CBC COMMENTARY: Western policy toward Ukraine (02/07/93)

CBC COMMENTARY: Western policy toward Ukraine

Below is the text of a commentary of "Western Policy Toward the New Ukraine" by Dr. David Marples, aired by CBC Commentary on January 26. Dr. Marples is associate professor of Russian history at the University of Alberta. He has authored four books, including "Ukraine Under Perestroika" (1991) and "Stalinism in Ukraine in the 1940s" (1992).

Canada was one of the first nations to recognize independent Ukraine. But since then it has berated Ukraine for dragging its feet on the removal of nuclear weapons to Russia for destruction. It has even threatened to withdraw humanitarian aid. But evidence would suggest that Ukrainian security concerns are real and urgent. What are they?

First, Russia has on several occasions laid claim to Ukrainian territory, especially the Crimean peninsula, ceded to Ukraine by the USSR in 1954. Second, Russia and Ukraine have clashed repeatedly over the future of the Black Sea Fleet, a decrepit relic of the Soviet navy, but a potential danger to Ukraine since it navigates the southern border of the country. Third, there is conflict over the price of oil imported into Ukraine from Russia, which has risen 300 times over the past year.

Disregarding such issues, Canada has declared that Ukraine is delaying the signing of the Strategic Nuclear Arms Reduction Treaty, called START I, with its irresponsible and intransigent attitude. On January 6, 1993, the Bush administration also rejected Ukraine's demand for a U.S. guarantee of its security once its 176 weapons are transferred. In doing so, it chose to ignore Ukraine's view that its potential enemy today is not the United States or NATO, but Russia.

If there is to be a future for democracy in this emergent country, the West must recognize its legitimate security concerns. Today, according to its premier, Ukraine is on the verge of economic collapse. Ninety percent of the workforce lives below the poverty line, and they are also struggling with a 2,000 percent a year inflation rate. The breadbasket of Europe is, in reality, a basket case. Why has this happened?

It has occurred largely because the current government has placed political survival before economic reform. Ukraine is becoming a crisis center of eastern Europe, a source of new and dangerous conflicts in this unstable part of the world. The West's attitude may not be the decisive factor in the future of Ukraine, but by re-examining its current one-sided approach to the countries of the former USSR, and treating these states as individual entities, it can be both peacemaker and harbinger of democracy.

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