“What did your UN meetings result in?”
“First, I would like to quell passions and excessive emotions. The situation around the groundless accusations against Ukraine of breaching Security Council sanctions is complicated and difficult; it has whipped up quite an uproar in the world but still we must keep cool.
“Ukraine has adequately and quite seriously reacted to the allegations. We are going neither to keep silent nor to make up excuses.”
“I clearly explained our state’s position to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, the chair and members of the Security Council, including representatives of all the ‘permanent five’ (Great Britain, China, Russia, the US, and France), the chair of the Security Council’s Iraqi Sanctions Committee, and the chair of the UN Monitoring, Verification, and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC).
“The main result of these meetings is complete understanding of the Ukrainian position under the actual political circumstances. We made a painstaking explanatory effort pivoting on the fact that Ukraine did and does adhere to its commitments to observe the Security Council sanctions against Iraq. I say again this is a fact.
“Throughout the 11-year history of the Security Council’s Committee 661 (the committee set up in 1990 to deal with sanctions against Iraq — Ed.), dozens of reports on Iraqi sanctions have been drawn up. None of them did or even could contain facts or suspicions about Ukraine violating the UN embargo.
“Like any other state, Ukraine cannot accept accusations based on conjecture. We offer a practical, not emotional, reaction to the allegations. To dispel the slightest doubts, we not only express readiness for full transparency and cooperation with the UN to impartially appraise the accusations made but also have already called for certain Security Council steps. Ukraine insists, rather than suggests, that the Security Council authorize checking any facts of our state’s alleged complicity in illegal arms trade with Iraq.
“There also are several concrete results. Firstly, we agreed with the Security Council members that this body hold consultations on the issue raised by Ukraine. Secondly, we were assured that the Security Council’s Iraqi Sanctions Committee would study the problem objectively and impartially. Thirdly, we set up the mechanism of inquiring into any facts of Ukraine breaching the sanctions against Iraq. Fourthly, on behalf of the President and government of Ukraine, I invited UN international experts to visit our country to collect the required information. Fifthly, Ukraine’s assurances of unwavering readiness for cooperation were duly welcomed by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan as well as representatives of the Security Council member states.”
“What do you think caused the allegations against Ukraine?”
“In the absence of hard evidence, I am inclined to view this situation through the prism of the current international competition and the exacerbated domestic problems in this country. We have more than once been the object of purposeful anti- Ukrainian campaigns. Over the past few years, our state has been accused dozens of times of the illegal arms trade — particularly with African states. Yet, those allegations were never confirmed and were always refuted. The tactic has also remained the same: accusations were brought on the eve of important political or economic events.
“In general, we are not going to give in to the attempts to use groundless accusations against Ukraine as an instrument for removing our state from the field of European and Euro- Atlantic integration. Our state’s foreign political choice and its participation in the worldwide antiterrorist coalition cannot be the bargaining chip of unfounded speculations.”
“Your forecast as to solving the problem?”
“I am sure the current misunderstandings will be soon cleared up. I hope an impartial investigation will finally cross the t’s and dot the i’s. From this angle, Ukraine counts on international support. The strategic nature of our relations cannot fall hostage to the current political situation or to any external intentions to split the present-day Euro-Atlantic alliance which Ukraine considers itself to be part of. Our state unequivocally confirms its unchanged desire to develop friendly relations and partnership with the USA.”
INCIDENTALLY
The European Union is not the United States of America, so the EU foreign policy differs from that of official Washington, European Commission spokeswoman Emma Udwin told Radio Liberty. In her words, the EU cannot revise its policy toward Ukraine just on the basis of US State Department statements, without thoroughly studying this problem. Ms. Udwin emphasized that the European Union had already raised the question of Ukraine’s arms export, but this referred not to Kolchuha radar installations but to the supply of weapons to Macedonia.
In this case, Ms. Udwin said, the EU is going to study the authenticity of the above-mentioned facts and demand that Ukraine obey the international rules of arms trade and refrain from such supplies to the countries subject to UN sanctions. Later in October, Brussels will host expert-level consultations on this matter between the EU and Ukraine. The Kolchuha sale problem will be discussed in Kyiv on October 11 by representatives of the EU troika and Ukraine and in Copenhagen on November 5 during the EU-Ukraine summit.
