Quotable notes (02/15/04)

Quotable notes

"Certain aspects of internal Russian policy in Chechnya, and toward neighbors that emerged from the former Soviet Union, have concerned us."

"We recognize Russia's territorial integrity and its natural interest in lands that abut it. But we recognize no less the sovereign integrity of Russia's neighbors and their rights to peaceful and respectful relations across their borders, as well."

- U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, writing in the Russian daily newspaper Izvestia on January 26, as reported by Reuters news service.

"We are not building a power system according to a principle of succession, as happened with our neighbors. We are not building a power system by way of street demonstrations or a revolution. We are building a power system by way of political reform. By way of a political reform that will make it possible to project Ukraine's development for many years to come. At the same time, we are building a new type of democracy - a consensual democracy, which is based on a consensus of the elites."

- Stepan Havrysh, leader of the pro-presidential majority in Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada, as quoted by the Biznes newspaper on January 26 and cited by RFE/RL Belarus and Ukraine Report.

"The Communists of Ukraine are firmly convinced that if [Viktor] Yushchenko comes to power, the right-wing nationalistic forces will bring NATO troops in here, break all ties with Russia, launch a new grandiose redistribution of property, [and] destroy the last remaining sprouts of democracy in Ukraine."

- From a statement by Communist Party leader Petro Symonenko on January 27, as quoted by the Ukrainska Pravda website and cited by RFE/RL Belarus and Ukraine Report.

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