No. 2 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, JANUARY 12, 2003 5 2002: THE YEAR IN REVIEW came in a letter to the National Remembrance Institute, and Germany, while meeting in St. Petersburg, signed a Ukraine’s foreign affairs: addressed to a conference being held on the matter. statement of understanding and cooperation on the con- Poland and Ukraine also worked to continue to tinued use of Ukraine’s pipeline for transporting Russian strengthen economic ties in 2002. Poland’s recently natural gas to Germany. pluses and minuses elected Prime Minister Leszek Miller made his first visit The document envisaged European participation in a to Kyiv on February 4 to meet with his Ukrainian coun- multinational consortium that would guarantee the gas kraine’s foreign affairs this past year, like a terpart, Anatolii Kinakh, as well as with President supply. The signing came a day after Presidents Kuchma potluck dinner, consisted of good and bad Kuchma. Talks centered on the Odesa-Brody-Gdansk oil and Putin signed a separate declaration of strategic coop- moments. At the top of a very uneven year in for- pipeline. Prime Minister Miller expressed his full sup- eration in the natural gas sector, which would give eign relations was the Kolchuha affair, which increasing- port for the plan and Poland’s intention to find business Russia joint management and developmental influence ly overshadowed other developments as the year wore U partners to complete the pipeline’s Polish section over the Ukrainian tube in return for its agreement to on. However, even with accusations of President Leonid through to the Baltic seaport city of Gdansk. abandon a project to develop the alternative pipeline Kuchma’s involvement in the sale of the air defense sys- Mr. Miller also said that trade between the two coun- through Belarus. tems to Iraq hanging over NATO’s Prague Summit in tries, which at that time stood at a paltry $1.2 billion, had Ukraine’s First Vice Prime Minister Oleh Dubyna November like a dark cloud, Ukraine claimed success at to increase. In addition, he expressed reservations about attempted to calm growing fears that the Kuchma that very important meeting. During the summit Ukraine a Russian plan for moving natural gas around Ukraine in administration had outrightly given Moscow the and NATO agreed on a new action plan for the country’s the development of a multibillion-dollar gas pipeline Ukrainian pipeline by emphasizing to journalists on June eventual integration into the defense alliance. through Belarus. 10 that the oil tube would never be privatized. He The Kolchuha imbroglio, plus the lack of resolution Ukrtransnafta, a wholly owned subsidiary of Naftohaz explained that terms of the agreement stipulated that an in several high-profile murders of Ukrainian journalists, Ukrainy, reported on April 13 that oil would enter the international consortium would supervise the gas transit including the two-year-old disappearance of Heorhii Odesa-Brody pipeline in a matter of weeks. However, it tube. Gongadze, resulted in a cooling of relations with would still be several years before the “black gold” While hope remained until the end that the consor- Washington in 2002. After the Kolchuha issue became a would flow regularly to Europe from parts east. The oil, global affair, even Ukraine’s close ally Poland voiced tium would include Germany, that option did not materi- called technical oil, would protect the tube and its com- concern over actions by some Ukrainian leaders and alize, and on October 7 Moscow and Kyiv signed a bilat- ponents from corrosion and degradation. seemed to politically distance itself from its eastern eral deal to create a gas consortium that would manage Ukrtransnafta also announced that a study released by neighbor, if only slightly. Moscow and Kyiv, on the the Ukrainian pipeline. The move elicited harsh criticism a U.S. consulting company, Halliburton, Kellogg, Brown other hand, became increasingly close with President by opposition lawmakers in Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada, and Root, in conjunction with Cambridge Energy Kuchma meeting with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin who said the pact was driven by politics and contravened more than a half dozen times. Research Associates and commissioned by the U.S. Ukraine’s national interests. Under the deal, Russia’s The year began with the development of relations Trade and Development Agency, reported that there was Gazprom and Ukraine’s Naftohaz Ukrainy would man- with an unlikely and distant foreign partner. On January a demand in the European market for Caspian Sea oil age and develop the pipeline as equal partners. 