Ukraine is capable of ensuring its integrity and national sovereignty. This was the gist of Yushchenko’s response to Putin during the Ukrainian president’s visit to Helsinki. “We have the Ukrainian Armed Forces, which have been performing this duty and will continue to do so in the future. This is the function of the Ukrainian state,” Yushchenko said.
The president added that “on the other hand, if Vladimir Putin means the guarantees that Russia gave in the framework of the nuclear disarmament agreement — on par with the US and other parties — we are grateful that this position is being confirmed.” The Ukrainian president’s statement refers to his telephone conversation with Putin on Oct. 25, 2006, during which the Russian leader declared Russia’s readiness to defend Ukraine from external interference, at Ukraine’s request.
President Yushchenko also gave his response concerning the Russian Black Sea Fleet. Putin had said that the presence of the Russian fleet in the Crimea “will not be redundant” for Ukraine. Yushchenko promised diplomatically to do everything to ensure that the Ukrainian- Russian agreement about the temporary presence of the Russian Federation’s Black Sea Fleet until 2017 is fully implemented. He also noted that Ukraine’s constitution does not allow any foreign military bases on its territory, and this is also a norm for which he offers political guarantees.
Ukraine’s Minister of Defense Anatolii Hrytsenko also shared his thoughts on this subject. “Russia’s Black Sea Fleet is based in our state as an exception, because the constitution does not provide for a permanent location of any foreign armed forces on our state’s territory.” So, “Russian patriots” in the Crimea will have to pack their suitcases in 2017.
The gas question was not ignored at the briefing in Helsinki. In this instance, it was not a response to Putin but to a Russian-Ukrainian newspaper. Yushchenko declared that the political questions connected with the gas agreement between Ukraine and Russia for 2007 were not discussed on the presidential level. “I am convinced that the government did not allow this,” Yushchenko underlined.
Before Russia’s Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov’s visit to Ukraine, information was being circulated that Russia was purportedly demanding a number of political and economic concessions from Ukraine in exchange for maintaining the price of gas for 2007 at the zero level for 1,000 cubic meters.
