On Day 1, Ukrainian Leader Meets Putin

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko and Russian President Vladimir V. Putin moved Monday to mend relations damaged by Ukraine’s recent political crisis, expressing satisfaction with a meeting here that focused on economic relations but also touched on the Ukrainian leader’s dioxin poisoning during his campaign last year.

Yushchenko has repeatedly said that his goal is to move Ukraine toward European Union membership, but upon meeting Putin he acknowledged his country’s historic ties with Russia.

“We assume, and will continue to assume, that Russia is our eternal strategic ally,” he said.

Putin, meanwhile, sought to explain his open support of Yushchenko’s rival, former Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich, in Ukraine’s bitterly contested presidential election. Putin visited Ukraine twice during the campaign, speaking highly of Yanukovich, and swiftly congratulated him on his victory in a Nov. 21 runoff election against Yushchenko that was later declared invalid because of fraud.

“Russia has never played behind the scenes in post-Soviet space,” Putin told his guest. “It has never worked with the opposition, but only with the leadership of any country. This also applies to Ukraine. We did what the country’s leadership asked us to do.... We only hope that we will develop such trusting relations with you.”

Yushchenko won a Dec. 26 rematch against Yanukovich. He was inaugurated Sunday and came to Moscow in the first foreign trip of his presidency, fulfilling a campaign pledge. He plans to visit European Union countries later in the week.

Yushchenko on Monday also announced his choice of a key ally, Yulia Tymoshenko, as Ukraine’s next prime minister, naming her to that post in an acting capacity pending confirmation by parliament. She is a fiery speaker who played a major role in rallying protesters on behalf of Yushchenko during the effort to overturn the November runoff.

But Tymoshenko, 44, a former businesswoman and deputy prime minister, has been facing an arrest warrant in Russia on corruption charges, which she calls bogus.

Asked at a Monday evening news conference whether he had brought up that issue with Putin, including the need for a solution if she was to be able to visit Russia, Yushchenko replied: “I did talk to him about this. I am satisfied with the answer.” He didn’t elaborate.

Yushchenko said Putin brought up the dioxin poisoning, which has disfigured the Ukrainian president’s face. “I clarified the story of what took place, taking into consideration the circumstances at that time, including the dinner” the day he believes he was poisoned, Yushchenko said. “We exchanged ideas about the possible scenarios of the poisoning.”

Yushchenko has called the poisoning an assassination attempt. His comments implied that the two presidents held a serious discussion about it. The then-opposition leader became ill shortly after attending a dinner with the head of Ukraine’s security service, Ihor Smeshko, who is viewed by many as a reformer who would not necessarily be a suspect in the case. Suspicions have been voiced in Ukraine that the dioxin used in the poisoning may have come from Russia.

On Monday, Yushchenko and an aide read a statement from his Austrian doctors, who said he was fit to serve as president while continuing to receive care for the effects of the poisoning. The part read by his aide noted that Yushchenko had received 6,000 times what was considered a “permissible” level of dioxin.

“If I managed to survive 6,000 doses, I will live long,” Yushchenko quipped.

At the start of his meeting with Putin, in the presence of reporters, Yushchenko said he would “not conceal the fact that it was not an easy campaign.”

Said Putin: “We are very glad that the period of quite complex internal political processes has come to an end in Ukraine. We are glad that the situation is stabilizing.... We said many times that we would work with any leader voted for by the Ukrainian people. I would like to confirm that.”

Putin said after the meeting that there was “not a single problem that we did not discuss.”

“We met understanding in that we should move forward from the existing level of cooperation,” he said. “I’m satisfied with the results of the talks.”

Putin also said that Ukraine received $1.5 billion in transit fees last year for shipment of Russian natural gas in pipelines across its territory to Western Europe, an amount he described as “not bad.”

Andrei Piontkovsky, director of the Center for Strategic Studies, a Moscow think tank, said that Russian-Ukrainian relations could develop well “if Putin drops claims to dominance and views Ukraine and Russia as two totally equal states.”

“In reality, Ukraine and Russia do have common interests, simply because they are neighbors,” Piontkovsky said.

At his news conference, Yushchenko said that early-1990s privatizations of state assets in Ukraine would not be reversed, but that more recent, “illegal” privatizations would be.

The Ukrainian leader said he believed that his talks with Putin had succeeded in eliminating tensions.

“We left history for history,” he said. “Today it’s not so important what happened 30 days ago. What’s important is what’s going to happen in our bilateral relations in the next five years. What happened during the election campaign were mere episodes. I believe the subject has been thoroughly discussed. I think we have sorted it all out.”

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Prime minister nominee

Appointment: Yulia Tymoshenko, 44, has been named Ukraine’s prime minister; she will serve in an acting capacity until parliament votes on her nomination. She was a firebrand opposition leader who played a key role in rallying protesters on behalf of Viktor Yushchenko in his fight to become president.

* Business: Tymoshenko gained prominence as the “gas princess,” maneuvering skillfully in Ukraine’s chaotic, corrupt business world after the Soviet Union’s collapse. Her United Energy Systems became one of the largest corporations in the mid-1990s.

* Politics: She served as a deputy prime minister responsible for energy issues during Yushchenko’s tenure as prime minister. President Leonid D. Kuchma fired her from that post in January 2001.

* Accusations: She has been indicted on charges of smuggling, forgery and tax evasion dating back to 1996. Tymoshenko, who has not been prosecuted, contended that the accusations were inspired by Kuchma supporters to end her efforts to root out corruption. She also faces an arrest warrant in Russia on corruption charges, which she calls bogus.

Sources: Los Angeles Times, Associated Press

Los Angeles Times