Quotable notes (01/26/03)

Quotable notes

On January 9, U.S. Ambassador to Russia Alexander Vershbow spoke on challenges in U.S.-Russia relations at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington. Following is an excerpt from the subsequent question and answer session: a question on developments in Russian-Ukrainian relations and the ambassador's response.

Kempton Jenkins, Ukraine-U.S. Business Council: As [Russian President Vladimir] Putin surveys the perimeter of his empire, how does he perceive the relationship with Ukraine unfolding today? Is this a bright spot in his mind or a troubling spot? While he's maintaining an arm's distance from [Belarusian President Alyaksandr] Lukashenka's embrace, he seems to be reaching out to [Ukrainian President Leonid] Kuchma with some enthusiasm, while we seem to be backing away from Kuchma.

Ambassador Alexander Vershbow: I think Russia to some degree has seen the current strains in U.S.-Ukrainian relations as an opportunity to tighten their links. They still consider Ukraine part of their so-called "near abroad" and have been working even before the recent troubles in our relations to strengthen their position, largely through economic leverage, by getting Russian companies to invest heavily in the commanding heights of the Ukrainian economy.

There are also very close political links between the presidential administration in Moscow and the presidential administration in Kyiv. I think Russia is not going to be entirely passive in the upcoming Ukrainian election campaigns. So they see their relationship with the [sic] Ukraine as important. I think they're focusing on economic leverage as the main way to maintain and expand their influence, and for our part we don't see this as a zero-sum relationship.

We have no problem with close Russian-Ukrainian economic cooperation as long as it's based on the premise that Ukraine is a sovereign state and the Russians are respecting that. So because of our difficulties it's a very fluid situation, but the Russians are showing renewed activism in recent weeks.

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