PRESIDENT VIKTOR Yanukovich has vowed to reinvigorate Ukraine’s relations with traditional ally Russia on his first visit to Moscow since taking power in Kiev.
Mr Yanukovich promised to resolve two issues that dogged Ukraine-Russia ties under his predecessor, Viktor Yushchenko, whose five years in office were characterised by fierce criticism of Moscow and efforts to break its centuries-old influence over Kiev in favour of closer links with the West.
The former mechanic pledged to reverse Mr Yushchenko’s decision to give posthumous state honours to two wartime nationalist fighters who are revered in parts of Ukraine, but loathed in Russia.
He also told his hosts that he would soon end debate over whether the Russian navy’s Black Sea fleet should retain its base on the Ukrainian coast after its current lease expires in 2017.
“Of course, these decrees by Yushchenko have produced a resounding effect, and they are not accepted in both Ukraine and Europe,” Mr Yanukovich said of the awards given to Stepan Bandera and Roman Shukhevych, who led nationalist forces in their fight against Nazi German invaders and then Soviet troops during and after the second World War.
“This decision will be taken before Victory Day,” he added, referring to a May 9th celebration of fascist Germany’s defeat that is observed in many former Soviet states.
On the future status of the Black Sea Fleet, which has sparked clashes between Russian and Ukrainian nationalists in and around the city of Sevastopol, where it is based, Mr Yanukovich said that “very soon we will have an answer to this question that will satisfy both Ukraine and Russia”.
Russian president Dmitry Medvedev told his guest that his election presented an opportunity to “open a new page in our relations” after five years under pro-western leaders that saw Moscow and Kiev locked in diplomatic disputes and quarrels over energy that disrupted supplies to the EU.
“Unfortunately, in recent years relations between our countries didn’t just stagnate, they hit rock bottom. We’re talking now not about improving relations, but resurrecting them,” Mr Medvedev said.
“Even when our country’s ambassador was not in Kiev, I would wake up thinking about Ukraine,” the Russian leader added. “Now we have fundamentally different possibilities.”
