WASHINGTON – As President Barack Obama and the other G-7 leaders on June 8 were concluding their summit meeting discussions with a focus on how best to resolve the crisis of Russia’s intrusion into Ukraine, the prime minister of Ukraine, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, arrived in Washington for three days of talks about that crisis and other important issues facing Ukraine and the West, with U.S. government officials, congressional leaders, the International Monetary Fund and influential American organizations.
The prime minister’s tight schedule included a surprise White House meeting with Vice-President Joe Biden, who had just returned from his son’s funeral in Delaware.
In all, as Mr. Yatsenyuk told journalists following his IMF meeting just before departing back to Ukraine June 10, he and Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko had some 30 meetings over the span of two days.
“And the level of support expressed by the U.S. vice-president, the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, the secretaries of the Treasury and Commerce – in other words, the American establishment – was unprecedented,” he said.
On Capitol Hill, Mr. Yatsenyuk met with House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and other members of the Senate Ukraine Caucus, co-chaired by Rob Portman (R-Ohio), who then called for providing Ukraine with additional U.S. aid.
Yaro Bihun
With Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko standing beside him in front of the International Monetary Fund headquarters building, Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk recounts the Ukrainian military and economic issues discussed during their three days of talks in Washington.
The prime minister’s first meeting in Washington was at the Embassy of Ukraine with representatives of prominent Ukrainian American organizations, who have been in the forefront of calling for more U.S. assistance to Ukraine: the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America, Ukrainian American Coordinating Council, U.S. Ukraine Foundation, Ukrainian National Women’s League of America, among others.
In his first major public appearance soon after arriving in Washington, the prime minister did not mince words in describing Ukraine’s major problem: “We are facing a real war with Russia,” he said in his address at the AJC (American Jewish Council) Global Forum 2015. “Ukraine is the only country in the world that is fighting against the Russian regular army.”
The prime minister pointed out that, in so doing, “Ukraine is defending not only Ukraine. We are defending Europe and we are defending international law and order.”
That war is not just between Ukraine and Russia, Mr. Yatsenyuk stressed. “This is a war between the past and the future, between the dark and light, between freedom and dictatorship.”
“And to win this war, we have to be united… with the United States and the European Union,” he stressed.
In his final press briefing, Mr. Yatsenyuk also noted that high on his Washington agenda was preparing for the July 13 bilateral U.S.-Ukraine conference with the goal of getting American businesses and investors involved in Ukraine’s economic development. After his talks at the IMF, he said he expected that the Ukrainian Parliament, in the following week, will pass the laws necessary to get IMF cooperation in Ukraine’s economic development.
“Ukraine is in a situation that cannot be compared with any other country,” he said. Ukraine is in a state of war with a nuclear power – Russia. And there is no other way out than by restructuring its foreign debts and giving Ukraine a way out of its dire economic situation.”
He pointed out that, as a result of Ukraine’s economy losing Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk, the country lost 17.5 percent in the first quarter of this year. And resolving this critical situation, he said, will require:
• Economic assistance to decrease its foreign debt, the interest payments for which equal Ukraine’s defense costs, or 5 percent of the budget.
• Continuing its government and economic reform program, which the West now recognizes as having created a new and different country.
• Increasing Western private investment in Ukraine, to create new businesses and jobs, and to expand the economy.
• More and improved reforms in energy, agriculture and taxation issues, as well as in combating corruption.
“There is no simple remedy,” he said. “The situation is so complex that one has to proceed step-by-step to its resolution. And there is no quick solution. But the solutions are on the table. We are pursuing then. And I expect that if everything goes according to our plans, then 2016 will be the first year of growth in our economy.”
Prime Minister Yatsenyuk also expressed his understanding of Russia’s intentions with respect to Ukraine and Europe at the Atlantic Council think tank July 9: “We understand that the best way to resolve this conflict is diplomatically, but it has to be supported by strong military (assistance), including defensive weapons.”
And as for President Vladimir Putin’s Russia being willing to implement the Minsk agreement, which is intended to resolve the military crisis in Ukraine, he added: “My take is that Russia is not eager, and this is not the desire of Russia to have peace and stability neither in Ukraine, nor in Europe.”
The conflict has had a tremendous negative effect on the Ukrainian economy, Mr. Yatsenyuk said. “But despite this, we are still floating.”
The Ukrainian prime minister stressed that it should not be just Ukraine’s objective to succeed in this endeavor. “This is to be the project of the free world,” he said, and added:
“If we succeed, this will be the best answer to the dictatorship regime of President Putin – that the free world supports Ukraine, and that we are ready to stay united and to respond strongly, boldly and wisely in tackling Russian-led aggression.”
Prime Minister Yatsenyuk also presented his position on these issues in an opinion piece published in The Washington Post on June 9, as did President Petro Poroshenko in The Wall Street Journal on June 11. Also on June 11, The Washington Post’s lead editorial was headlined “Defending the free world: Ukraine needs more than meetings and kind words from the United States.”