Recent statements from the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the clear absurdity of Ukraine’s joining the Russian-dominated Eurasian Economic Community and continuing to hope for Euro-Atlantic integration give cause for optimism to all who hope for Ukraine’s ultimate evolution into a modern and prosperous European state. The whole idea of Ukraine entering Europe together with Russia is and will remain to be absurd, because, as Nikolai Danilevsky put it in his 1869 cornerstone of Russian intellectual history, Russia and Europe, Russia is a civilization fundamentally different from Europe. In geopolitical terms Russia cannot enter Europe without at least transforming it into something very different from the Europe that is currently being built. In terms of political values, Russia’s clear drive for hegemony within the sphere of influence it has managed to retain does not seem very European. The West’s current love affair with Russia, the reasons for which should be all to clear for those who saw on television how US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld visited the 1500 American military personnel to whom Russia had graciously allowed the use of Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan) air base, is unlikely to be permanent. Its economic and political systems, like those of Ukraine, work in fundamentally different ways from those acceptable to the West. For all the apparent Westernizing zeal by Russia’s current president, it remains unlikely that, however sincere he might be, he will be able to reverse centuries of Russian, including Soviet, history along with the habits of mind and conduct that history produced.
Ukraine is poised on the border of these civilizations with its own west leaning toward Europe and its east toward Russia: it could go either way. The encouraging words from the country’s officials about Ukraine’s unending devotion to Europe should never obscure the fact that entering Europe is not only a foreign policy problem. It is a host of problems concerning how the country works internally, and the diplomats cannot solve them. If Ukraine becomes ready for the West, it will certainly be welcome there. Many here want precisely this to happen. Still, in judging what is really going on, one must never forget the old dictum inherited from the Soviet Union: “Say one thing, think another, and do a third.”
