[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 90 (Wednesday, July 13, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: July 13, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                    UKRAINE'S PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS

  Mr. DeCONCINI. Mr. President, In Sunday's Presidential elections in 
Ukraine, former Prime Minister Leonid Kuchma emerged victorious over 
incumbent President Leonid Kravchuk, winning 51.5 percent of the vote 
to Kravchuk's 45.5 percent. Campaigning on the theme of strengthening 
economic ties with Russia and blaming President Kravchuk for Ukraine's 
serious economic ills, Kuchma drew largely on the support of the 
industrialized East and South.
  President Kuchma's principal policy challenge will be to launch 
meaningful economic reform. President Kravchuk, for all his success in 
the international arena and in maintaining domestic stability, seemed 
unwilling to exert the leadership needed to implement real reform. 
President Kuchma will have the difficult job of working with the 
Cabinet of Ministers, Parliament, and regional and local officials--
where reformers have made gains in recent elections--to turn this dire 
situation around. In this regard, Mr. Kuchma may face opposition in 
Parliament. Whereas the Communists and their allies--the largest bloc 
of deputies--appear to back his call for closer economic ties with 
Russia, they may block economic reform, much as the previous Parliament 
did when he was Prime Minister in 1992. There is a danger of continued 
gridlock unless Ukraine moves forward on a new constitution that more 
clearly defines executive and legislative powers.
  The other major political challenge for the new President will be to 
bridge the gap between Eastern Ukraine and more nationalist Western 
Ukraine, which voted heavily for President Kravchuk, fearing that 
Kuchma would move Ukraine back into Russia's orbit. To his credit, the 
President-elect immediately called for political unity and articulated 
a willingness to overcome the East-West split. Mr. Kuchma will need to 
convince many of his countrymen that closer economic ties to Russian 
will not mean a loss of Ukraine's sovereignty or a turning away from 
the West.
  Mr. President, last weekend, acting on a U.S. initiative, the leaders 
of the G-7 promised up to $4 billion in finance from the IMF to 
Ukraine, contingent on progress on economic reform. As Chairman of the 
Helsinki Commission, I have had a longstanding interest in Ukraine. I 
am very encouraged that the West, especially the United States, is 
increasingly acknowledging Ukraine's importance and is beginning to 
back it with concrete support. We need to sustain and nurture this 
growing interest in Ukraine and develop worthwhile assistance programs 
there, as an independent, Democratic Ukraine is crucial to the 
stability and security of Europe. But the key will be what happens in 
Ukraine. The country's new leadership has the opportunity to 
consolidate independence and develop the political and economic bases 
for democracy and prosperity. No amount of foreign aid or goodwill can 
be a substitute for the commitment to freedom of Ukraine's people and 
political maturity of its leadership.

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