1998: THE YEAR IN REVIEW: U.S. and Ukraine continue as partners (12/27/98)

1998: THE YEAR IN REVIEW

U.S. and Ukraine continue as partners

Relations between Ukraine and the United States - now being called a "strategic partnership" - were tested and continued to develop in 1998. There were high-level meetings and visits, frank discussions, agreements, resolutions of disagreements, cooperation, assistance and, through all of it, an apparent sense of normal relations at work.

The year began with the changing of the guard at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv. Ambassador William Green Miller, who spent more than four years in Kyiv helping establish the strategic partnership, returned to Washington and was replaced by Steven Pifer, a career diplomat who last served at the National Security Council.

Ukraine would change its ambassador in Washington in November, when Dr. Yuri Shcherbak concluded his four-year term and was replaced by Anton Buteiko, first vice minister of foreign affairs. For both countries, it would be the third exchange of ambassadors since they established diplomatic relations after Ukraine's independence.

The U.S. State Department's annual human rights report, released in late January, noted that "Ukraine continued the process of building a law-based civil society" in 1997. The report, which covers countries that receive U.S. foreign assistance and all countries that are members of the United Nations, noted that instances of human rights violations in Ukraine "remained at the same low level as in 1996." The latest annual report on Ukraine noted (as it did in 1996) that in many cases shortcomings result from holdover practices and personalities from the Soviet era, the absence of constitutionally mandated enabling legislation and enforcement, as well as the worsening economic situation in Ukraine.

The report cited continuing problems with trial delays and beatings in the unreformed legal and prison systems, and in the army. While noting progress in ensuring the independence of the judiciary under Ukraine's new Constitution, the report added that "political interference continues to affect the judicial process." Also, though it no longer criticized Ukraine for working under a Soviet-style constitution, as it did in previous reports, the State Department report pointed out that "the efficacy of the 1996 Constitution and the safeguards that it provides for human rights depends on enabling legislation, most of which has not yet been passed."

Much of the bilateral activity during the year revolved around Ukraine's need to secure sizable long-term credits from the International Monetary Fund to shore up its dwindling reserves as well as continued U.S. economic assistance. Both were contingent on Ukraine following through on President Kuchma's government program of structural and other economic reforms which were stalled before the election to the Verkhovna Rada and appeared threatened altogether following the leftist gains in the election.

There were numerous trips to Washington by Vice Prime Minister for Economic Reform Serhii Tyhypko and other members of the Ukrainian government's top economic team, culminating in the first visit to Washington by Prime Minister Valerii Pustovoitenko. That came one month after the IMF had approved the $2.22 billion, three-year Extended Fund Facility (EFF) program for Ukraine and the World Bank followed with more credits and grants totaling $950 million. Mr. Pustovoitenko's visit in October coincided with the annual meeting of the IMF and the World Bank, whose continued support became even more urgent when the Ukrainian economy came under pressure from the worldwide financial crisis - and especially the crisis in Russia.

High U.S. officials traveled to Kyiv as well to discuss economic and other U.S. concerns, such as nuclear non-proliferation. Among them were the State Department's ambassador-at-large for the new independent states, Stephen Sestanovich; the administration's special advisor on aid to that region, Richard Morningstar; Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright; and Vice-President Al Gore.

The U.S. government was concerned both about Ukraine holding the line on reform and about convincing international financial institutions, the U.S. Congress and private investors that Ukraine was worthy of support. Indeed, Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott wrote an article in the Washington Post two weeks after the Verkhovna Rada election, appealing for the continued support of Ukraine despite the leftward shift in the Rada and pointing out that Ukraine's stability and security "matter profoundly to Europe and the United States."

Secretary Albright was directed by Congress to "certify" that Ukraine was making progress in economic reforms and in resolving disputes with U.S. investors. Otherwise, Ukraine would forfeit almost half of the $225 million in U.S. foreign assistance funds for 1998. Ms. Albright ultimately announced her certification in April, albeit with a small hedge of holding back $10 million to 15 million as pressure for further progress.

In the 1999 U.S. foreign assistance budget passed by both houses of Congress in October, Ukraine was slated to receive $195 million, and all of it is subject to the Secretary of State's certification - within 120 days of the bill's enactment - "that Ukraine has undertaken significant economic reforms additional to those achieved in fiscal year 1998."

While in Kyiv in March, Secretary Albright also got Ukraine's assurance that it would not sell turbines for a Russian nuclear reactor project in Iran, which, Washington feared, could be used to develop nuclear weapons. This agreement paved the way for Ukraine to enter into a peaceful nuclear energy cooperation program with the United States and to join the Missile Technology Control Regime, giving it the opportunity to participate in such potentially lucrative international commercial space projects as Sea Launch and Global Star. The United States also agreed to assist in the economic development of the Kharkiv region, where the turbines were being made.

