Turning the pages back... March 24, 1996 (03/23/03)

Turning the pages back...

March 24, 1996

Six years ago our Kyiv Press Bureau reported on what was referred to as "yet another reaffirmation of the growing relationship between the United States and Ukraine," as Secretary of State Warren Christopher arrived in Kyiv for a six-hour visit to meet with top government officials - including President Leonid Kuchma, Prime Minister Yevhen Marchuk, Foreign Minister Hennadii Udovenko and Parliament Chairman Oleksander Moroz.

Secretary Christopher denounced the Russian Duma for its vote several days earlier, on March 15, on reconstituting the Soviet Union, calling it "highly irresponsible." (He was to travel to Moscow on March 21 following a visit to Prague where he addressed Central and East European foreign ministers.) "It was disturbing to us, as I know it was for Ukraine, for President Kuchma was certainly correct when he said that the tide of history cannot be turned back. Ukraine and other countries of the former Soviet Union are independent, sovereign nations. Any unilateral attempt to change their status will be rejected by the international community," he said.

His comments to reporters, delivered after a 45-minute meeting with President Kuchma, were the sharpest warning to date made by an American official about the mood in the State Duma on the eve of presidential elections in Russia, where popularity polls showed Communist Party leader Gennadii Zyuganov commanding a strong lead. He added that the action of the Duma "seems to be designed to have a certain quality of intimidation. It simply seemed prudent to make known our views in advance."

Secretary Christopher, who had met with President Kuchma three times in the previous six weeks - during a brief encounter in Helsinki, an official working visit in Washington and this meeting in Kyiv - hailed Ukraine as a "very important partner for the United States." He added, "The many times we are meeting I think is a good index of the importance of the relationship between our countries."

Also discussed during the visit were cooperation with NATO, the closing of the Chornobyl nuclear power plant, the proposed new Constitution of Ukraine and economic cooperation.

Source: "U.S. secretary of state denounces Duma resolution," by Marta Kolomayets, Kyiv Press Bureau, The Ukrainian Weekly, March 24, 1996, Vol. LXIV, No. 12.

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