Bush Administration Begins to Bury the Hatchet With Ukraine

Relations between the U.S. and this former Soviet republic, strained before the Iraq war by accusations that Ukraine had sold radar systems to Saddam Hussein’s regime, appear to be warming again.

President Leonid D. Kuchma’s government recently has taken steps to respond to U.S. complaints about CD piracy, money laundering and trade barriers. A more significant boost to ties came this spring, when his government sent a military battalion trained to cope with biological and chemical attacks to Kuwait to back the U.S. war effort. Last month, parliament approved Kuchma’s request to send 1,800 peacekeepers to Iraq.

“Kuchma played a very personal role” in steering his administration toward improving ties with the U.S., said a Western diplomat. “His instructions overcame some of the resistance.”

The Ukrainian president has drawn Western criticism in recent years over his authoritarian rule, charges of election abuses, accusations that he had a role in the 2000 slaying of journalist Georgi Gongadze, and the alleged sale of the Kolchuga radar systems to Iraq in violation of United Nations sanctions.

While denying that the sale occurred, Ukraine provided the U.S. with information that would have helped allied forces avoid any Kolchuga system deployed in Iraq.

“It allowed us to reduce the level of anxiety,” said the diplomat, who requested anonymity. He added that no evidence of the radar systems had yet been discovered in Iraq and that finding them was “not a priority.”

Myroslava Gongadze, the slain journalist’s widow, who was granted refugee status in the U.S., welcomed Washington’s renewed interest in her homeland. “But it would be a mistake to say that this means America has forgiven all of Kuchma’s sins,” she said by e-mail from Washington, responding to questions. “I doubt if [President] Bush will ever shake Kuchma’s hand.”

The apparent upturn in relations has provoked some criticism in Ukraine, both from opposition leaders who hoped that Kuchma’s isolation would make him easier to oust and from some presidential loyalists who want closer ties with Russia.

“Russia tried to exploit the cooling of Ukraine’s relations with the West,” said Anatoly Halchynsky, an advisor to Kuchma. In a recent article titled “Caution: Russia!” Halchynsky argued for closer Ukrainian ties to the West.

In January, Russia nominated Kuchma to a leadership role in the Commonwealth of Independent States, an alliance of former Soviet republics. In addition, Russian companies recently acquired key Ukrainian economic assets, especially in the energy and chemical industries, raising concerns in Washington and among pro-Western elements in Kiev.

“Officially, Russian capital is about 7% of foreign investment,” Halchynsky said. “But in most cases, the Russian capital comes here via shadowy schemes and worsens our problems by expanding the shadow economy.”

Increased Western investment could add transparency to Ukraine’s economy, said Myron Wasylyk, senior vice president of PBN Co., a public relations firm, and chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine. Many Western investors underestimate the business opportunities here, he said.

“With the European Union’s borders coming to Ukraine’s frontiers, high European labor costs will force production-intensive industries to look to countries such as Ukraine,” he said. “Volkswagen, Skoda, Audi and other automobile and parts suppliers are moving here to export to the EU.”

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s ties with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, also strained in the buildup to the Iraq war -- evident in the cool reception Kuchma received during NATO’s summit in November in Prague -- appear to be improving as well. An informal alliance gathering in May concluded that “there are clear signs the relationship is getting back on track,” according to a report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank that was a co-host of the conference.

Twelve members of the military alliance last month agreed to lease Ukraine’s jumbo military transport plane, the An-124 Ruslan, instead of America’s C-17 Globemaster for a planned rapid-deployment force.

Outgoing U.S. Ambassador Carlos Pasqual recently said NATO could decide in 2006 whether to invite Ukraine to join the alliance two years later. But that decision will depend largely on Ukraine’s track record in moving toward greater democracy, especially during presidential elections next year.

“Some have speculated that if Ukraine might provide deployments [of peacekeepers] in Iraq, then perhaps the United States and NATO would ignore transgressions of democratic values in Ukraine,” he said in a speech last month. “The answer is, unequivocally, ‘No.’ ”

One major issue facing Ukrainian democracy is whether Kuchma leaves office when his second term expires. Though the constitution bars him from running for a third consecutive term, some loyalists have been looking for loopholes that would let him stay or run again. He would probably face Viktor Yushchenko, a reformist former prime minister widely expected to win a fully free vote.

But political journalist Irena Poherelova fears that linking a NATO invitation with clean elections could backfire. “There are political forces that will do everything to make the elections as dirty as possible,” she wrote recently, “just to make sure that Ukraine doesn’t join NATO.”