The Ukrainian Government prides itself on the way that there are few ethnic tensions in the country, and certainly none approaching the virulence which has caused conflict in other parts of the former Soviet empire.
The most sensitive relationship, and potentially the most dangerous if things went wrong, has always been that between Ukrainians and ethnic Russians living in the country.
While the Ukrainian Government has devoted a lot of effort to reassure ethnic Russians that they are not threatened, Moscow's mayor, Yuri Luzhkov, has again been rabble rousing on his latest trip to Crimea and doing his best to stir up hatred among Russians towards Ukrainians.
With an eye to presidential elections in Russia that he will probably contest, Luzhkov has tried to win support among nationalists in his country by portraying himself as champion of the ethnic Russians living in Crimea.
On his recent trip to Sevastopol he again supported the demands by some Crimean Russians that the peninsula should become part of Russia and he attacked the Ukrainian education system for daring to introduce Ukrainian as the language of instruction in Crimean schools. The latter is particularly ironic as the million or so ethnic Ukrainians living in Moscow have never been given help by the authorities there to set up a Ukrainian-language school in the city.
In any other country a visiting foreign politician trying to foment ethnic tension would have been summarily kicked out.
The Ukrainian foreign ministry belatedly issued a lame protest to the Russian ambassador in Kyiv about Luzhkov's behavior being open to interpretation as interference in Ukraine's internal matters and an insult to Ukrainian sovereignty.
It is more than an insult. In the often volatile political climate that exists in Crimea the stubby, demagogic Luzhkov could help spark something very ugly.
Therefore, a protest is not enough. The Ukrainian Government should ban Luzhkov from ever entering Ukraine – and Crimea is part of Ukraine. In the interests of good relations, the Russian Government should ensure that Luzhkov does not go back to Crimea. But on the Kremlin's past track record it is unlikely to do that.
If Luzhkov does return, he should be arrested and charged with breaking the laws against inciting ethnic hatreds.
