Verkhovna Rada ratifies treaty with Russia, setting the stage for a new relationship (01/18/98)

Verkhovna Rada ratifies treaty with Russia, setting the stage for a new relationship

by Pavlo Politiuk
Special to The Ukrainian Weekly

KYIV - Ukraine's lawmakers gave themselves a lengthy standing ovation on January 14 after voting 317 to 27 to ratify the Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation and Partnership with the Russian Federation, which forms new conditions for a relationship with Ukraine's largest economic partner.

Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Minister Hennadii Udovenko presented the document to lawmakers for their approval and urged them to ratify the treaty, saying it will build a legal base for economic cooperation with Russia, which accounts for 47 percent of Ukraine's exports.

Olexsander Razumkov, vice-chairman of Ukraine's Security and Defense Council, said "The treaty is very important for us. We have very strong economic interaction with Russia, and economic cooperation without a political base is impossible."

The political treaty was signed by Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma and Russian President Boris Yeltsin on May 31, 1997, after more than five years of discussion between the neighboring nations' politicians.

Ever since Ukraine became independent in 1991, its leaders had worked with Russia to sign an agreement on friendship, but Russian President Boris Yeltsin had postponed his visit six times, citing the unresolved dispute over the former Soviet Black Sea Fleet and particularly the status of its main base, the Crimean port of Sevastopol, which became part of independent Ukraine.

"The treaty means the affirmation of the territorial integrity and inviolability of borders of Ukraine and Russia, and in this way all questions about territorial ownership of Sevastopol and Crimea are removed," Ukrainian Prime Minister Valerii Pustovoitenko told lawmakers before the vote.

The signing of several Black Sea Fleet agreements days before Presidents Yeltsin and Kuchma signed the big treaty had set the stage for the final document, but some Ukrainian lawmakers charged President Kuchma and his government with making a lot of concessions during talks with Russia, including allowing Russian forces to remain on Ukrainian land in Crimea.

National-patriotic factions tried to have the Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation and Partnership and the Black Sea Fleet agreement discussed jointly. They hoped that by linking the big treaty with the more controversial BSF pact, both would sink.

"We demand a criminal investigation against persons who took part directly in the process of preparing this Black Sea Fleet agreement," said National Deputy Yurii Orobets, a member of the Reforms faction in the Verkhovna Rada.

But the effort to unite the treaties for ratification was not supported by a parliamentary majority.

Representatives from centrist factions and a majority of leftists decided to discuss only the big treaty. "It is unfavorable for us," said Taras Stetsiv, lawmaker and head of the Lviv regional organization of the National Democratic Party.

"It is better for us to vote separately, because the Verkhovna Rada would reject the combined packet that's clear," Mr. Stetskiv said. "Ratification of the treaty shows the whole world that we want normal relations with Russia. This is a unique chance to make the Russian-speaking population of Ukraine loyal to the authorities."

Prior to parliamentary elections in March, the Verkhovna Rada and the president are seeking ways to win the votes of the Russian-speaking population, which comprises about 50 percent of Ukraine's voters.

"Today to be a Ukrainian patriot means to work for cooperation with Russia," said Ivan Chyzh, a Socialist faction leader Parliament.

The pro-Russian orientation of Ukrainian leftists never was a surprise, but the March elections have forced national democrats to look for supporters in eastern Ukraine, where relations with Russia were a traditional trump card used by communists.

"We can now say that the problem of relations between Ukraine and Russia lies within Russia, which has not yet ratified the treaty," said Mr. Stetskiv.

However, the Black Sea Fleet's division is not the only problem Ukrainian lawmakers have over the relationship with Russia. They have also organized over the controversial "zero option" regarding the partition of the former Soviet Union assets and liabilities .

Ukraine's government has already signed a document in which Ukraine ceded its portion of the Soviet debt and assets to Russia, but the Verkhovna Rada has refused to ratify it several times as unprofitable for Ukraine.

The ratification of the Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation and Partnership with Russia is only the first step in normalizing relations between the two most powerful republics of the former Soviet Union.

Volodymyr Horbulin, secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, said he expects more problems in the future. He noted that the ratification is a huge diplomatic step forward, but other points in Ukrainian-Russian cooperation will demand similar efforts from all of Ukraine's branches of power.

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