Congressional delegation visits Kyiv on cooperative exchange initiative (03/04/01)

Congressional delegation visits Kyiv on cooperative exchange initiative

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - A U.S. Congressional delegation has agreed on a cooperative exchange initiative with Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada, which will allow the two legislative bodies to address problems common to their countries.

The initiative was announced on February 23 in Kyiv by the group of five U.S. lawmakers, three Republicans and two Democrats, while on a tour of Moldova, Russia and Ukraine aimed at broadening relations with the parliaments of the three countries. While the U.S. delegation spent two days in Kyiv, two of its members, Rep. Marcy Kaptur and Rep. Bob Schaffer, who have Ukrainian roots and will lead the cooperative exchange effort, spent additional time here.

The U.S. delegation also met with leading members of the Kyiv press corps and representatives of the non-governmental organizations to hear first-hand about the problems of press freedom and to ascertain the state of U.S.-sponsored aid programs

And, the U.S. legislators ran headlong into Tapegate and the Gongadze affair, which occupied a considerable amount of their official meetings with Ukraine's political leadership, including President Leonid Kuchma, Prime Minister Viktor Yuschenko and Verkhovna Rada Chairman Ivan Pliusch.

U.S. Rep. Curt Weldon, who chaired the delegation, said the cooperative exchange program with the Ukrainian Parliament, which was proposed by the U.S. side, would allow the two sides to work more closely and better understand each other.

"Some of us in Congress have been concerned that we have not understood the problems and opportunities in Ukraine more fully," explained Rep. Weldon.

The congressman, who explained that the point was "to increase the level of engagement," said the thrust of the program would be legislative exchanges, but underscored that it would not consist simply of symbolic meetings and formal toasts.

He said that Rep. Kaptur and Rep. Schaffer, leading members of the Congressional Ukrainian Caucus in the House of Representatives, as co-chairs would develop an agenda that would concentrate on issues in which both legislatures have expressed interest, including commerce, energy, medicine and agriculture.

Rep. Weldon explained that exchanges of U.S. congressmen and Ukrainian national deputies would take place at least twice a year. Additional communication and transfers of information would take place via Internet linkages that are planned.

The longtime Pennsylvania congressman also said that while several members of the delegation, including himself and Rep. Dennis Kucinich, have a large Ukrainian American constituency, which makes their interest in Ukraine logical, the goal is to get hundreds of other lawmakers involved. The only way that would happen, he explained, would be to address issues high on the U.S. agenda, such as natural resources and the environment, health care and defense issues, which he said also concern Ukrainians.

Rep. Kaptur, who has supported Ukrainian causes for years and first visited the country in 1972, said the exchange initiative is much more than a symbolic program to appease Ukrainian American constituencies.

"This is not just about Ukrainian Americans and preserving cultural heritage, but about working with one of the most important countries of Central Europe," she explained.

A day earlier, during a meeting of the congressional delegation with leading members of the Kyiv press corps and NGOs, Ms. Kaptur said she would concentrate on developing a dialogue with Ukrainian parliamentarians on agricultural reform.

"I have long believed that the freedom of land is essential to a free society," said Rep. Kaptur during a frank conversation with the journalists and NGO officials that touched on several subjects - not the least of which was the political crisis in Ukraine. The crisis - caused by the disappearance and murder of Heorhii Gongadze, along with audiotapes that subsequently surfaced, seemingly implicating the Ukrainian president and high government officials - has caused an international stir.

Mr. Weldon said the delegation held a candid and open conversation with President Kuchma on the subject and was satisfied with the tone and substance of his responses.

He said the Ukrainian president had accepted an offer originally made by U.S. Ambassador Carlos Pascual to have the FBI do a forensic examination of the body found outside Kyiv in mid-November, now acknowledged to be the remains of Mr. Gongadze (see story on page 4).

Rep. Weldon also said the U.S. lawmakers voiced their concerns that in the investigation and in all aspects of the political crisis surrounding it government officials abide by the rule of law and principles of non-violence, and assure individual rights of speech, thought and assembly. He said President Kuchma had told them that would be the case.

"We tried to assess whether the president would uphold the requirements and in a very candid and forthright way he said he would," explained Rep. Weldon.

But the U.S. lawmakers also warned the president's opponents that as part of a democracy they had to refrain from mob rule and allow for due process and the presumption of innocence.

"Any resolution of the Gongadze case without taking these things into consideration will adversely affect U.S.-Ukraine resolutions," said Mr. Weldon.

The congressional delegation announced that it would introduce a resolution in the U.S. House of Representatives calling for an open investigation into the Gongadze murder and a peaceful resolution to the political crisis that is consuming Kyiv.

Two of the lawmakers, Mr. Schaffer and Mr. Kucinich, trekked to the city center during their stay to get a first-hand look at the tent city constructed by the anti-Kuchma forces.

Mr. Kucinich said he had decided to visit after he was informed that an order had been given to tear the encampment down, which turned out to be a false alarm.

While in the area, the U.S. representative from the Cleveland area attempted to take a peek inside the now walled-in Independence Square, at the place where a memorial stands to St. Michael the Archangel, only to be confronted by six militiamen who gruffly inquired about his purposes. Mr. Kucinich said he quickly realized the irony of a boarded-up Independence Square.

"I quickly said a prayer to St. Michael for the militia and in support of that which this square represents," Rep. Kucinich stated.

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