U.S. seeks to rebuild relationship with Kyiv in the aftermath of the Kolchuha impasse (02/23/03)

U.S. seeks to rebuild relationship with Kyiv in the aftermath of the Kolchuha impasse

by Yaro Bihun
Special to The Ukrainian Weekly

WASHINGTON - The United States will not allow the Kolchuha impasse to put U.S.-Ukrainian relations into a "deep freeze" as it seeks to rebuild the relationship after what a senior State Department official described as "the most difficult and complex period" since Ukraine regained independence in 1991.

Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Steven Pifer said that after a three-month fundamental review of U.S. relations with Ukraine, the administration decided "to, basically, disagree" with Kyiv on whether Ukraine sold a Kolchuha air defense system to Iraq, as is alleged, or not.

"I don't think we're going to be able to find a way where we can come in the near future to a common view as to what happened with regard to Kolchuha," he said during a seminar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies here February 13. "So maybe that's an issue we put in a box and we kind of leave it aside," he said.

Ambassador Pifer, who prior to his current assignment served for two years as ambassador to Ukraine, discussed some of the conclusions of the policy review, which was completed in mid-January. Explaining the U.S. position on the Kolchuha affair, Mr. Pifer said Washington is convinced that President Kuchma authorized the transfer of the Kolchuha system to Iraq but cannot prove that it actually happened.

Ukraine's ambassador to the United States, Kostyantyn Gryshchenko, who was present at the briefing, presented the Ukrainian position: "Essentially we don't see how they can be in Iraq, or how they could have been sent there, when we know where all of them are," he said.

Among the review's conclusions was that Ukraine "still matters" to the United States, Mr. Pifer said, and that it's important that Ukraine succeed in developing as a stable, democratic country, with a strong market economy and increasing links with Europe and trans-Atlantic institutions. To that end, he said, Washington is determined to stay engaged, to help it reform its economy, improve its investment climate, join the World Trade Organization and take the necessary steps to have the money-laundering sanctions imposed by the international Financial Action Task Force lifted. (FATF announced it was lifting its sanctions on the following day.)

"We're also going to engage more actively with the broad political spectrum" in Ukraine, he said, explaining that this means talking with, not just the government, but with the entire political spectrum within the Verkhovna Rada, with key political and societal leaders, and working with non-governmental organizations.

The U.S. government has also set for itself the specific goal of doing what it can to try and help create "the conditions for a level playing field" for the next presidential election in Ukraine. Asked whether, in the course of rebuilding U.S.-Ukrainian ties, the U.S. administration would consider, in the foreseeable future, a high-level meeting, such as between President George W. Bush and President Kuchma or between Vice-President Dick Cheney and Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, Ambassador Pifer said that it would be better "to build up some traction" first. "You don't want to jump to the top right away," he said.

He noted that there had been some fairly high level contacts in recent months: there was a meeting between the defense ministers in Washington; Secretary of State Colin Powell had "a couple of phone conversations" with Foreign Affairs Minister Anatolii Zlenko; and Vice Prime Minister Mykola Azarov was scheduled to visit here in January but canceled.

When former Prime Minister Viktor Yushchenko, who is now thought to be the leading opposition contender in the next presidential election, visited Washington in the first week of February, he met with Vice-President Cheney and Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage.

Despite the skepticism heard recently from NATO members about Ukraine's chances of joining the alliance, he said, the United States supports the country's eventual entry into NATO, "provided that Ukraine is prepared to take the steps that are needed in terms of defense reform, political reform and economic reform to make it a qualified candidate for membership." Ukraine has taken a "rhetorical step" in that direction, Mr. Pifer said, "but the question is, has Ukraine taken real actions that begin to thicken its ties to Europe?"

The U.S. official downplayed the possibility that Russia may react negatively to Ukraine's entry into NATO. "Russians are beginning to understand that NATO has changed and this is not the threat that they might have expected 10 years ago," Ambassador Pifer said. "In fact, people argue that the Russian-Polish relationship, on a bilateral basis, is actually improved to a significant degree since Poland entered into the alliance."

Mr. Pifer did not indicate that there was any particular concern on the part of Washington over the recent development of closer ties between Kyiv and Moscow. In the past, Ukraine has tried to maintain a balance in its relations with Russia and the West, he said. "That balance has been disrupted in the course of the last year, and we see some signs that there is a desire to reinstate that balance, which we think makes perfectly good sense for Ukraine. Ukraine can have strong, growing, deepening relationship with the United States and with Europe, while at the same time having good relations with Moscow. The two are not incompatible," he said.

While the Kolchuha issue is having a negative effect on Ukraine's relationship with the United States, the "active consideration" the Kyiv government is giving to deploying a chemical and biological defense unit to the coalition in the Persian Gulf area is viewed as a "potentially a positive sign," Mr. Pifer said.

"We also look to and hope Ukraine will make the right statements in how it talks about Iraq, and that means making the point that the onus, the burden, is on Saddam Hussein to disarm in an open and verifiable way," he said. "I also think that this is the sort of thing that, if we look at it, obviously from the point of view of the White House and the U.S. government, there's a lot of tension going on to the Iraq question, and this is the sort of cooperation that I think can help us to change the dynamic of the bilateral relationship. People will take notice if Ukraine makes this sort of contribution."

Ambassador Pifer reiterated the administration's position that the Jackson-Vanik Amendment trade restrictions should no longer apply to Ukraine, since it has met its requirements for a number of years concerning immigration and religious freedom, especially with respect to the Jewish population. "It's something that we believe is overdue. We now have to work with Congress to make that happen," he said.

Later, however, in response to a question about the U.S.-Ukrainian dispute over the import of American poultry products, he indicated that this issue may have "other ramifications," such as derailing the Jackson-Vanik effort. He recalled what happened last year to the effort to get Russia from under Jackson-Vanik when Russia banned U.S. poultry imports just as Congress was getting ready to end the restrictions.

"And all of a sudden we have 76 senators unhappy with us," Mr. Pifer said. "If you're going to choose a product to ban from the United States to antagonize as many congressmen as possible," he explained, "you can't do much better than poultry," which is produced in 38 states.

Reviewing the history of the development of U.S.-Ukrainian relations, Ambassador Pifer said it can be divided into four distinct periods: In the first, which lasted until 1993-1994, the United States was preoccupied with the nuclear question, neglecting other aspects of the relationship.

The second three-year period, until 1997, was one of "really broad engagement" on many fronts, including economic reform, significant U.S. assistance, high-level contacts, the establishment of the Kuchma-Gore Binational Commission and Ukraine's strategic partnerships with NATO and the United States.

Difficulties started to accumulate in the third period, between 1998 and 1999, when there was a slowdown in economic reforms and a growing number of "missed opportunities."

And the last two years, Ambassador Pifer said, saw worsening problems in the area of democratic reforms, which included election irregularities and the still-unsolved murder of journalist Heorhii Gongadze, and in arms proliferation, at first arms transfers to Macedonia and later the alleged Kolchuha sale to Iraq.

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