No. 2 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, JANUARY 11, 2004 5 2003: THE YEAR IN REVIEW ing for the past five years, should decide at this point to later identified as a dam in the Kerch Strait, ostensibly Ukraine’s foreign affairs: approve a highly restrictive law,” explained the OSCE’s to control shore erosion that was destroying property on Freimut Duve in a letter to Minister of Foreign Affairs its Taman Peninsula. The rather lengthy dam eventually Anatolii Zlenko dated July 15. extended five kilometers into the strait, from the penin- crisis management At about the same time, Freedom House, a human sula, part of the Krasnodar Krai, to within 100 meters of risis management continued to dominate rights watchdog group, downgraded Ukraine’s press sta- the tiny Ukrainian-owned island of Tuzla. Construction Ukraine’s foreign policy in 2003. While relations tus from “partly free,” where the country’s rating had was halted only after Ukraine sent armed border guards with the West, particularly with Washington, lingered for several years, to “not free.” The report to protect its territory and the presidents of the two warmed considerably, a slight chill descended on the explained that the decision to lower the standing in its countries stepped in to calm a crisis that was heading Cnormally cozy bond between Moscow and Kyiv. evaluation came as a result of “state censorship of tele- out of control. (See sidebar on the Tuzla crisis.) Ukrainian leaders showed an ever-stronger inclina- vision broadcasts, continued harassment and disruption While causing a distinct chill in Ukraine-Russia rela- tion to clear the political hubris and begin building a of independent media, and the failure of the authorities tions, the Tuzla crisis also brought to the fore the need concrete path towards Europe, especially after Russia to adequately investigate attacks against journalists.” to finally resolve the stalemate in the delimitation of the attempted a diplomatically incorrect takeover of a Ukraine was sucked into two international border Azov Sea and the Kerch Strait. Russia had left negotia- small, Ukrainian-owned island located in the Kerch incidents in 2003, one of which nearly cost Ukraine tions at an impasse by refusing to back down from Strait. friendly relations with its strategic partner to the north. demands that the two bodies of water remain commonly Nonetheless, Ukrainian state leaders continued an Some political experts claim that the two border crises held, while Ukraine wanted borders established along unclear and confusing multilateral foreign policy, which were interconnected, with the second a result of a lack- recognized international norms. included a decision to move into an economic union adaisical approach by Ukraine in resolving the first one. The Azov Sea and the Kerch Strait remained the only with Russia and two other former Soviet republics. Moldova and Ukraine tangled diplomatically after part of the Russian-Ukrainian border that remained The year began with the continuation of a banking Moldovan border guards on July 17 broke padlocks on undelimited. Earlier in the year, on January 28, the two crisis from 2002 for which Ukraine could only blame gates and entered a Ukrainian hydroelectric plant, where sides had finally agreed – after five years of discussions itself. After finding itself unable to pass a comprehen- they set up a makeshift border post. Afterwards they – on the delimitation of their 1,300 mile border. The sive anti-money laundering law, which representatives refused to allow workers of the facility to enter on the presidents of the two countries, Russia’s Vladimir Putin from Western financial institutions had demanded for grounds that they did not have the proper documenta- and Ukraine’s Leonid Kuchma, signed the document months, the country found itself blackballed by the tion to cross Moldovan territory. The energy-producing during a visit by Mr. Putin to Kyiv on January 27-29. Financial Actions Task Force (FATE), a Western bank- facility is situated on the Dnister River at the In the first days of the New Year, Kyiv also heard ing oversight organization. Even though Ukraine’s Moldovan-Ukrainian border. more criticisms from the United States southern neigh- Parliament finally passed a law that met most of the The hydroelectric facility’s management complained bor in the wake of the Kolchuha scandal after the demands put forward by the West, it was too late and to Kyiv and warned that a danger existed to the dam Financial Times published a story on January 9 in which Ukraine’s commercial banks were blacklisted, which because water levels could not be monitored properly. a “high-ranking” Washington government official meant that limitations were placed on the type of trans- The director of Moldova’s Department of Border alleged that Ukraine had continued to scoff at United actions they could undertake at the international level. Troops, Dmytro Osoian, responded to allegations that Nations-imposed sanctions against Iraq and had again On January 16, the Ukrainian legislature made a sec- his troops had seized Ukrainian territory by affirming