The Chicago Summit was by far the worst for Ukraine in the whole history of partner relations with the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance. First and foremost, Ukraine, a NATO partner, taking part practically in all the operations led by the Alliance, was not invited to the meeting of the allies, attended by heads of state and government, only to the meeting dedicated to Afghanistan. Our state officials in Bankova and Mykhailivska streets did not hide their dissatisfaction with this fact. The traditional meeting of the Ukraine-NATO Commission did not take place this time. Moreover, the summary declaration of the summit expressed the concern “by the selective application of justice and what appear to be politically motivated prosecutions, including of leading members of the opposition, and the conditions of their detention,” as well as encouraged Ukraine to ensure free, honest, and inclusive parliamentary elections.
Maybe that is the reason why the Ukrainian delegation felt so awkward at the beginning of the meeting of the North Atlantic Council at the level of heads of state and government.
The president, foreign affairs and defense ministers, head of the Administration as well as his deputy were standing aside, while the heads of state and foreign ministers of other countries were communicating with each other, for example Sikorsky was talking with Clinton, and Merkel – with Estonian president.
Yanukovych only greeted the president of Turkey and exchanged a few a words with him with the help of the head of Ukrainian diplomacy who performed the role of an interpreter. The Ukrainian president also greeted the United Arab Emirates foreign minister, who headed his country’s delegation. The head of Ukrainian state followed with his eyes German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who greeted him with a nod as she was passing by. Like a proper host, US president greeted many high-ranking officials and military men and had short conversations with them.
Obama only waved Yanukovych from afar. Some Ukrainian mass media reported, and other copied, that Ukraine’s president was sitting next to Obama during the session. In fact he was two seats away from him at a round table. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the UAE and British premier were sitting in between.
While answering The Day’s question whether there was any reason to go to this summit under the circumstances, President Yanukovych said that summits are an opportunity for informal meetings. “And any contact is helpful for the interests of our state,” he emphasized. In his words, during the bilateral meeting with Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai they reached an agreement on mutual visits. The president justly noted that one cannot lose the opportunity for cooperation with this country, especially taking into account the fact that our country is making a contribution to the contingent in Afghanistan.
Yanukovych also said that the questions of European integration with enhancing of cooperation were discussed during the tete-a-tete meetings with Polish and Romanian presidents, Bronislaw Komorowski and Traian Basescu. Whereas it has been agreed with the Polish president that they will regularly contact each other on the phone, an agreement on mutual visits has been reached with the head of the Romanian state.
Before the president came out to Ukrainian journalists in the Peninsula Chicago Hotel, where the delegation was accommodated, Yanukovych held meetings with representatives of two leading US companies: Ian MacDonald, vice president of Shevron Europa, Eurasia & Middle East Exploration, and Stephen Greenlee, president of ExxonMobil Exploration. According to the Ukrainian head of state, “we are offering the rules which will satisfy investors, which will be hard to reject, and correspondingly we expect them to come.” As we can see they do come. It is known that the first company won a tender on extracting shale gas in Olesko field (Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk oblasts) with three trillion cubic meters’ reserve of blue fuel. After the negotiations the head of ExxonMobil Exploration jointly with Ecology Minister Eduard Starytsky in presence of the president signed a protocol on the intentions of this company to take part in the competition for extracting gas in the Black Sea.
Yanukovych should be paid his due. In spite of the not simple relations with the West and Russia because of the situation connected with Tymoshenko and attempts of certain forces to isolate Ukraine, or the “anti-Ukrainian rhetoric,” mentioned by one of the members of the Ukrainian delegation, he is actively trying to find new sales markets, involve big investors from abroad, as well as implement the diversification of energy carriers supplies, specifically by increasing the extraction of our own energy carriers.
