Romania, Ukraine settle territorial disputes (06/08/97)

Romania, Ukraine settle territorial disputes

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - Concluding a month of vigorous diplomatic activity, Ukraine signed a general treaty with Romania on June 2, which finally settles territorial disputes over the Serpents (Zmiinyi) Island and the Bukovyna region along the southwestern border of Ukraine. The settlement of decades-old disputes should help both countries move still closer to NATO.

Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma said after the signing of the document with Romania's President Emil Constantinescu in Constanta, Romania, that it "paves for the two countries a joint way to Europe, which lives according to the principles of respect for existing borders and territorial integrity."

Interfax-Ukraine reported that President Constantinescu emphasized that the only way toward Europe is "that of common sense and the elimination of interstate conflicts."

Ukraine and Romania had been negotiating a broad treaty of friendship and cooperation for several years, but disagreement over ownership of the Serpents Island and more importantly the oil and gas reserves that are thought to lie beneath them, as well as the northern border of Romania with Ukraine, had kept the sides apart.

In late February an agreement had been initialed by the foreign ministers of both countries, but less than two weeks later Romania backed out, stating that it wanted to review the document. At the time Romania's Ambassador to Ukraine Ion Bestreannu said his country "needed to balance the wording on some of the issues discussed."

Probably more so than Ukraine, Romania was pressured to settle the disputes by its desire to join NATO with the first round of new members expected to be approved next month. NATO requires that its members have no territorial disputes with other countries. Romania's chances currently are considered slim because its economic development is lagging considerably behind its Central European neighbors, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic. There are unresolved questions also of past human rights abuses.

Ukraine has stated that it has no desire at present to join the North Atlantic alliance, but last week did sign a charter of mutual relations with NATO.

In an unusual and unexpected move, U.S. President Bill Clinton congratulated President Kuchma on the signing of the treaty with Romania. In the telegram, the U.S. president underlined "the importance of the principles of the inviolability of the borders and protection of the rights of ethnic minorities, which the paper reaffirms," said the Ukrainian presidential press service.

The Ukraine-Romania agreement, called the Treaty on Principles of Good-Neighborliness and Cooperation, officially recognizes Serpents Island as part of Ukraine. The two sides had been squabbling for years over the strategic if barren cluster of rocks that lies near the mouth of the Danube River at the border between the two countries. Vast reserves of oil and gas are thought to lie beneath the island and the continental shelf surrounding it. The issues of mineral rights were left out of the treaty and will be considered within the next two years, the two sides agreed, or the issue will then be brought before an international tribunal.

Ukraine also denounced "acts of totalitarian regimes and military dictatorships," including the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact in which Nazi Germany handed the Soviet Union a part of Romanian-controlled northern Bukovyna, a region populated by many ethnic Ukrainians. Ukraine further promised that it would not place offensive military weapons near Romania's border. In return Romania agreed to recognize the existing borders.

The agreement provides for the protection of the rights of ethnic minorities in both countries. "Perhaps the most important article in the document is Article 13," said Ukraine's Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Anton Buteiko at a press conference a day after the signing. "It deals with the rights of minorities, including those of Ukrainians living in Romania. It is based on the U.N. Human Rights Commission's assertions and meets European standards."

Resolution of the territorial disputes has been especially emotional for Romania. Many Romanians have said that its government was giving away too much too willingly. There were plans by nationalist parties to hold anti-treaty demonstrations in Constanta, but they were canceled after talks with the Constantinescu administration, reported the Associated Press.

In May, Ukraine concluded agreements with five of its seven neighbors that either settle problems, intensify relations or delineate borders. Only Hungary and the Czech Republic were left off the president's agenda, but Ukraine has had treaties of friendship and cooperation and normal relations with them for several years now.

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