“Two days have passed so quickly, like a minute. Nevertheless, all the meetings have been very constructive,” Russian Duma Speaker Gennady Selezniov summed up his two-day visit to Kyiv at a press conference, December 17 . He stressed, however, that this was not the end of political visits from the neighboring country. Mr. Selezniov said that “new landing troops” would reach Kyiv, January 14, 2003. (Sounds scary, doesn’t it?) The Russian-Ukrainian inter-parliamentary cooperation task force would also meet that day.
Russian Ambassador Viktor Chernomyrdin, also attending the press conference, said that Gennady Selezniov’s visit marked the beginning of an “open dialog” between Kyiv and Moscow. The Russian guest was accorded welcome in Ukraine virtually at all levels. He met with the president, Verkhovna Rada speaker, and premier. The key message delivered by the Russian envoy was about a closer cooperation between the two fraternal nations, particularly in the economic sphere. Mr. Selezniov said that all roadblocks in trade and economic cooperation could be eliminated if Ukraine joined the Eurasian Economic Community. Official Kyiv, however, did not look overly enthusiastic about the prospect of joining this obscure alliance of Russia, Belarus, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. Some experts also suggested that, by joining the EurAsEC, Ukraine would stand to lose some of its sovereignty in terms of taxation, financial, and customs spheres. Ukrainian diplomats persist in stressing the fundamental disparity between Kyiv’s European aspirations and the possibility of full EurAsEC membership. Meanwhile, Gennady Selezniov seemed confident that the controversy was ill-defined: “We are prepared to move in the European direction together with Ukraine, Belarus, and the rest of the EurAsEC members.” Nevertheless, two minutes earlier Mr. Selezniov openly lashed out at Western Europe: “Previously it seemed that only EU could be Ukraine’s main partner. But man learns everything the hard way. Today I am confident that Ukraine is not likely to find a more reliable and stronger partner than Russia.”
Unfortunately, the press conference’s timeframe prevented journalists from ascertaining what Mr. Selezniov meant by “hard way,” as well as what made him so sure about Russian-Ukrainian partnership. As for the latest trends in Russian-Ukrainian relationships, it would seem more to the point to consider Ukraine’s current position on the international arena: nothing to write home about. Also, the fact that the Kremlin is taking a manifestly pragmatic stand (actually, more pragmatic than that of the West) in taking advantage of the present situation. Of course, it is only natural for Russia to wish this situation to last. Anyway, this explains Moscow persistently inviting Ukraine to join EurAsEC.
