Dec. 7, 2004
By Steve Gutterman
The Associated Press
ANKARA, Turkey -- The West is trying to force its vision of democracy on the countries of the former Soviet Union, President Vladimir Putin said Monday, as he warned against foreign interference in Ukraine and its crisis.
In his first public comments since Ukraine's Supreme Court found the Nov. 21 presidential runoff fraudulent and ordered a revote Dec. 26, Putin said countries are welcome to help mediate in the crisis but should not meddle.
"Only the people of any country -- and this includes Ukraine in the full sense -- can decide their fate," Putin told reporters after meeting Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer.
"One can play the role of a mediator but one must not meddle and apply pressure," Putin said in a tacit reference to Western countries, which have been taking part in negotiations to defuse the Ukraine crisis.
On the eve of the Friday decision, Putin had ridiculed Ukrainian opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko's call for a repeat of the bitterly disputed runoff -- again staking his position very clearly on the side of Yushchenko's rival for office, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych.
Some Western countries had issued veiled criticism of Russia for what they said was meddling in Ukrainian politics. Last week, U.S. President George W. Bush said any new election should be free from outside interference -- in remarks apparently directed at Russia.
Putin rejected Western accusations, saying Russia acted "absolutely correctly" in disputes throughout the former Soviet Union. He suggested forces in the West were seeking to create new divisions in Europe for their political purposes. "I don't want, as in Germany, for us to divide Europe into westerners and easterners, into first-class and second-class people, where the first-class people have the opportunity to live by stable, democratic laws and the second category of people are those with, to speak metaphorically, dark political skin," Putin said.
He said the second-class people would be subjected to "a nice but stern man in a helmet who will show them under what political understanding they must live. And if, God forbid, the ungrateful foreigner resists, he will be punished with bombs and missiles, as it was in Belgrade. I consider this completely unacceptable."
Russia vehemently objected to the 1999 NATO bombing campaign against Yugoslavia, Russia's ally, which badly damaged Russia's relations with NATO and particularly the United States.
Putin delivered his comments as European Union mediators, including EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, headed to Kiev for a third round of talks.
In Brussels, EU spokeswoman Emma Udwin said the EU was not seeking to create new divisions over Ukraine and hit back at accusations made by Moscow that the EU was unduly interfering there. "We are not meddling in Ukraine, OSCE observers were invited in. We thought to be helpful in facilitating the end to the current political crisis. We have not ever interfered in favoring one candidate over another. What we are in favor of is a free and fair electoral process," she said.
Putin suggested voters in Ukraine were now under pressure to support the pro-Yushchenko opposition.
"Of course, it is completely unacceptable for threats to be addressed to people that leave them with no choice, when one of the political leaders says that 'whatever happens, whatever the result of elections, we will take power -- including by force," Putin said. "This is not just pressure, it is scaring people.
"We in Russia cannot support such a development of events, even if somebody wants to call it democracy."
The Ukrainian opposition had warned repeatedly before the Supreme Court ruling that they were prepared to take "immediate adequate actions" -- an apparent hint at more radical measures -- if the government tried to drag out the political crisis.
In an interview with Britain's Sunday Telegraph, Yushchenko said: "If the old regime tries to interfere in any way and tries to defy the will of the people and of parliament, we will simply storm our way into the Cabinet office. This is what the people expect."
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said Monday it might double to 1,000 its number of observers at the revote. But Yushchenko envoy Boris Tarassyuk asked a meeting of OSCE foreign ministers for more, saying 1,000 to 2,000 international observers were needed. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov were to join the meeting in Sofia, Bulgaria, later Monday.
In a sign that the situation in Ukraine is stabilizing, more government workers ventured into their office buildings past opposition blockades Monday, and Defense Minister Oleksandr Kuzmuk reaffirmed his promise that the military will remain neutral. Yushchenko supporters allowed about 60 low-ranking employees to enter office buildings -- the largest number since protesters blockaded the entrance late last month.
Yushchenko's ally Yulia Tymoshenko said Sunday that she wants to be prime minister in a Yushchenko government.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2004/12/07/001.html