Quotable notes (11/14/04)

Quotable notes

"... In considering what to do in confronting the gross violations of democracy in Ukraine, we should look at Russia's role in bringing that country to heel and in encouraging a Yanukovich [sic] victory. Moscow has taken advantage of Mr. Kuchma's isolation to press Ukraine into becoming a member of the Common Economic Space, which is, in Russian eyes, intended to become a common market but with all the central institutions under Russian control.

"It has pressed Ukraine to abandon its goal of joining NATO, the EU or even, as an independent actor, the World Trade Organization. Its security organs have cooperated with their Ukrainian counterparts in harassing Mr. Kuchma's opponents. As in past elections, Russia has apparently poured in money in support of Mr. Kuchma's interests. Mr. Putin's PR specialists have worked for Mr. Yanukovich; Russian TV has campaigned for him. At the end of the campaign, Mr. Putin used an official visit to Ukraine to make a TV broadcast on Mr. Yanukovich's behalf.

"Russia, in its efforts to recover its great power status, is trying to construct a confederation with corrupt dictatorships: Belarus, Kazakhstan and (it hopes) Ukraine. It is also seeking economic cooperation with the West to recover its dynamism.

"Russia should be forced to choose between the one or the other goal. We should make it clear to Russia that, if the second round of voting in Ukraine is as fraudulent as the first, Russia's candidacy to join the WTO will be put on hold."

- Derek Fraser, Canada's ambassador to Ukraine in 1998-2001 and a senior research associate at the Center for Global Studies at the University of Victoria, writing in the November 3 issue of The Globe and Mail.

"It's disgusting that the Ukrainian government, knowing its candidate will lose in any fair contest, needs to enlist the help of the Russian President."

- Yurko Pavlenko, an opposition deputy in the Verkhovna Rada, as quoted by Askold Krushelnycky in The Independent, October 29.

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