After long and strained consultations at the OSCE meeting in Vienna, Ukraine recalled former Foreign Minister Borys Tarasiuk as candidate OSCE High Commissioner for National Minorities. Ukraine’s current Foreign Minister Anatoly Zlenko stated after a meeting with his Norwegian counterpart Thornbjorn Jagland that Mr. Tarasiuk’s candidacy was withdrawn in order “not to block consensus.” Max van der Stool will be succeeded as OSCE High Commissioner by Rolf Ekeus, former Swedish cabinet member. He was nominated by member countries of the European Union and the United States. Mr. Zlenko said he did not see anything tragic about the replacement. “We have retreated, but we are not defeated.” This maneuver, in his own words, “also has the appearance of victory.” Among other things, Anatoly Zlenko announced that US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright had told him that Tarasiuk’s candidacy “will not achieve consensus.” After that one can still dwell at length on strategic partnership and the appearances of victory; but the fact remains that Ukraine was forced to backtrack yet again, because the interests of others turned out to be more important to the West.
After his replacement as foreign minister, Borys Tarasiuk was reported to have been instructed by the President to run for the post of OSCE High Commissioner. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry believed he had a good chance, considering that the EU countries could not agree on their own candidate the previous month (there were other candidates, including Jose Kutileiro, former Secretary General of the Western European Union). Twenty countries of the region voiced their support for Tarasiuk, among them Russia, despite the fact that Dmitry Rogozin, chairman of the Duma’s Foreign Relations Committee, was expressly opposed to the candidacy. As for Kutileiro, he had stepped down even earlier.
According to Foreign Minister Zlenko, Ukraine, by recalling Tarasiuk’s candidacy, got out of the situation with honor and the situation was allegedly reminiscent of the 1812 Napoleonic War and Kutuzov’s retreat from Moscow only to be followed by victories over the French. Mr. Zlenko believes Ukraine has reached a point where its European integration could have been held hostage to the issue. Thus Ukraine withdrew the candidacy proceeding from its own strategic interests, primarily the fact that Sweden will preside over the EU next year. Mr. Zlenko refuses to see “Moscow’s hand” in Ekeus’s victory. One can only hope that the foreign minister is correct in predicting that Ukraine’s interests will be taken into consideration at subsequent stages, and not only in the OSCE. Moreover, Zlenko believes that the very fact of Borys Tarasiuk’s withdrawal of his candidacy is evidence that ethnic minorities in Ukraine have a normal legal status.
Perhaps it is true that Ukraine, after losing a piece, to use chess parlance, will win in terms of quality. The more so that Sweden has up to now shown a friendly attitude, as openly admitted by Swedish diplomats, and that Ukraine’s European integration actually remains at the stage of statements and declarations.
On the other hand, it is also evidence of Ukraine’s weak international position, considering that it has been unable to create a friendly environment during the ten years of its existence as an independent state. But this is primarily a matter of domestic policy.
Borys Tarasiuk betrayed no signs of disappointment and told The Daythat he would remain a free man and would soon relate his own views on the situation in an article for The Day.
