Dmitry Rogozin, chairman of the Russian Duma’s International Affairs Committee, told journalists that, should former Premier Viktor Yushchenko win the election, Russia would face “radical nationalist circles in power in Ukraine, grandsons of all those firing their guns at our grandfathers in Western Ukraine until the mid-1950s,” reports Interfax.
Mikhail Margelov, chairman of the International Committee of the Council of the Federation, also shared his views on Our Ukraine in an interview with the Russia’s Novosti Agency that are anything but unbiased: “It would be unnatural for Russia to support Viktor Yushchenko’s opposition bloc campaigning under an openly Russophobic program... Borys Tarasiuk’s name is among the top ten on the list of bankrupt National Democrats. As minister, he was known for his unbridled pro-Western policy under the motto of de-Russification, meaning Russophobia... Rome does not pay traitors,” he declared, adding that modernization is “an internal affair of every country, which requires not playing giveaway but upholding a rational and constructive cooperation with the West. In the case of Ukraine, it simultaneously requires such cooperation with Russia, because, hard as all those Tarasiuks, the 300-year-old friendly ties of fraternal peoples cannot be severed.”
Mikhail Margelov also said that even people like Viktor Yushchenko appearing in parliament would not damage Russian-Ukrainian relationships. “The times when Russia was bashful to talk out loud about its national interests are past,” he noted. “Today, we openly declare that Ukraine, as a subject of international relations, is of special interest to Russia.” He also pointed out that “Russia does care about the foreign political course of the state on its southwest border.” Earlier, Mr. Voloshin, head of Putin’s Presidential Administration, voiced a more reserved view on the Ukrainian elections. The Duma patriots must have taken it as a carte blanche. The style and tone of Russian lawmakers in the international domain is further evidence that some people in high office in the neighboring state, being of like mind with the odious “CIS expert” Konstantin Zatulin, recently proclaimed persona non grata in Ukraine, still behave like men whose wives walked out on them and now trying to meddle in those women’s lives, now demanding that they come back, then acting on the dog-in-the-manger principle. In this case, however, it is not a battery of sexes but relationships between two independent states. Perhaps everybody in the Duma realizes that it would be ridiculous to accuse Germany of having people holding leading posts whose grandfathers “fired their guns at our grandfathers,” yet they can’t help scrutinizing Ukrainian politicians’ family trees. Many Russian politicians seem to continue having problems accepting the fact that Ukraine and Russia are two separate states with two different histories.
The attitude toward Viktor Yushchenko’s Bloc notwithstanding, one must admit that statements like those made by Messrs. Rogozin and Margelov are acts of interference in Ukraine’s internal affairs. Such conduct by “professional patriots” in the Russian parliament will only serve to boost the popularity of their Ukrainian counterparts, and there will appear yet another sore spot in Ukrainian-Russian relations.
March 21, Viktor Yushchenko, Borys Tarasiuk, and Hennady Udovenko described statements made by “individual representatives of Russia” as crude interference in Ukraine’s internal affairs.
COMMENTARY
Serhiy TELESHUN, Ph.D. in history:
There you have it. The Russians are officially taking part in the Ukrainian election campaign. I recall the Russian ambassador saying that Russia does not take part in our election campaign. Now we have specific topics to discuss. Duma Deputy Rogozin, by the way, did not speak on behalf of the Russian president, although experts believe he is one of the most likely candidates as foreign minister and he is careful to coordinate his stand with that of the vertical chain of command. As for Voloshin, his statement is a mirror reflection of the stand taken by the Russian executive, whether or not what he said was his own initiative, or whether it was the result of arrangements with Ukrainian politicians, particularly with Voloshin’s colleague, Volodymyr Lytvyn. The next logical step would be to let the US secretary of state know what political forces they will bet on. After that Ukraine would conclusively become the scene of competition of the interests of both countries. Although I am sure that the statement was initiated by the Ukrainian side, by separate domestic politicians. Another thing is whether it was just a declaration or maybe there were specific actions behind it. Vladimir Putin said in Odesa that they will not support any political forces in Ukraine, but will cooperate with any forces favoring such cooperation. I think the Russians made a rather clever move, so that we can choose between the Putin and Voloshin statements. Second, it is a warning addressing certain political forces in Ukraine, showing who they ought to stick to if they want to have support in both parliament and business. Third, it is also a signal for the industrial lobby (especially in the privatization and oil-and-gas domains) cooperating with Russia, so they will know whom to rely upon. I think the statements will have some effect on the ratings of those political forces. On the other hand, the statements were made by politicians practically unknown in Ukraine, except for experts. Yet their ratings are mounting in the east and partially in the center, as are those of Yushchenko’s bloc, and not only in the west, but also central territories, particularly in Kyiv.
Oleksandr DERHACHOV, political scientist:
Here we have a combination of far-reaching schemes and inadequate specific moves by certain Russian politicians. It is extremely important for the Russians to have people in power in Ukraine they can understand and make them as dependent on them as absolutely possible. Moscow is ahead of Kyiv in its relations with the West and it is important to assert this leadership, so Ukraine can take steps westward only if so allowed by Russia. Of course, it’s all about the presidential elections, what political forces must be in the limelight and most effective during the period between the campaigns. Partially, it is also acting as requested by their friend Kuchma, because it is also important for him. The politically active part of the population is in the raw material, so they can figure all this out. However, such moves, primitive as they may seem, could prove quite effective, because there is also the ignorant part of the Ukrainian electorate, people who need simple answers to complex questions. So they have Russia they all understand, because the Russians are just like us, still close to the recent Soviet past; Russia offering support, friendship, and stability. Very likely, all this is just a distant approach to a massive political game aimed against Yushchenko, something well to be expected.
