[Ohio UZO News] Ukraine: Reuters (Note); IHT

[Deychak, Orest]

Reuters

Ukraine envoy to U.S. proposed as foreign minister

Tue Mar 17, 2009 

KIEV (Reuters) - President Viktor Yushchenko proposed Ukraine's
ambassador to the United States as foreign minister on Tuesday after his
predecessor was sacked in the aftermath of a row with the prime
minister.

The president's press service said the candidature of Oleh Shamshur
would be submitted to parliament for approval. It was unclear when
debate would take place or whether Shamshur, 53, would win sufficient
support in the often fractious chamber.

The job of foreign minister is one of two cabinet posts proposed
directly by the president under Ukraine's constitution. A broader
cabinet shuffle has long been expected, with the job of finance minister
also vacant.

A career diplomat, Shamshur, has also served as deputy minister and head
of the ministry's section dealing with the European Union.

As he has been on Washington since 2005, Shmshur has been absent for
much of Ukraine's turmoil between Ukraine's pro-Western leadership
generally pitting Yushchenko against his estranged ally, Prime Minister
Yulia Tymoshenko.

Ukraine's previous foreign minister, Volodymyr Ohryzko, was dismissed by
parliament this month after clashing with Tymoshenko. Deputies said he
sent a directive to Ukrainian embassies critical of the prime minister.

Ukraine's foreign policy, based on integrating with the West, is
generally not subject to criticism, though the opposition Regions Party,
friendlier to Russia, backs a more moderate, slower approach to closer
ties and membership of NATO.

Tymoshenko has accused the president for being too strident in his
criticism of Russia, particularly in his denunciation of Russia's
military incursion into Georgia last year.

(Note: Amb. Shamshur has been an especially active and effective
representative of Ukraine to the United States and is highly regarded
here in Washington.  If you wish to view Amb. Shamshur's remarks before
a briefing of the Helsinki Commission  following Ukraine's 2007
elections, click here
<http://www.csce.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=UserGroups.Home&ContentRecord_
id=400&ContentType=B&ContentRecordType=B&UserGroup_id=117&Subaction=ByDa
te&CFID=5440560&CFTOKEN=65460110> .  For his testimony at a Commission
hearing on the 20th anniversary of Chornobyl, select here.
<http://www.csce.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=UserGroups.Home&ContentRecord_
id=368&ContentType=H&ContentRecordType=H&UserGroup_id=117&Subaction=ByDa
te&CFID=5440924&CFTOKEN=10949236>  For the Ambassador's written
submission at our March 2008 NATO Enlargement hearing: select here
<http://www.csce.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=UserGroups.Home&ContentRecord_
id=414&ContentType=H&ContentRecordType=H&UserGroup_id=117&Subaction=ByDa
te&CFID=5441177&CFTOKEN=31550897>   OD) 

International Herald Tribune

Panel flags state of U.S.-Russia relations 

By Brian Knowlton

Monday, March 16, 2009 

WASHINGTON: A high-level bipartisan commission recommended Monday that
the Obama administration reach out to Russia in a number of ways,
putting NATO membership for Georgia and Ukraine on hold and taking "a
new look" at the planned missile shield in Eastern Europe, possibly even
collaborating with Moscow on it.

The recommendations came as the administration has said it wants to
"reset" the critically important but strained relationship. The report
also came weeks before President Barack Obama is to meet his Russian
counterpart, Dmitri A. Medvedev, at the Group of 20 summit meeting in
London on April 2.

For now, the bipartisan panel concluded in a 30-page report, Moscow is
not hostile to the United States - "at least not yet." Even should
relations break down, it said, a Russia weakened by the drop in oil
prices lacks the will and resources for a new Cold War-style
confrontation.

Still, commission members said they were "deeply concerned by the gap
between the current U.S.-Russian relationship and the level of
cooperation that the United States needs with Russia in order to advance
vital American interests." It said both governments were to blame for a
cooling of relations.

The fall in oil prices should make Russia more open to Western
entreaties for cooperation, the report said. It urged efforts to improve
collaboration on Iran, Afghanistan and the global economy, using as
enticements a push to drop trade barriers and support Russian membership
in the World Trade Organization.

"The risk in making the effort is far smaller than the costs of a slide
into hostility," the commission said.

The panel was headed by Gary Hart, a former Democratic senator from
Colorado, and Chuck Hagel, a former Republican senator from Nebraska.
Its members include two former national security advisers, Brent
Scowcroft and Robert C. McFarlane; Sam Nunn, a former Georgia senator
experienced in Russia issues; and Lee H. Hamilton, a former chairman of
the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

The recommendation on Georgia and Ukraine would represent a shift. At a
NATO meeting last year, the Bush administration procured a vague promise
that the two would someday become members. And especially after Russia's
conflict with Georgia, the Bush White House wanted to signal Moscow that
it held no veto over NATO membership.

Germany, worried about Russian reaction, opposed that approach.

The commission report said that the new administration should "accept
that neither Ukraine nor Georgia is ready for NATO membership" but that
it should also work with NATO allies to find other ways "to demonstrate
a commitment to their sovereignty." The United States, it said, does not
now have "a compelling security interest" in NATO membership for either
country.

The report suggested a "new look" at the missile defense system that the
United States wants to install in Poland and the Czech Republic. Russia
vigorously opposes the idea, saying that the interceptors might be used
against it, not against Iranian missiles.

The Obama administration appears already to be rethinking the matter. In
a letter from Mr. Obama to Mr. Medvedev that found its way into the
press, Obama suggested that if Russia helped persuade Iran to curtail
its nuclear ambitions, the United States would see less reason for a
Europe-based missile defense.

"Building a joint system that could include Russian facilities and
equipment is most desirable," the report said.

The commission also examined Russia's use of "Europe's energy dependence
for political leverage." It suggested working both with the Europeans,
to support the development of non-Russian gas sources, and jointly with
the Europeans and Russia, to establish an agreed "system of rights and
responsibilities" aimed at preventing energy suspensions.

 

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