U.S. defense secretary visits Kyiv (06/10/01)

U.S. defense secretary visits Kyiv

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld promised on June 5 that the Bush administration would include Ukraine in all international negotiations on a U.S. missile defense system.

"I can't speak for Russia, but I can assure you that the U.S. intends to consult fully with Ukraine as we proceed," said Mr. Rumsfeld, who has spent a good portion of his first months on the job assuaging foreign governments - and especially Russia - that the U.S. missile defense system is not a threat and is not a reason to abandon earlier anti-ballistic missile treaties with the U.S.

The U.S. defense secretary was on an overnight stay in Kyiv before flying to Greece and then on to a NATO meeting in Brussels.

The United States and Ukraine signed no significant agreements during the defense secretary's short stay in the Ukrainian capital, but the meeting was significant in that it was the first personal contact between a high-level official in the new administration of U.S. President George W. Bush and Ukraine's President Leonid Kuchma.

Ukraine's Minister of Defense Oleksander Kuzmuk said during a press conference with Mr. Rumsfeld that Ukraine has no firm stance on the missile deployment, except that it must be done in full cooperation with the Russian Federation. He added that he also expects Ukraine to be included in talks at all levels.

"Ukraine, as a country that is a successor state to the Soviet Union and a country that willingly gave up nuclear arms, must be invited to all further discussions on the subject," explained Gen. Kuzmuk.

Mr. Rumsfeld emphasized that the U.S. is not yet locked into a specific plan and is willing to listen to proposals from all friendly parties.

"The administration is looking at the subject in the broadest way," stated Mr. Rumsfeld and later added, "Our intention is to develop discussions with countries such as Russia as well as with Ukraine."

He said the Bush administration's plans would include a reduction in the U.S. nuclear arsenal.

While the missile defense plan was a key component of discussion between Mr. Rumsfeld and Mr. Kuchma, the two also discussed the state of Ukraine's democratic and free market reforms. He said one of his central purposes as the first representative of the Bush administration to visit Kyiv was to express its interest and support for the development of democratic and economic institutions and a free press. The secretary of defense also expressed satisfaction with what he had been told by the Ukrainian president.

"We recognize that there has been no book written that describes how a country moves from communism to democracy and free markets," noted Mr. Rumsfeld. "It can be a difficult path, we understand. But it has been a steady path [for Ukraine], and we have been impressed with the solid commitment by the president and his ministers to pursue that path."

When asked whether the case of the missing and presumed dead Ukrainian journalist Heorhii Gongadze was discussed, Mr. Rumsfeld responded with a curt statement explaining that the "necessity of a thorough and transparent investigation," was discussed with Mr. Kuchma.

The two sides also reaffirmed their commitment to the NATO-Ukraine partnership as spelled out in the charter on a distinctive partnership that the two sides signed in Lisbon three years ago, as well as to their cooperation in the KFOR force in Kosovo.

Gen. Kuzmuk said Ukraine would continue to broaden relations with NATO as outlined in its State Program on NATO-Ukraine Relations, which is effective until 2004, and that Ukraine would continue military reform in cooperation with the North Atlantic alliance.

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