Ukraine's ambassador to Russia reflects on improving relations (06/13/04)

Ukraine's ambassador to Russia reflects on improving relations

by Maryna Makhnonos
Special to The Ukrainian Weekly

MOSCOW - The impact of an increase in the price of Russian oil in Ukraine; the status of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in the Crimea; preparations for a free trade zone; and the underdeveloped status of the Ukrainian language in Russia remain at the top of a list of unresolved issues that continue to overshadow Ukrainian-Russian relations, explained Ukrainian Ambassador to Russia Mykola Biloblotskyi at a news conference in Moscow on June 4. He added, however, that in the overall picture a definite positive trend has developed.

The increase in world oil prices has made petroleum products more expensive in Ukraine, which buys most of its oil from neighboring Russia. The large hike in gasoline prices put on the backburner such hot economic topics as limits on exports of steel pipes and the operations of the Russian Black Sea Fleet on the Crimean Peninsula, issues that have characterized relations between the two countries, the ambassador said. The price of gasoline in Ukraine has doubled in the last month from about two hrv per liter (37 cents).

"Farmers suffer especially, but it would be nonsense to say that Russia increased prices purposely," Mr. Biloblotskyi said. "There's a law that regulates customs tariffs, and we cannot dictate to Russia's State Duma that it should review the law tomorrow. We have to meet with the middlemen and the oil companies, and try to find a mutually acceptable solution to this problem in order to remove it from daily life."

Another topic the ambassador focused on was the pause in the political dialogue between both countries concerning the status of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, which is based in the Ukrainian city of Sevastopol. Mr. Biloblotskyi said the delay was mostly due to the wait for a long overdue appointment of a person who would head a Russian group of officials to work with their Ukrainian counterparts. Meanwhile, several key issues still need to be resolved: Russian officials must hand over hydrographic equipment to Ukrainian naval forces; submit for Ukraine's review prescribed instructions for their fleet in case of war; and decide how to modernize equipment and how to contribute to the development of Sevastopol's social sector.

The Ukrainian ambassador reminded Moscow that it also needed to behave more diplomatically when addressing issues regarding Sevastopol itself.

"One shouldn't behave as if the city belongs to Russia," Mr. Biloblotskyi said. "This is a Ukrainian city, and what we need is to carry out an inventory of property, list the corresponding rules for its use and stick to them."

Mr. Biloblotskyi also addressed the need to adhere to the principles of free markets if the two countries are serious about establishing a free trade zone. Top Ukrainian and Russian officials are currently working out the details of bilateral agreements for the free trade zone.

Mr. Biloblotskyi said that future agreements should resolve some current limitations in bilateral trade. Ukrainian business now suffers from a list of restrictions that includes export quotas for oil and gas pipes, construction bars, sugar, caramel and even such specific and rarely used products as corn starch.

In addition, Ukraine must pay external tariffs when importing Russian commodities, even when Russian internal tariffs are three times cheaper in comparison. Illustrating this problem, Mr. Biloblotskyi recalled that Ukraine paid some $40 to $60 per each ton of Russian grain last year in addition to the agreed cost of grain itself, $120 per ton. Ukraine had to import the grain because of a poor domestic harvest.

Ambassador Biloblotskyi also noted the fact that language and Ukrainian media development in Russia don't have the appropriate support of the government. While Kyiv, out of the government budget, finances 2,400 Russian-language schools, 29 Russian theaters and numerous Russian libraries, which comprise 45 percent of the total libraries in Ukraine, the Russian government has repeatedly ignored appeals to help finance Ukrainian-language newspapers or assist the extensive Ukrainian diaspora in Russia. The only Ukrainian library in Moscow has been waiting since last summer to move to more spacious accommodations.

"Russia has no tradition of support of Ukrainian print issues," an activist of the Ukrainian diaspora in Russia, Yurii Kononenko, told The Weekly. "There is no appropriate support by the Ukrainian government to the diaspora either."

According to the 2002 Russian census, some 2.9 million Ukrainians live in Russia. They publish four newspapers and one magazine, and broadcast several radio programs in several regions.

However, Mr. Biloblotskyi said that these discrepancies should not be qualified as conflicts in relations because "Ukrainian-Russian relations are developing dynamically and the many misunderstandings have diminished significantly indeed."

In May alone, bilateral meetings between the two countries included a presidential summit in Yalta, a prime ministers' meeting in Moscow, a joint assembly of foreign ministry officials and a seminar between Ukrainian diaspora representatives and Ukrainian government officials in Kyiv.

The latest presidential summit stimulated parliamentary support for the free trade zone initiative. Merely talk of a proposed free trade zone has stimulated trade between the two countries to record levels. Trade volume between Ukraine and Russia was $7.4 billion in 1999, but rose to $13 billion in 2003 and was $5 billion in January-April 2004.

"I would like to share my optimism: the numbers exploded right after we started to talk about a free trade zone. At the political, financial and business levels, there is mutual confidence," Ambassador Biloblotskyi said. "Our relations are being built much like a mosaic, and our task is to find solutions to those issues that still exist."

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