UKRAINE SHELVED its bid for Nato membership yesterday, as President Viktor Yanukovich came under fresh fire for loosening ties with the West in favour of Russia.
Since taking power three months go, Mr Yanukovich and his allies have conducted intense negotiations with Moscow on a wide range of issues, signalling the new president’s determination to reverse his predecessor’s policy of aligning Ukraine with the European Union and United States.
He enraged opponents by agreeing to let the Russian navy remain at a base on Ukraine’s Black Sea coast until at least 2042 in exchange for cheaper gas, a move which analysts said gave the Kremlin huge influence on Kiev’s geopolitical stance for the next three decades.
Critics also accuse Mr Yanukovich’s government of planning energy deals that would give the Russian state or Kremlin-friendly businessmen a dominant position in Ukraine’s economy, which has been ravaged by recession and is propped up by international aid.
Journalists have complained that Mr Yanukovich’s administration is trying to influence their work and hamper the activities of outlets that criticise him. Reporters Without Borders last month urged him to prove his commitment to media freedom.
“Entry into Nato is not realistic for our country today. Nato conditions would require us to have the support of the majority of the population,” Mr Yanukovich said on a visit to the western city of Lviv, where he was heckled by supporters of ex-prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko.
Foreign minister Kostyantyn Gryshchenko added: “Ukraine will continue developing its relations with the alliance. But the question of membership is now being removed from the agenda. This corresponds to the way things are today.”
Mr Yanukovich’s power base is in eastern and southern Ukraine, where Russian is spoken widely and most people trust Moscow.
In western Ukraine, however, Mr Yanukovich is widely seen as a Kremlin puppet, and Ms Tymoshenko trounced him in that region in the presidential election. She accused him of using massive fraud to win the ballot, but observers found few problems.
On his first visit to Lviv as president, hundreds of people barracked Mr Yanukovich with cries of “Moscow’s slave” and “Shame”, and enacted a parody of the “sale” of Ukraine to Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, who was depicted as the imperial Tsar.
“This handful of protesters, as we well know, were specially ordered,” Mr Yanukovich said, implying that they were controlled by his political opponents.
He also said that he had come to Lviv with “many rich people” who wanted to invest in western Ukraine, which he claimed was the poorest part of the country.
