Udovenko warns U.N. General Assembly of concern over deployment of nukes (10/06/96)

Udovenko warns U.N. General Assembly of concern over deployment of nukes

by Khristina Lew

UNITED NATIONS - Ukraine's Minister of Foreign Affairs Hennadi Udovenko warned the 51st session of the U.N. General Assembly on September 26 that his country is concerned by the possible deployment of nuclear weapons on the territories of Ukraine's neighbors.

Should NATO expand into Central and Eastern Europe, Ukraine, a non-bloc state, could be flanked by nuclear weapons to the east and west.

In an annual address to the General Assembly, Mr. Udovenko reiterated President Leonid Kuchma's proposal for the creation of a nuclear-weapon-free zone in Central and Eastern Europe "between the Baltic and Black seas," and emphasized that support for such a zone would "promote an atmosphere of confidence between and among the states of the region, and prevent the emergence of new dividing lines on the European continent."

According to the Ukrainian foreign affairs minister, a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the center of Europe - along with existing zones in Antarctica, the South Pacific, Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa and Southern and Eastern Asia - would create "the 'critical mass' which would foster the process of global nuclear disarmament."

Mr. Udovenko also reiterated his country's commitment to disarmament, pointing out that as of June 1 Ukraine had become a "nuclear-weapon-free state" with the final withdrawal of all strategic nuclear warheads on its territory. Ukraine, a new member of the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, has made an "unprecedented contribution, which has not yet received adequate recognition by the international community, to diminishing the global nuclear threat," he said.

Mr. Udovenko announced that Ukraine had become an observer in the Non-Aligned Movement, an informal grouping traditionally comprising developing countries that do not belong to any military alliance. The foreign affairs minister told a press conference on September 28 that while Ukraine actively cooperates with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, it does not want to bait neighboring Russia. He said Ukraine has no plans to join either the Tashkent or NATO military alliances, and noted wryly, "No one would accept Ukraine into NATO anyway."

On September 27 Mr. Udovenko signed the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which bans all types of military and civilian nuclear explosions. Earlier, on September 24, President Bill Clinton signed the treaty, and an overwhelming majority of countries, including the remaining four declared nuclear weapons powers - Britain, China, France and Russia - have agreed to the comprehensive ban.

Mr. Udovenko addressed Ukraine's strategic goal to integrate into European and Euro-Atlantic structures during his General Assembly speech, and proposed that the U.N. Security Council expand the number of non-permanent members to include one additional seat specifically for an Eastern European state. He also said Ukraine supports the desire of Germany and Japan to become permanent members of the Security Council.

The Ukrainian foreign affairs minister emphasized the need to create a new U.N. organ, the Council on Economic Security, proposed by President Kuchma at the 50th anniversary commemorative meeting of the General Assembly in 1995. According to the Ukrainian president's proposal, the council would increase the "level of international economic security, secure the global coordination of the activities of international, regional and national economic institutions, and prevent economic coercion and discrimination," Mr. Udovenko said.

Mr. Udovenko also touched on his government's debt to the international organization, and announced that Ukraine will pay the United Nations $20 million this year. He criticized the U.N. decision that made Ukraine a debtor, claiming that an "unfair" General Assembly decision "refused to increase the contribution of those nations which could afford to pay and, contrary to the rules, placed larger contributions on the shoulders of the countries which were unable to pay such amounts."

During his September 26-October 2 visit to New York to participate in General Assembly activities, Mr. Udovenko held meetings with the foreign ministers of France, Germany, Russia, Britain and China.

On September 27 he was honored at a reception at the Ukrainian Mission to the United Nations, which was attended by foreign ministers of Russia, Belarus, Turkmenistan and Portugal, and U.N. ambassadors to Poland, Slovakia, Estonia and Cuba.