| Kuchma successfully played on the emotions of the West Yesterday, Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated his Ukrainian counterpart Leonid Kuchma on his 66th birthday. The event, it would seem, is not God knows what, but in light of the presidential elections in Ukraine on October 31, it takes on special significance. It is known that Moscow is betting on the current Ukrainian prime minister, 54-year-old Viktor Yanukovych, a candidate from the party in power and Kuchma’s man. And here a super intrigue unfolds, because the West is openly betting on another candidate - the leader of the opposition, 54-year-old Viktor Yushchenko.
Therefore, perhaps, the Western press has chosen a special genre to cover events in Ukrainian life, which can conventionally be called a geopolitical action movie. “Ukraine is being taken away from its last hope - the Ukrainian Navy!” - the British BBC corporation quotes the leaders of the public organization “Ukrainian Sevastopol”, known only in narrow circles. Obviously, this is a hint at rumors about the relocation of the Ukrainian Navy from Sevastopol to another Ukrainian port - Donuzlav, published by the Ukrainska Pravda website. “The withdrawal of the Ukrainian Navy from Sevastopol means the establishment of complete control over this Ukrainian city by the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and a more or less rapid transfer of the city to Russia,” “Ukrainian Sevastopol” sounds the alarm.
Kuchma denied these rumors in an interview with the Ukrainian newspaper Fakty: “This is a political provocation.” VN's Russian sources confirm that no major relocation is planned. Moreover, as we were told, “Donuzlav is a heavily plundered port with old infrastructure.” But the BBC seems to trust the opinion of “Ukrainian Sevastopol” more. Viktor Yushchenko also accused the authorities of “selling the fleet.”
These statements are only part of the pre-election geopolitical action movie. Western readers are also informed about the landing in Kyiv of an “army of Russian political strategists” and the mobilization of Russian resources to help candidate Yanukovych (as if in the West, landings and mobilizations ten times more powerful are not organized in favor of Yushchenko).
The Polish “Gazeta Wyborcza” put the report on the July 27 meeting between Putin and Kuchma in Yalta on the front page with the headline “Yalta-2004”. The hint for the Poles is clear: after all, it was in Yalta at the end of the Second World War that Eastern Europe, including Poland, was transferred to the sphere of influence of the Soviet Union. The event is tragic, but what are the basis for such far-reaching parallels? Only on the fact that Kuchma, supposedly as a gift to Putin, erased from the Ukrainian military doctrine accession to the European Union and NATO as the main goals of Ukraine, replacing them with a general phrase about “Euro-Atlantic integration.”
On the pages of the same issue, publicist Marcin Bosacki makes a dramatic conclusion: “Ukraine has made the most important turn in its 13-year independent history - a turn back to Russia... Fenced off from the West by a wall of indifference and visas, Ukraine, whether it wants it or not, will enter into the Russian sphere of influence. Unless the West understands that it is better to avoid this.”
In the USA, Poland and other European countries, a discussion has unfolded, the essence of which can be expressed in a cynical formula: have we pressed Kuchma too hard in the last two or three years? Of course, he violates human rights and suppresses the press, but this is still better than rapprochement with Moscow! And now he was offended and turned towards Moscow. In his article, Mr. Bosatsky develops this topic: “In recent years in Brussels and Berlin, we have heard many times: only Putin can bring order to the booth beyond the Bug. Only the Poles persistently shouted for the West to take Ukraine seriously. But we could not give Ukraine investments, sales markets, billions for reforms.”
A strange conclusion arises: it would be better to have a farce, but without Putin. It seems that Kuchma has again managed to play on the emotions of Americans, Poles and other Europeans, intimidating them with the old bogeyman - rapprochement with Russia. “We are fully aware that the current world system is going through a serious crisis,” he says in the same interview with Fakty, explaining the “dramatic” change in doctrine. “The European Union is forced to solve difficult problems associated with the admission of new members to the EU, and it is now not ready to seriously resolve issues directly related to the interests of Ukraine.” Subtext: if you don’t want to help me seriously, I’ll go to the East. So help, and quickly. The tactics, as the reaction in the West shows, are effective. Dmitry BABICH, Russia Profile magazine, -- for Vremya Novostei |
|