Vice-President Gore traveled to Kyiv in July for the second plenary session of the U.S.-Ukraine Binational Commission. Commonly called the Kuchma-Gore Commission, it was established in 1996 to turn the idea of the "strategic partnership" into reality. It conducts its work though four committees, dealing with foreign policy, security, trade and investment, and sustainable economic cooperation.

The U.S. vice-president praised President Kuchma's decrees on economic reforms, and expressed his support for the IMF's EFF credits for Ukraine and Ukraine's proposal to transport oil from the Caspian Sea to Western Europe through a pipeline across the southwestern region of Ukraine, from Odesa to Brody, and then through to Poland. In August, the United States provided funds for a feasibility study of that route, but in December, it announced its support of another pipeline route through Turkey to the Mediterranean Sea.

The U.S. Congress continued to play an important role in supporting the further development of U.S.-Ukraine relations. The Congressional Ukrainian Caucus, which now numbers 25 U.S. representatives, in many ways took the lead by organizing briefings on Ukrainian issues, supporting U.S. aid for Ukraine, meeting with visiting Ukrainian officials, sponsoring legislation - including the recent resolution marking the 65th anniversary of the Great Famine - and the annual Ukrainian Independence Day reception in Congress.

There was cooperation also in the arena of international crime. Noting that "democracy is under siege from ruthless, well-financed, well-organized criminal organizations," Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) convened an April 21 hearing by the Subcommittee on Foreign Operations of the Senate Appropriations Committee to focus on international crime programs. Testifying before the subcommittee were FBI Director Louis Freeh and Gen. Ihor Smeshko, director for strategic planning and analysis on the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine. (Gen. Smeshko was Ukraine's first military attaché in Washington.) The hearing focused on the Russian mafia operating throughout the new independent states and in the U.S.

In comments about Ukraine, Director Freeh said, "Gen. Smeshko and his agency are one of the several organizations in Ukraine that are direct beneficiaries of the training and institution-building programs that are the focus of this hearing ... Their presence here today stands as a testimony to the commitment by the government of Ukraine to develop modern law enforcement agencies that are based upon the rule of law."

Gen. Smeshko reported that "the level of crime is increasing" in Ukraine; he pointed to money laundering, which is "like a vacuum cleaner," and the resale of resources such as energy. He also noted that the "level of corruption of some government bodies is very high." He attributed the increase to the struggle for power between the left and right as well as the privatization of enterprises.

U.S.-Ukrainian cooperation was evident in other areas as well in 1998. One of the most active areas of U.S.-Ukrainian cooperation is reputed to be between the armed forces of the two countries, through frequent contacts and visits, training and military exercises. In November, Defense Minister Oleksander Kuzmuk came for his second official visit to Washington. This time he referred to his talks with U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen as a "meeting of friends."

U.S. and Ukrainian officials have also been cooperating in efforts to preserve the cultural heritage of minorities in both countries. In connection with this, Ukrainian representatives at two recent meetings in Washington - of the U.S.-Ukraine Cultural Heritage Commission and the Washington Conference on Holocaust-Era Assets - asked the United States for assistance in obtaining the return of a collection of drawings by 16th century German artist Albrecht Dürer, which were removed from Lviv's Stefanyk Library by the Nazis in 1941 and later found their way into American and other countries' museums.

Trafficking in women was another problem area in which Ukraine and the United States cooperated in 1998. During first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton's briefing in February about her trip to Kazakstan, Uzbekistan, Russia and Ukraine in November 1997, she underscored the need for action on this problem to which she was alerted while visiting Lviv. A month later, at a special White House ceremony marking International Women's Day, President Clinton outlined the U.S. plan of action, which included an expansion of U.S. efforts on behalf of women at home and abroad, and the convening of an international conference to develop strategies to combat the problem.

The Embassy of Ukraine had played a role in helping bring this issue to the fore, following reports about the problem in the Western media, including The Ukrainian Weekly. Ambassador Shcherbak had asked the first lady, in a follow-up meeting after her visit to Lviv, to push the U.S. to raise the issue to an international level.

The Ukrainian Embassy had also been active in fostering understanding of developments in Ukraine as well as its history and culture through various programs. It held a roundtable discussion with Kyiv-based Rabbi Yaakov Bleich about the state of the Jewish community in Ukraine, a commemorative evening for Ukrainian human rights activist Ivan Svitlychny and a presentation of Ambassador Shcherbak's book, "The Strategic Role of Ukraine: Diplomatic Addresses and Lectures (1994-1997)," published by the Harvard University Ukrainian Research Institute.

As the year drew to a close, Ukraine's new ambassador to the United States, Mr. Buteiko, organized a meeting at the Embassy with the leaders of major Ukrainian American organizations, to brief them about his agenda and listen to their ideas and concerns.

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