European Forum

Russian President Medvedev sends critical open letter to Ukraine's Yushchenko

On August 11th Russian President Dmitry Medvedev sent an open letter to his Ukrainian counterpart Victor Yushchenko accusing him of being ‘anti-Russian’ and urging him to cooperate with Moscow. Medvedev also said he’s postponing sending an ambassador to Ukraine and accused Yushchenko of putting gas supplies to Europe at risk by disrupting ties with Moscow.

The letter comes at a politically critical time for Ukraine, which is awaiting Presidential elections in January, prompting speculations that the timing is not accidental. Analysts say Medvedev's blunt message was timed to influence the campaign for Ukraine's presidential vote on Jan. 17. ‘This is a tough diplomatic demarche,’ said Vladimir Fisenko, head of the Ukrainian think-tank Penta. ‘This is a signal for the presidential campaign, aimed against Yushchenko.’ He added: ‘it is also a signal to all Ukrainian politicians that it's time for Kiev to change its course.’

It also comes after several incidents over the past years of cuts in Russian gas supplies through the transit country Ukraine, motivated by the latter’s failure to pay its gas bills amidst speculations and accusations in Ukraine and the Western European countries that Russia is using gas as a political weapon against the pro-Western orientation of the current Ukrainian authorities.

In his open letter, Medvedev noted ‘we have the impression that Kiev consistently seeks to break traditional economic ties with Russia, first and foremost in the energy sector […] as a result, the stable use by our countries of what is effectively a single gas pipeline network serving the energy security of Russia, Ukraine and many European states has been put at risk’. The Russian President continues: ‘... on account of the anti-Russian course of the Ukrainian leadership, I have decided to postpone sending our new ambassador to Ukraine.’
Yushchenko's political rival Viktor Yanukovich, who heads the biggest party in parliament, said Moscow would not see any improvement in relations while Yushchenko was in power, and vowed to make ‘normal, good, neighbourly’ relations with ‘strategic partner Russia’ his top priority upon taking power.

Yushchenko, whose approval rating stands around 4 percent, has little chance of winning re-election. Yanukovich, whom Russia backed in the last election, leads with up to 24 percent. Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko stands at around 14 percent, and Arseny Yatsenyuk, a pro-Western former parliamentary speaker and foreign minister, at 10 percent. An alliance between Tymoshenko and Yatsenyuk could challenge Yanukovich.

Reply

A reply from Yuschenko’s camp followed today, in which chair of the political council of his ‘Our Ukraine’ party Verya Ulyachenko, stated that the Russian President’s public address should remind all political and civil forces in Ukraine of the necessity to consolidate, despite political or party beliefs.

Among others, Ulyachenko expressed befuddlement at Medvedev referral to a ‘single gas pipeline’, thus unifying the two countries’ pipeline infrastructure. She commented that according to that logic the Russian oil reserves should then also be seen as unified with Ukraine. She also commented on the Russian President’s desire to see effective cooperation in the business sphere, expressed in the letter. She stated that her party has more than once noted conditions to business contract that were politically, and not economically, motivated on the Russian side.

Ulyachenko concluded that ‘unfortunately, the young administration of the Russian Federation is turning into a hostage of the old imperial complexes, which force them to constantly stimulate an image of the external enemy and change an equal dialogue with al neighbouring countries into a language of offences and threats’.

Sources: Kyivpost, Unian.net