendship treaties with all of its neighbors.

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