U.S. congratulates people of Ukraine (01/02/05)

U.S. congratulates people of Ukraine

by Yaro Bihun
Special to The Ukrainian Weekly

WASHINGTON - The United States - both the Bush administration and members of Congress - hailed the December 26 presidential election in Ukraine as an historic event, congratulated the Ukrainian people for their accomplishment and acknowledged America's responsibility to help them achieve their goals.

On Monday, December 27, the day following the Supreme Court-ordered second run-off election, Secretary of State Colin Powell used the occasion of this briefing on U.S. assistance plans for the victims of the horrific tsunami in the Indian Ocean to express the U.S. government assessment of the importance of what happened in Ukraine.

"This is an historic moment for democracy in Ukraine," he said. Even though the election results were not yet official, he added "it appears that the Ukrainian people finally had an opportunity to choose freely their next president."

He said the election observers of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe had already noted that while there were some shortcomings, overall, the elections were very close to meeting international democratic standards.

"The Ukrainian people can truly be proud of this achievement," Secretary Powell said.

Even though the election vote count was almost complete and showed a comfortable lead for Viktor Yushchenko, Secretary Powell focused his remarks on the process and not the candidates. "The United States has supported a democratic process, not a particular candidate," he stressed.

"We congratulate Ukrainians for the courage they displayed in standing up for their democratic rights," he said and called on them "to set their divisions behind them and to refrain from violence, separatism or provocations."

"We have said that we are prepared to work closely with the winner of Sunday's election as long as the election was won in a free and fair contest," Secretary Powell said. "We are prepared to move forward on many issues of importance to Ukraine."

Asked about possible negative effects of the election on U.S.-Russian relations, Secretary Powell said he did not expect it "to be a blot" on those bilateral ties. "We'll move forward," he said.

"Ukrainians chose for themselves. They did not choose for the East or for the West," he said, adding that it would not serve anyone's interest to suggest that Ukraine "belongs" to the either the East or the West.

"Ukrainians own Ukraine. And what we're going to do is work with the Ukrainians to help them achieve their dreams and aspirations, help them improve their economy, and to help them improve their relations with us and with the rest of the world," he said.

Later that same day, in Crawford, Texas, Deputy Press Secretary Trent Duffy noted that President Geroge W. Bush had discussed the election results with Secretary Powell but had nothing to add to what the secretary of state had said on the subject.

The question about Viktor Yanukovych's threatened challenge of the election results was posed at the State Department press briefing on Tuesday, December 28. Deputy Spokesman Adam Ereli said the United States expects that Ukraine's electoral and judicial authorities "would conduct a fair, transparent and legal review that results in an outcome that reflects the will of the Ukrainian people."

Due to the Christmas holiday recess, timely congressional reaction to the election was sparse.

Some members of Congress had spent their holiday recess in Ukraine as election observers, among them Jim Kolbe (R) of Arizona, Susan Davis (D) of California, Donald Payne (D) of New Jersey, and Charles Taylor (R) of North Carolina, who shared their views at a press conference before returning home on December 27.

Rep. Kolbe, who chairs the House Subcommittee on Appropriations, expressed his admiration and congratulations to the Ukrainian people, as well as the Ukrainian and international press for their role in the process.

"I think the rest of the world could learn a good lesson from the Ukrainian people and benefit from the demonstration of the commitment they have shown to democracy in this country," he said.

"The message that we will take back to our colleagues in Washington is that we have witnessed a tremendous demonstration by the Ukrainian people in support of freedom and of democracy. We will look forward to working with and supporting the new government of Ukraine, whoever the president that is sworn in might be."

He said he believes the United States "will be more than willing to open all of the doors of cooperation with Ukraine." And as chairman of the Sub-committee on Appropriations, which funds U.S. assistance programs, he added, "I am confident that we will look favorably upon requests from the Administration for funding for programs in this country."

Rep. Kolbe discounted warnings about the threat of an internal east-west split in Ukraine resulting from this election as being somewhat overblown.

"This is not the first election that has taken place here in Ukraine," he said, noting that previous election results had also shown splits along regional lines. "There is no reason to believe that the Ukrainian people cannot and will not come together behind a new government," he added.

On the other side of Capitol Hill, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton wrote a commentary on the developments in Ukraine, published in the December 27 issue of the Financial Times (London). In her piece, she drew some lessons about democracy from what was going on in Ukraine.

"Democracy does not end with a constitution or the right to vote," she wrote. "The Ukrainian people have experienced both victories and struggles since they voted for independence 13 years ago. But, as we learned in our own country for more than 200 years, maintaining democracy is a never-ending struggle that we must face up to every day."

Laws protecting democratic institutions and freedoms are not enough, she said. "There must be a civil society where democratic values live in citizens' hearts and minds, where people stand up for what is right and where the rule of law, not the rule of crime and corruption, prevails."

And now that the Ukrainian people have won their struggle, she added, the United States should help them integrate into Western institutions and "provide Ukraine with assistance that helps the country to consolidate the democratic progress and economic reforms that have taken place."

President Bush should consider immediately inviting Ukraine's new president on a state visit to Washington, she said. "Such a visit would be a powerful gesture of support to the new Ukrainian president and further deepen the U.S.-Ukraine relationship and Ukraine's ties to the West."

"Americans owe it to them to pledge to stand by them now and in the future," Sen. Clinton said.

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