Chernomyrdin named ambassador to Ukraine (05/20/01)

Chernomyrdin named ambassador to Ukraine

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on May 10 that he would appoint former prime minister and business tycoon Viktor Chernomyrdin as the new ambassador to Ukraine.

Mr. Putin called the move a "political-diplomatic decision" and said the former head of the Russian gas giant Gazprom would have an additional designation as the Russian president's special representative in charge of development of trade and economic relations with Ukraine.

"We would have difficulty finding a person who better knows the state of bilateral relations between the two countries," Mr. Putin explained, according to Interfax-Ukraine, and added that the appointment shows the importance placed on cooperation with Ukraine.

Mr. Chernomyrdin, who served as prime minister of Russia from 1992 to 1998 and is considered one of the country's richest and most influential citizens, is expected to help Russian business interests secure Ukrainian plants and factories currently undergoing privatization.

He said on May 16, after the State Duma Committee for CIS supported his nomination, that the natural gas business would be his priority. Many Ukrainian politicians expect him to press for privatization and Russian co-ownership of the trans-Ukrainian pipeline, which Russia needs in order to move its natural gas to markets in Europe. Currently, transportation tariffs stipulated by Ukraine help the country to defray the huge costs of its near total energy dependence on its northern neighbor.

Ukraine's Prime Minister Viktor Yuschenko said on May 11 that he believes the appointment of Mr. Chernomyrdin is a signal of a new "pragmatic" political approach the Kremlin is taking with regard to Ukraine. He called the decision "a wonderful and reasonable step" that would "strengthen specific cooperation, especially in the economic field."

Many Russian political observers speculated that the unorthodox diplomatic move by the Kremlin may have been designed by President Putin to get one of Russia's most powerful men and a member of the old guard of former President Boris Yeltsin out of Moscow and the center of power.

However, certain Ukrainian political analysts called the unusual appointment of a person of stature and influence beyond the diplomatic rank he will hold and who has close personal ties with President Kuchma (and a Ukrainian wife), the beginning of a policy of strong economic influence by Moscow over Ukraine.

Television commentator Vyacheslav Pikhovshek observed on May 13 that many Ukrainians were calling the move "the appointment of a new prime minister for Ukraine by President Putin."

Mykola Tomenko, head of the Institute of Politics, said the move shows that Moscow is developing a plan of economic rather than political influence over Ukraine.

"The fact that one of the most economically influential figures in Russia appears in Ukraine means that Russia's economic interest will be actively developed on the territory of our country," said Mr. Tomenko, who added that Ukraine must counter the move by better protecting its economic interests.

Meanwhile, Mykhailo Pohrebynskyi, another leading Ukrainian political analyst, said he believes that Mr. Chernomyrdin will bring nothing more than extensive experience and understanding to his post. Mr. Pohrebynskyi explained that Mr. Chernomyrdin's role would be no more significant than that played by Carlos Pascual, the highly visible and influential current U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, and probably less so.

The two countries, once the most important republics of the now defunct Soviet Union, have cozied up in the last six months after years of keeping a respectful distance centered on Ukraine's mistrust over Moscow's intentions and colonialist past and Ukraine's desire to join the West.

After the onset of the political crisis in Ukraine over the possible involvement of President Kuchma in the death of a Ukrainian journalist left the president politically weakened, the two countries seemed to move closer. Many political experts here believe the beleaguered president had no alternative but to turn to Moscow for support, a situation President Putin is believed to have taken in obtaining beneficial economic agreements for his country.

However, relations between the two presidents have been close for well over a year. In 2000 Messers. Kuchma and Putin had eight face-to-face encounters. In February in Dnipropetrovsk the two sides signed a series of agreements that effectively gave Russia a portion of Ukraine's power grid. They also agreed to joint development of aerospace and military technology.

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