[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 21 (Wednesday, March 2, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: March 2, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                        THE SITUATION IN UKRAINE

  Mr. DeCONCINI. Mr. President, this week, Ukrainian President Leonid 
Kravchuk will arrive in Washington for meetings with President Clinton. 
This is an important visit by the President of a country whose 
significance to the United States is undeniable. No doubt, President 
Kravchuk will be rightly praised for taking the difficult--and 
politically courageous--step of signing the trilateral nuclear accord 
ridding Ukraine of its nuclear weapons. His visit also marks a 
milestone in United States-Ukrainian relations, which are beginning to 
improve as a result of a welcome shift in our own policy that 
increasingly recognizes the critical role of Ukraine and other 
Independent States of the former Soviet Union.
  However, I continue to harbor grave concerns about Ukraine's future. 
Recently, I was disturbed to see Ukraine again backing away from what 
appeared to be economic reform efforts--specifically, the Government's 
decision to issue a flood of new subsidies to State industry and 
agriculture. This is a move that will again fuel high inflation after 
only a brief slowdown. I am aware that this move was taken in order to 
avert a payments crisis and the collapse of Ukraine's industry. 
Nevertheless, it points to a larger problem: the inability or 
unwillingness of the Ukrainian Government--and conservative, majority 
Parliament--to take decisive measures on meaningful monetary and 
structural reforms, including privatization.
  Mr. President, as chairman of the Helsinki Commission and a former 
member of the Ukraine Famine Commission, I have long been an advocate 
of freedom and independence for Ukraine and an admirer of the courage 
and spirit of the Ukrainian people. But I am deeply troubled at 
Ukraine's current course. After a promising start with respect to 
political, and to a lesser extent, economic reforms, Ukraine is 
undergoing a period of stagnation--an inability to move beyond the 
initial break with the totalitarianism and centralization of the Soviet 
era. While not minimizing the intense difficulty of the transition to 
democracy and free markets, or, for that matter, the serious security 
threats emanating from Ukraine's northern neighbor, I cannot help 
fearing for Ukraine's future in the absence of reform.
  While the United States has become more serious about assisting 
Ukraine, an effort I have supported, all of the assistance in the world 
will not help if the political will and wherewithal are not present in 
Ukraine itself. Next month, the people of Ukraine will vote for a new 
Parliament--hopefully one that will push, not hinder, significant 
economic change.
  We need to reinforce the message that Ukraine's very future depends 
upon immediate measures with respect to economic and political reform.

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