D.C. conference examines Ukraine's role in the world (12/22/96)

D.C. conference examines Ukraine's role in the world

by Yaro Bihun
Special to The Ukrainian Weekly

WASHINGTON - Zbigniew Brzezinski summed up Ukraine's first five years of independence succinctly about a half-hour into his dinner address at the National Press Club on December 12.

"Ukraine is here to stay," the former presidential national security advisor and now counselor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies told the participants of a conference devoted to analyzing how Ukraine developed its relations with the rest of the world since the break-up of the Soviet Union. The conference was sponsored by the Harvard University Ukrainian Research Institute.

Titled "Ukraine in the World," it was the first in a series of conferences planned by the Ukrainian Research Institute under the general theme, "Ukraine - Five Years of Independence." It was held December 12-14 at the George Washington University in conjunction with the Ukrainian Program of the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies at GWU, and in cooperation with the Ukrainian Embassy, which hosted the last session of the conference.

In addition to Dr. Brzezinski, the conference also heard from Anton Buteiko, Ukraine's first vice foreign minister; Borys Tarasiuk, Ukraine's ambassador to the Benelux (Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg) and former first vice foreign minister; James Collins, special adviser for the new independent states to the U.S. secretary of state; Richard Morningstar, U.S. ambassador-at-large for the NIS; Dr. Yuri Shcherbak, Ukraine's ambassador to the United States; and other U.S. government representatives, think-tank analysts and academic experts from the United States, Canada, Germany and Turkey.

Independent Ukraine not only defines itself as a state, but is a stabilizing factor in Europe and helps Russia define itself, Dr. Brzezinski said. How Russia accepts Ukraine as an independent nation will determine whether Russia will become a normal European state or try to re-establish its empire. So far, judging by Russia's approach to the issues of Crimea and Sevastopol, he added, the answer is ambiguous, and will remain so for some time.

"It is, after all, an enormous change for Russia to become accustomed to an independent Ukraine," he said. "For 300 years, Ukraine was viewed as part of Russia, and hence, we have to be patient. It's not an excuse for these attitudes - they have to be repudiated - but it is a statement of historical perspective. It will take time for them to be altered, and we should have no illusions."

Dr. Brzezinski added, however, that "Russia is not forever doomed to be an empire."

"My sense is that the Russian political elite realizes that Russia's future is not in self-isolation. But there are legacies to be overcome, emotions to be overwhelmed and suppressed," he said.

Dr. Brzezinski, who heads the American-Ukrainian Advisory Committee, quoted from a letter he recently received from Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott, in which he responds to some of the committee's recommendations and describes the administration's reasoning behind the enhanced U.S.-Ukrainian relationship.

"The Clinton administration did not lightly agree to characterize its relationship with Ukraine as a strategic partnership," Mr. Talbott wrote. "The decision to do so was based on the recognition that Ukraine increasingly shares our values and goals, and that a strong, prosperous, democratic and independent Ukraine can make a critical contribution to the stability and well-being of Europe as a whole - a core U.S. national security interest.

"It is remarkable, I think, that in the relatively short time since Ukraine re-established its independence, the ties, cooperation and over-all warmth of our bilateral relations have developed to the point of a strategic partnership, where each country views the other as a sympathetic friend and ally, with whom we will work to build the democratic and integrated Europe of the 21st century," Mr. Talbott wrote.

To this Dr. Brzezinski added: "This has certainly been the goal of those of us who over the last three to four years have toiled for a genuine strategic relationship between the United States and Ukraine."

First Vice Foreign Minister Buteiko also spoke about the need to change the post-Soviet psychology of both the Russian and Ukrainian people. In a luncheon address on December 12, he pointed out that the Ukrainian elite must become more "national-minded" and must learn how better to govern their country.

Nevertheless, he said, Ukraine has made great strides in the five years of independence - in beginning the conversion from military to civilian industrial production, bringing inflation under control, beginning tax reforms, preparing and submitting budgets, improving the investment climate, diversifying its foreign economic relations, integrating into the European and trans-Atlantic communities, and establishing a strategic partnership with the United States.

At this stage of its development Ukraine still needs foreign assistance, he said. But in the not too distant future, he added, "We will be on our feet, and we won't need help."

