US Vice President Dick Cheney looked to heal wounds over Russia in Ukraine’s ruling coalition yesterday as he wrapped up a regional tour aimed at bolstering key US allies following the conflict in Georgia.
Cheney met Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and was to hold talks with President Viktor Yushchenko. Feuding between Yushchenko and Tymoshenko has intensified over Moscow’s confrontation with Georgia and the West.
Cheney’s visit to ex-Soviet Ukraine came as the flagship of the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet was scheduled to arrive with aid in the Georgian port of Poti, close to where Russian forces have been deployed since last month’s war with Georgia.
PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
European officials have suggested Ukraine could be the next flashpoint for tensions between Russia and the West after the war in Georgia last month that has left Russian troops occupying positions deep inside Georgian territory.
Like Georgia, Ukraine has angered Moscow by bidding to join NATO and the EU.
The Russia-Georgia crisis has also begun to make an impact on the US presidential race as Republican hopeful John McCain tried to shore up his image as the stronger candidate on foreign policy and security issues.
“Russia’s leaders, rich with oil wealth and corrupt with power, have rejected democratic ideals and the obligations of a responsible power,” he said as he accepted the Republican White House nomination in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
“They invaded a small, democratic neighbor to gain more control over the world’s oil supply, intimidate other neighbors and further their ambitions of reassembling the Russian empire,” he said in the speech on Thursday.
Yushchenko has said his country was a hostage in Russia’s reassertion of influence in the former Soviet Union and has offered to boost defense ties with the West. He has also warned that Russia threatens stability in the region.
Cheney, who has said his visit is intended to show US support for its allies in the former Soviet area, was likely to push the pro-Western leaders to patch up their crumbling government coalition, analysts said.
During his visit to Georgia on Thursday, Cheney accused Russia of an “illegitimate” invasion to redraw the map of Georgia and unveiled a US$1 billion aid package to help reconstruction.
US President George W. Bush has supported Ukraine’s push to join the NATO military alliance and on Thursday the vice president expressed his backing for Georgia’s eventual entry as well.
Tymoshenko and Yushchenko, the icons of the 2004 pro-Western Orange Revolution, have both been considered Western-leaning politicians despite persistent and sharp disagreements on domestic political issues.
Yushchenko on Wednesday accused his opponents in parliament of a coup attempt and threatened early parliamentary elections after the prime minister’s party sided with pro-Russian deputies to pass laws cutting his powers.
Tymoshenko, once a close ally of the president’s, in turn accused him of having “destroyed” the governing coalition by pulling out of an alliance with her party after the approval of the legislation.
Tymoshenko has denied press reports she has tilted towards Moscow and is about to form a new coalition with the pro-Russian opposition, but she has not openly criticized Russia over the Georgia crisis.
Last month, the Ukrainian prime minister also abstained from a vote approved by the president to impose restrictions on the movements of Russia’s Black Sea fleet, which is based along with the Ukrainian navy in Sevastopol.
The squabbling highlights deep differences between the mainly Russian-speaking southeast of Ukraine and the predominantly Ukrainian-speaking northwest of the country, more oriented towards European integration.
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