Zbigniew Brzezinski, the former American National Security advisor and long-time friend of Ukraine, arrived in Kyiv dispensing a cocktail of praise laced with a dash of criticism.
He said Ukraine had done a good job at becoming an internationally-recognized, politically-strategic country, but had failed to make any steps towards securing its place economically in the global marketplace.
‘As far as America is concerned, we support you internationally, we applaud you politically and we are disappointed with you economically,’ said Brzezinski at a Monday press conference.
‘Economically, you’re stagnating. And, if you compare yourself to Poland, the record is extremely bad.’ Brzezinski is counselor for the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a U.S.-based political think-tank, and professor of American foreign policy at the Paul Nitze School of Advanced International Studies. He is leading a team of American experts that have come to Ukraine for discussions on Ukrainian-American bilateral relations and to assess the country’s internal economic and political situation.
Brzezinski and other delegation members emphasized that economic viability will only come with implementation of reforms.
‘Privatization and sanctity of contracts are two key elements that need to be pushed ahead in reforms,’ said Frank Carlucci, former U.S. Secretary of Defense, one of the six members of the U.S. delegation.
Brzezinski recognized that divisions in the Parliament were the main cause for the hold-up on economic reform, but believed that President Leonid Kuchma could help break the paralysis.
‘The President needs to galvanize the Ukrainian public so that there is growing pressure to implement needed economic reform,’ he said.
Brzezinski’s delegation is also addressing the role Ukraine plays in European security, specifically citing Ukraine’s interest in becoming a potential member of NATO. ‘Any European country that subjectively wants to be a member of NATO and objectively meets every one of the four conditions for membership – stable democracy, well-functioning free market economy, effective civilian control over the military, and no serious ethnic or territorial problems – should be considered for membership,’ said Brzezinski.
Brzezinski robustly criticized the former Soviet Union while in office during the Jimmy Carter years and voiced support for independence movements in countries of the Soviet bloc. He said Ukraine satisfied two of the criteria while Russia, currently, satisfied none and predicted that Ukraine could be ready for membership by the year 2010. Ukraine’s interest in joining the military alliance has been frowned upon by its northern neighbor Russia. Nationalists and die-hard Communists in the Russian parliament are using the issue as one of the pretexts for failing to ratify a Ukrainian-Russian friendship treaty which was dogged by years of delay until the Ukrainian and Russian presidents signed an agreement last year. Ukrainian officials tried to reassure Russia’s Foreign Minister Yevgeny Primakov, during his visit to Ukraine, that cooperation with NATO should not be viewed as a threat to Moscow.
Brzezinski’s delegation met with several Ukrainian leaders, including President Leonid Kuchma, the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Volodymyr Horbulin, and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Borys Tarasyuk since arriving over the weekend. The group’s week-long visit will include visits to Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk.
