Turning the pages back... January 13, 1993 (01/14/01)

Turning the pages back...

January 13, 1993

Eight years ago, Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk became the first president of a member-state of the Commonwealth of Independent States to visit Israel. He concluded his three-day visit to Israel on January 13 by signing a memorandum on mutual understanding and principles of bilateral cooperation between Ukraine and Israel.

Speaking at a banquet held in his honor by Israel's president, Chaim Herzog, Mr. Kravchuk stated that "through joint efforts... a new chapter is being opened in the history of relations between the Ukrainian and Jewish people."

In a speech before the Israeli Parliament, the Knesset, President Kravchuk underlined that Ukraine seeks to cultivate cordial relations with Israel, while reiterating that it wants to pursue a balanced Mideast policy and supports the Middle East peace process. Just a few weeks earlier, President Kravchuk had visited Egypt, where he met with President Hosni Mubarak.

The Ukrainian president was accompanied on his visit by Foreign Minister Anatoliy Zlenko and six other Cabinet ministers. During the visit President Kravchuk also signed agreements on Ukrainian-Israeli cooperation in the fields of business, science and culture. He met with Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, who said after lunching with Mr. Kravchuk, "We consider it a very important visit because he is president of a very important country." Meetings were also held with Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Mr. Kravchuk's delegation also visited the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum and attended the dedication of the Ukrainian Embassy in Tel Aviv.

A member of the president's delegation, Viktor Nahaichuk, head of the Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Ministry's Middle East Section, noted "We are doing everything to put an end to the myth that Ukrainians are anti-Semites." Reuters quoted him as saying: "The history of Ukrainian-Jewish relations has its ups and downs, but for many years only the downs have been stressed. We believe there is more to unite us than to divide us."

During the Kravchuk delegation's visit, Foreign Minister Peres noted President Kravchuk's speech more than two years ago at the Babyn Yar Memorial on the outskirts of Kyyiv. He described Mr. Kravchuk's address as "very anti-anti-Semitic."

Source: "President Kravchuk visits Israel," The Ukrainian Weekly, January 17, 1993, Vol. LXI, No. 3.

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