16 Brazil’s President Fernando Cardoso visited Kyiv to flowing through Ukraine. It noted the importance, how- Encouraging closer trade relations remained at the sign several bilateral agreements for joint oil and gas ever, of finishing the pipeline through to Gdansk. heart of the many meetings between Presidents Kuchma exploration off the Black Sea coast. He and President Oil and gas remained a central part of Ukraine’s rela- and Putin throughout 2002. The Ukrainian president Kuchma also made provisions for the joint construction tions with Russia, as well. Ukraine’s Prime Minister achieved his biggest victory in this area on August 8 of a space booster rocket. In another deal, Brazil gave Kinakh said after a meeting with Russia’s Prime when he flew to Moscow to celebrate his 64th birthday Ukraine access to its Alcantar Space Center, while Minister Mikhail Kasianov on April 10 that the two at Mr. Putin’s invitation. During brief talks, the two pres- Ukraine allowed Brazilian space researchers to use the sides would sign a 10-year gas transit agreement by idents agreed to ease a series of trade restrictions that Ukrainian-designed Ziklon-4 booster rocket. Mr. June. The accord would give Russia secured transit for many political experts had predicted could escalate to Cardoso traveled to Kyiv after spending four days in its natural gas to Europe and would help Ukraine to deal all-out trade war between the two sides. Moscow. with its thus far unresolved gas debt to its eastern neigh- While Moscow agreed to lift trade quotas on Ukraine also made a serious foray into the Middle bor. Ukrainian steel pipes, which Ukraine had vehemently East when President Kuchma made his first tour of that The matter came closer to reality when the presidents opposed when they were introduced in 2000, Kyiv region of the world on April 24-28. It was a trip that of Ukraine and Russia met in Sochi on May 17 and agreed to suspend restrictions on the importation of 19 mixed economic matters with international politics. expressed support for the deal their prime ministers were Russian commodities. President Kuchma said that while Upon his return to Kyiv he called his visit to Syria, in the process of hammering out. he was not completely satisfied with the agreement, “it Lebanon and Jordan “fruitful” and underscored that the In Sochi, Messrs. Kuchma and Putin also discussed is better to have a bad peace [than economic war].” Palestinian-Israeli issue was potentially the most volatile new developments in NATO, in which Russia was As Ukraine and Russia grew economically ever clos- in the world. He noted that the Ukrainian side was ready poised to get a seat at the table of 19 North Atlantic er, there were still certain issues on which they could to step in as a mediator and had already developed an Treaty Organization members on certain issues. It was not find common ground – most of it centered on histo- outline for a program to bring the two sides to peace the first indication that Ukraine would make a bid for ry, language and culture. A brouhaha developed on June negotiations. NATO membership a mere few weeks later. 8 after mid-level Ukrainian and Russian bureaucrats Closer to home, Kyiv strengthened its already warm The gas transit agreement that Russia and Ukraine agreed to look into the formation of a committee that relationship with Istanbul after a visit on June 11 to were discussing took on new impetus and a new dimen- was reviewing Ukrainian and Russian school textbooks Ukraine by Turkish Foreign Minister Ismail Cem. Both sion on June 10 when the presidents of Ukraine, Russia and would decide on cultural and historical versions sides belong to the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) organization. Another economic organization in which Ukraine has taken the initiative, one that neighbors the BSEC, held its annual summit in Yalta on July 19-20. GUUAM is dedicated to developing and maintaining transport corri- dors between its member-states, Georgia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and Moldova along what was once the legendary Silk Road. At their Yalta Summit this year the group signed a free trade agreement among the member-states. Unfortunately, Uzbekistan suspended its membership a month before the meeting, stating its concern over the lack of progress in developing the GUUAM charter. Although a representative of the Uzbek government was present at the Yalta meeting, he did not sign any of the nine documents ratified by the four other members. Relations with Ukraine’s western neighbor, Poland, also remained warm, notwithstanding concern voiced by Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski in October over Ukraine’s involvement in the sale of Kolchuhas to Iraq. With Poland scheduled to enter the European Union in 2004, a central issue between Kyiv and Warsaw was possible new barriers between Ukraine and the rest of Europe as visa restrictions were implemented. President Kwasniewski repeatedly assured Ukrainians that he would fight to keep visa requirements and bor- ders between Poland and Ukraine pliable. A watermark moment in Polish-Ukrainian relations came on April 18 when Mr.