Putin visits Kyiv as part of his first tour of foreign capitals (04/23/00)

Putin visits Kyiv as part of his first tour of foreign capitals

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - Russian President-elect Vladimir Putin, completing his first tour of foreign countries, visited Kyiv on April 18 to strengthen relations and to search for a solution to Ukraine's continued energy indebtedness.

Mr. Putin's visit was the last leg of a journey that many consider a symbolic show of where the yet-to-be-inaugurated Russian president will place his foreign policy accents. After a stop in Miensk, Belarus, where he met with President Alyaksandr Lukashenka to discuss the union of the two countries, Mr. Putin traveled to London to meet with Prime Minister Tony Blair, in reciprocation for a visit to Moscow by Mr. Blair last month.

In Kyiv Mr. Putin and President Leonid Kuchma made every effort to show that the relationship between their two countries remains stable, but the matters they discussed - the situation with the Russian Black Sea Fleet; Ukraine's never-ending energy debt and Russian assertions that Ukraine steals gas from its pipeline; and Russia's unwillingness to join Ukraine and the rest of the Commonwealth of Independent States in a free trade zone - demonstrated just how fragile relations remain.

But the talks in Kyiv showed that the two sides are trying. Mr. Putin told journalists that discussions with the Ukrainian leadership were "businesslike" and that the current problems are quite solvable.

"The point of our discussions was to strengthen our strategic partnership of friendship and cooperation, and put it at a high- quality level," said Mr. Putin. "Our strategic partnership should develop along economic and cultural lines, and everything that falls within the meaning of humanitarian interests."

Mr. Kuchma, who had warm relations with Mr. Putin's predecessor, Boris Yeltsin, but had previously met the newly elected Russian president only once, said that a key success in the talks was that the sides realized what needs to be done.

Both presidents acknowledged that the most critical problem they must confront is Ukraine's ongoing energy debt to Russia, which re-grows just as soon as Ukraine successfully manages it. In addition, another central problem of the Russian-Ukrainian gas trade - the specific amount of Ukraine's debt - again surfaced. While President Kuchma identified the country's indebtedness as $1.5 billion, Mr. Putin said it was closer to $2.1 billion, which he explained includes interest.

Another associated problem, which prompted the Russians to include Rem Vyakhirev, the head of the Russian gas consortium Gazprom, in the talks, were accusations that Ukrainian gas companies are stealing natural gas from the Russian pipeline that traverses Ukraine on its way to Europe.

President Kuchma acknowledged that Russian gas has been diverted illegally by Ukrainian firms - perhaps the first time that a high government official in Ukraine has done so.

"From the point of view of the government, it is not convenient for Ukraine. The gas that is stolen does not contribute anything to government coffers," explained Mr. Kuchma.

Discussion also centered on the high price of the Russian gas. An ongoing source of friction, especially for Ukraine with its weak currency reserves, is the $80 per 1,000 cubic meters that Ukraine must pay Russia - the highest price Moscow charges any of its foreign customers. Western European countries, which cannot boast of strategic partnerships with Russia and are geographically more distant, pay $77.50 per 1,000 cubic meters. Russia offers the best rate to Belarus, at $26.90 per 1,000 cubic meters.

Messrs. Putin and Kuchma agreed that they are looking to resolve their energy trade issues by first obtaining a mutual understanding of their individual problems to ultimately achieve what they referred to as a "common energy balance."

The term, the meaning of which remains vague, was coined by Moscow recently and has been used to explain a new policy Russia is promoting with geographical neighbors who buy its oil and gas.

Part of that balance may be an agreement that Moscow will finally pay for the transit of its gas through Ukraine, while Kyiv will regulate gas firms who buy Russian gas only to resell it to neighboring states that also do business with Gazprom. Mr. Putin said he would consider such a proposal.

For Mr. Kuchma the visit by Mr. Putin presented the opportunity to push one of his pet projects: turning the territory of the CIS into a free trade zone. Russia has yet to agree to the idea, which is supported by most of the other CIS countries.

While noting that "there are real chances for progress in that direction," Mr. Putin explained that first much work needs to take place to streamline bureaucracies and harmonize customs and tax laws, as well as to ensure that nothing is excluded from the free trade regime.

Mr. Putin, who arrived from London late in the evening of April 17 and traveled from Kyiv's Boryspil Airport under heavy police escort, began his one-day visit here with a one-on-one breakfast meeting with President Kuchma. Afterwards the two leaders decided to forego the limousines and motorcade and walk the nearly one-kilometer distance from the presidential administration building to the Mariinsky Palace, where meetings of the full delegations were to take place.

After Mariinsky Palace the Russian president made a brief stop at the Monastery of the Caves. There Mr. Putin was confronted by a demonstrator carrying a placard that read: "Put the murderers of Chechens on trial!" The Russian president walked up to the demonstrator and with a pen added his own inscription to the sign which read "Russia and Chechnya together against terrorism and extremism." He then asked the demonstrator, "Can we agree on that?"

Mr. Putin ended his stay in Ukraine with a visit to the Crimean city of Sevastopol, where the Ukrainian navy and the Russian Black Sea Fleet are based in close proximity. It was the first visit to the city by a Russian president.

Mr. Putin boarded the Ukrainian flagship Sahaidachny and visited the Russian sailors aboard the cruiser Moscow. Although relations between the two fleets have remained strained from top to bottom, the two presidents decided not to accent the problems. Instead they emphasized the need for closer ties in military cooperation in training and maneuvers, and in the development of military technology.

Mr. Kuchma said that he and Mr. Putin witnessed for themselves how well the two fleets are capable of working together. "Their desire to cooperate was obvious to the naked eye," said President Kuchma.

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