NATO downgrades meeting with Ukraine, Kuchma not wanted at Prague summit (11/03/02)

NATO downgrades meeting with Ukraine, Kuchma not wanted at Prague summit

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - The North Atlantic Council of NATO told Ukraine on October 30 that none of the leaders of its 19 member-states would meet with President Leonid Kuchma during the upcoming NATO-Ukraine Summit, which they announced had been downgraded to a meeting of foreign ministers.

The long-planned conference - which was to decide future relations between the North Atlantic Alliance and Ukraine, and to agree on a new action plan to replace the one that has been completed - was originally scheduled as an agenda-topper for the second day of the larger NATO Summit, which will take place in Prague on November 21-22. The agreement, which NATO still hopes to see, would replace the action plan that was part of the original Charter on Special Partnership signed by NATO and Ukraine in 1997.

On October 31, NATO Secretary General George Robertson told the Ukrainian Service of the BBC that the determination to keep the meeting with Ukraine at a lower level was the direct result of the Kolchuha scandal.

"We had a feeling that under conditions of the recent discussion of the accusations of possible Kolchuha early warning systems supplies to Iraq it would be better for the interests of Ukraine and NATO if the Ukraine-NATO commission meets in Prague at the level of foreign ministers," explained Mr. Robertson.

The NATO decision, which in effect banishes the Ukrainian leader from the summit, came after word was leaked that a report U.S. and British experts would soon produce on the role of President Kuchma in the sale of Kolchuha anti-aircraft radar defense systems to Iraq will do little to clear his name.

The U.S. accused Mr. Kuchma of complicity in the affair on September 24, when it also halted financial aid to the central government of Ukraine. Washington asserted at the time that it had authenticated audio recordings in which the president of Ukraine approved the sale of a Kolchuha system to Baghdad through a Jordanian intermediary.

Ukraine replied quickly and decisively to the NATO decision when Foreign Affairs Minister Anatolii Zlenko put in doubt the presence of any sort of Ukrainian delegation at the Prague Summit. He said on October 31 that a review of Ukraine's involvement will take place before a decision was made.

"We withhold a decision on whether to attend the NATO Summit in order to determine the substance of the discussions and the documents to be signed. [The documents] must be such that they will give us assurance that our continued relations with NATO take on a new quality," explained Mr. Zlenko.

The Ukrainian foreign minister emphasized that Ukraine has no intention of changing its path toward European integration. He also underscored that Ukraine hoped for continued excellent relations with NATO once the current crisis passes.

Mr. Zlenko blamed the United States, and not NATO as a whole, for pulling back the invitation to President Kuchma and identified Washington's political motives as the single reason for Ukraine's current situation.

"We hope the misunderstanding between the U.S. and Ukraine has a temporary character," stated Mr. Zlenko. "We understand that this is the result of a short-sighted, misguided, unclear policy."

Earlier in the day, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine released a statement in which it said that Ukraine is an important European country that "cannot be the object of manipulation."

Political experts here increasingly believe that there is a new Washington policy to politically isolate President Kuchma. That view gained considerable support after news was leaked to The Washington Post columnist Jim Hoagland of the upcoming move. Mr. Hoagland wrote in an October 27 article that "Leonid Kuchma is about to be disinvited from a high-profile ceremony that was to be held on the edge of the Prague NATO summit," and that "[President George] Bush should call for a unified effort by NATO's 19 member-nations to single out Kuchma - evidently personally responsible for the illegal sale - for diplomatic isolation."

U.S. Congressman Bob Schaffer of Colorado, a co-chairman of the Ukrainian Caucus, followed a day later with a personal letter to President Bush in which he strongly suggested that, "Under the circumstance, isolation of the president and his associates, while improving relations with other Ukrainian officials, is the only logical diplomatic course for the United States."

The action by the North Atlantic Council came just after President Kuchma stated - as if he new what was coming - while on a visit to Lithuania, that he was not prepared to travel to the Prague summit to defend his own actions or Ukrainian policy. He suggested that if Ukraine was to be the focus of a political attack instead of constructive dialogue then it would be better that he stay home.

The president's comments came as a Ukraine-NATO organizational meeting in Yalta came to a close. The two sides had continued to plan and discuss the upcoming November meeting and the new agreements to be signed.

| Home Page |