By Vestnik Kavkaza
Yesterday the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko addressed the US Congress to help Ukraine with military aid. “We need more military facilities – flying and not flying. I address the U.S. to issue a special status in the security sphere to Ukraine, which would reflect the highest level of cooperation with a country which is not a NATO member,” Poroshenko said, stating that Russia is a “global threat.”
Today US President Barack Obama is going to discuss with Poroshenko “ways of a diplomatic settlement of the crisis” in Ukraine. Yesterday the secretary of the White House Josh Ernest, commenting on a new package of aid to Ukraine, stated that it had all the components which were useful for the military, including helmets, body armor, night-vision devices. According to ITAR-TASS, Ernest repeated that the U.S. saw “initial encouraging signs” that Russia supported the agreements on a ceasefire in Ukraine. At the same time, he threatened Moscow with “new losses” in case of further escalation of the conflict.
Commenting on possible development of the situation in Ukraine, the deputy dean of the World Economics and International Affairs Department of the NRU of the HSE, Andrei Suzdaltsev stated that the Ukrainian authorities rejected the word “federalism” enthusiastically: “As a result it was substituted with the word “decentralizations,” especially after a visit by Angela Merkel, who came to Kiev with federal ideals and returned with decentralization. Under Poroshenko, Ukraine has turned into a confederation. There is no unity in the country. Poroshenko is a compromise; he could satisfy everybody.”
Speaking about the personality of Poroshenko, Suzdaltsev notes: “He is a smart and cunning person. They counted on a new formula of stabilization of the political field in the country and consolidation of the nation in the struggle against separatism. It was almost found, as Ukraine united in efforts to resist Russia. It was presented as making a sacrifice, as if Russia occupies Ukraine.”
According to Suzdaltsev, Poroshenko is not able to reach any agreements with Russia: “He went to Minsk to the first summit of the Customs Union, the EU, Ukraine and Russia. He went and told Putin what he was told to tell him, and that’s all. He is not able to sign anything. The man played the role of a representative of not an independent country, but Europe and the U.S. Our problem was that we rose to it. Instead of a dialogue between Kerry, Lavrov, Obama and Putin we got a dialogue between Putin and Poroshenko, which was absolutely senseless.”
However, Suzdaltsev thinks that Poroshenko “is an indicator of the views in Ukrainian society”: “He declares attempts to win by military means. He demonstrates that he is one of the people. At the same time, he quickly signed an absurd protocol through Kuchma, which required the main condition would be a ceasefire. Obviously, the army is destroyed, but he tries to revive it. Obviously all relations with Russia are broken, but he talks to Putin every day. He is in the general trend of Ukrainian views and builds his own micropolicies. We should follow him attentively and see what is next.”