sold military equipment to Saddam Hussein – this time ond belated attempt to assuage FATF and avoid imple- that the post was erected on Moldovan lands. “The bor- military pontoon bridges and other field engineering mentation of a stringent regime of compliance by der post was established on Moldovan territory in strict equipment. The charges came just several months after Western countries when it passed additional anti-money accordance with the Moldovan-Ukrainian treaty on the Bush administration had accused Kyiv of selling laundering measures. By that time, however, Germany delimitation and demarcation of the border,” said Mr. Kolchuha aircraft detection systems to Iraq. Those accu- had announced that it would begin strict monitoring of Osoian. He explained that the treaty stated that where sations, while never proven, resulted in a decided chill international financial transactions involving Ukrainian bridges and dams spanned bodies of water, the border descending on relations between the U.S. and Ukraine. banks that exceeded $16,000. Four days later Great should be situated at the central point of these struc- While Iraq’s Ambassador to Ukraine Mozher al- Britain announced it was also implementing compliance tures. Douri on January 19 rejected suggestions that Ukraine procedures. Ukraine acknowledged that Mr. Osoian had a point had sold military equipment of any sort to his country, On February 6 the Verkhovna Rada passed additional when Minister of Foreign Affairs Zlenko said on July Washington officials said they would continue to keep measures that finally met international standards. In 26 that Ukraine respected Moldova’s right to set up bor- Ukraine at arm’s length, maintaining relations only return, Ukraine received good news on February 12 der posts along its border but that the manner in which through diplomatic channels. when German Ambassador Dietmar Steudemann it was done should have been done “within legal frame- The “deep freeze” that had descended on U.S.- announced in Kyiv that the recommendations and sanc- works, including those on cross border cooperation.” Ukraine relations quickly thawed, after a three-month tions that had been enacted by FATF would be lifted Some political pundits said the feeble way in which “policy evaluation” was completed. Deputy Assistant within two days, after a decision to do so was agreed Ukraine allowed Moldova to forcibly intrude onto the Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs upon by FATF members during a summit in Paris. territory of the Ukrainian hydroelectric station and the Steven Pifer, also a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, “Ukraine has successfully implemented FATF require- ease with which it caved in to Moldovan assertions of said in Washington on February 13 that the U.S. would ments and will have restrictions that were imposed territorial right led to a second crisis with another neigh- not allow the Kolchuha impasse to continue to damage against it removed,” explained Mr. Steudemann. He bor just over two months later. relations between the two countries. He said the Bush added that Ukraine would remain on a watch list of On August 29, Russia, one of Ukraine’s proclaimed administration had decided, “to, basically, disagree,” countries for at least another six months, during which strategic partners, began building what Russian officials with Kyiv on whether Ukraine sold Iraq any Kolchuhas. its banking transactions would continue to be scruti- nized. President Kuchma had told reporters on February 6 not to look at the FATF sanctions as a slight against Ukraine because, as far as he was concerned, Ukraine’s lawmakers had been given plenty of time to pass the required legislation before the matter became a crisis. Also just after the New Year, the Council of Europe, a European body of lawmakers that deals with human rights and democracy issues, reproached Ukrainian state leaders for issuing directives, known as “temnyky,” to broadcast outlets on how to address political views. The reprimand came in recommendations published by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe after hearings at PACE headquarters in Strasbourg, France, which were dedicated to the freedom of expression in European mass media. At mid-year, Ukraine’s human rights and free speech record failed to withstand more international scrutiny when the U.S. State Department, in its annual “Country Reports on Human Rights Practices,” noted for Ukraine that, “the government’s human rights record remained poor and in some cases worsened.” It also noted, how- ever, that, “there were also some improvements in some areas.” In mid-year several more European reports con- demned Ukraine’s policies on human rights and democ- racy. First the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s (OSCE) representative on free- dom in the media expressed dismay over a decision by Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada to give the country’s securi- ty services the right to arrest journalist’s who leak clas- sified information, while also outlawing protection of AP/Valery Soloviov journalists’ sources.