In his closing remarks at the conclusion of the conference on December 14 at the Ukrainian Embassy, Mr. Buteiko added that Ukraine is not interested in handouts, but rather in cooperation and in obtaining technical know-how. As he described it, Ukraine does not want fish but the knowledge of how to fish.

Ukraine's relationship with the United States is based on common principles of democracy, market economy, human rights and equality, he said. And even though it can never be the equal of the United States and Russia, he added, Ukraine nonetheless expects and now enjoys equal treatment and respect in its relations with the United States.

Ambassador Collins dealt with the U.S.-Ukrainian relationship in more detail during his luncheon address on December 13, mentioning also that the mutual interest in non-proliferation, especially with "rogue states," is an important element in that relationship.

Asked if the United States was satisfied that Ukraine is not providing weapons assistance to Libya, as was alleged recently in The Washington Times and denied by the government of Ukraine, Mr. Collins replied that the United States and Ukraine have developed over time a system for dealing with these kinds of issues.

"We are discussing them with candor with senior officials of the Ukrainian government, and I'm satisfied that we are addressing these issues effectively," he said.

The development of the U.S.-Ukrainian relationship from the Ukrainian perspective was presented at the concluding session of the conference by Ambassador Shcherbak, who traced its history from what he called "the zero point" of President George Bush's infamous "Chicken Kiev" speech in August 1991, through the turning point during President Leonid Kuchma's Washington visit in November 1994 and to the present "strategic partnership."

The U.S. role in helping Ukraine address its economic development problems, and especially the work of the recently formed U.S.-Ukraine Binational Commission, were addressed by Ambassador Morningstar. Ukraine has made significant progress, he said, but added that the next year or two will be critical for Ukraine.

Ukraine must progress from economic stability to growth, he said, or else outside support will dissipate. To succeed, Ukraine must convince its domestic and foreign investors that it is an attractive place to invest, Mr. Morningstar added.

The conference heard from two other U.S. government officials: Carlos Pascual of the National Security Council, who discussed the bilateral relationship during the concluding, fifth session; and Stephen Burant of the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research, who analyzed Ukraine's relations with East-Central Europe at the outset of the conference.

Also discussing Ukraine's relations with its neighbors during the first session were Roman Solchanyk, an analyst with the Rand Corporation, Zenovia Sochor of Clark University and the Harvard Research Institute, who chaired the session; and Ambassador Tarasiuk, who was the discussant.

Ukraine's relations with the East were the subject of the second session, chaired by Muriel Atkin of George Washington University, which featured: Duygu Sezer of Bilkent University in Ankara, who focused on Ukraine's relations with Turkey and the Black Sea region; and Oles Smolansky, of Lehigh University, who reported on Ukraine's relations with Israel and the Middle East. Ambassador Shcherbak, who was Ukraine's first ambassador to Israel, was a discussant, along with Mr. Buteiko.

The third session of the conference dealt with Ukraine's ties with Western Europe and the United States. It included presentations by Olga Alexandrova of the Bundesinstitut fur Ostwissenschaftliche und Internationale Studien in Cologne; and Sherman Garnett of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Again, Mr. Buteiko was the discussant in this session, chaired by Angela Stent, of Georgetown University.

Military affairs and security issues were the subject of the fourth session, with John Jaworsky of the University of Waterloo in Canada, Mr. Garnett, Dr. Solchanyk and Lt. Col. Volodymyr Havrylov, Ukraine's new military attaché in Washington. James R. Millar, director of the of the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies at George Washington University, was the discussant, and Martha Bohachevsky Chomiak of the National Endowment for the Humanities chaired the session.

The conference, which attracted some 200 government, academic and other specialists - including a few ambassadors and other diplomatic representatives - was addressed also by the president of George Washington University, Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, and by Lubomyr Hajda, associate director of the Ukrainian Research Institute at Harvard and organizer of the event.

Dr. Hajda indicated that the "Ukraine - Five Years of Independence" project will include two more conferences: one dealing with economic issues, and the other focusing on nation-building and social issues. The information and analysis presented at these conferences, as well as additional articles, will be compiled into a two-volume publication.