Ukrainian, Russian and Moldovan presidents meet in Odesa (03/24/02)

Ukrainian, Russian and Moldovan presidents meet in Odesa

by Maryna Makhnonos
Special to The Ukrainian Weekly

ODESA - The presidents of Ukraine, Russia and Moldova agreed on March 17 to work jointly to eliminate the problem of smuggling and other illegal business activity from the Moldovan breakaway Transdniester region, as well as to help Moldova economically in its energy sector.

Ukraine's President Leonid Kuchma, Russia's President Vladimir Putin and Moldova's President Vladimir Voronin agreed to organize a meeting of their countries' top customs and border guard officials in the Moldovan capital of Chisinau this week. Representatives of the Transdniester region were expected to join the meeting.

The agreement was reached during the presidents' one-day summit in the Black Sea port of Odesa, which was organized on Ukraine's initiative.

An undercurrent of the official discussions was the upcoming parliamentary elections in Ukraine, though the topic was not on the official agenda.

The Transdniester region, a Russian-speaking separatist area that broke away from Moldova 11 years ago, is not recognized internationally, but has support from Russia. The region declared independence in 1991 after a brief and violent war that killed some 1,500 people over fears that Moldova was seeking reunion with Romania.

Moldova is a former Soviet republic located between Romania and Ukraine. Before being annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940, Moldova was part of Romania. Two-thirds of Moldova's population are of Romanian descent, while the rest consists of Ukrainian, Russian, Bulgarian and other minorities.

The smuggling of arms, gasoline and other goods thrives in the Transdniester region and costs Moldova huge sums of lost taxes. The illegal products are believed to be exported to other former Soviet republics. The Moldovan government and the self-proclaimed government of the Transdniester region have tense relations. Mr. Voronin has accused a pro-Russian separatist leader of financing the recent anti-government protests with demands to ban the general use of Russian language. Furthermore, he said the separatists are trying to undermine the Moldovan authorities because they have pledged to fight smuggling in the Transdniester region.

After meeting with Presidents Kuchma and Putin, Moldovan President Voronin stated that his country stood always for the "broadest status for the Transdniester region in the structure of Moldovan Republic."

"Both sides just need to work constructively on this problem," Mr. Voronin said.

President Voronin said he had informed his counterparts about the political situation in Moldova. However, Mr. Putin's chief of staff, Alexander Voloshyn, on March 17 denied that the three leaders had met to consult over the Moldovan unrest, saying recent mass protests are the country's internal affair.

The three leaders also discussed economic cooperation and agreed to unite Ukrainian and Moldovan electricity grids, as well as to supply Moldova with Russian natural gas to slash electricity costs for ordinary Moldovans by about 20 percent, Mr. Putin said.

The leaders also talked about cooperation in the framework of the Eurasian Customs and Economic Union that includes Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. President Voronin said that his government has sent an appeal to join the association, which he said has a great cooperative potential.

Kuchma and Putin meet separately

Before President Voronin's arrival, Presidents Kuchma and Putin had a separate meeting to discuss cooperation in the spheres of energy, taxation, high technology, defense, free trade zones and transport corridors. Mr. Putin praised the last year's $10 billion trade volume between Russia and Ukraine, but urged measures to increase it. Asked whether closer ties between Russia and Ukraine may contradict both countries' relations with the European Union, Mr. Putin strongly denied the idea.

"They [close ties] help, because we are getting stronger and are more interesting as partners," Mr. Putin said. He added that both countries may have a real influence on European economy with greater use of Ukraine's pipelines in future. "They will take into account our opinion, and our own economies will be much more stronger," he said.

Some Ukrainian politicians and experts said earlier last week that President Putin's visit was aimed at discussing Ukraine's upcoming parliamentary elections. However, Ukrainian and Russian officials repeatedly denied the suggestion.

"I don't believe that the meeting of both presidents can influence the arrangement of powers in Ukraine," Mr. Voloshyn told journalists during the summit.

"The meeting is only a solution of pragmatic and economic problems," said the chief of Ukraine's presidential administration, Volodymyr Lytvyn, speaking upon arrival in Odesa hours before the presidential meeting.

Comments on Ukraine's elections

However, several days after the tripartite summit, Ukrainian news reports quoted President Putin's chief of staff, Mr. Voloshyn, as saying that the pro-presidential For a United Ukraine Bloc, as well as the Communist and the Social-Democratic (United) parties are the only powers in Ukraine that are friendly to Russia.

In addition, Russian ambassador to Ukraine Viktor Chernomyrdin expressed alarm that the former Ukrainian prime minister's bloc, Our Ukraine, which leads the race in recent polls, includes the movements that "are against Ukrainian-Russian ties."

According to the Interfax news agency, our Ukraine leader Viktor Yushchenko characterized the Russian officials' remarks as "unfriendly." Mr. Yushchenko called the comments a "direct interference into Ukraine's internal affairs and election process."

"It's a pity that some Russian officials consider it a normal thing," Mr. Yushchenko commented of Mr. Voloshyn's notion. At a briefing following the summit, President Putin said that the outcome of Ukraine's parliamentary elections would not change the pace of bilateral relations.

"It's a nationwide consensus in Russia to develop relations with Ukraine," the Russian president said. "I would like to hope that we will see the same approach by Ukrainian colleagues, whoever wins the elections."

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