Yushchenko vows not to allow Nato bases on Ukraine soil

Yulia Tymoshenko: welcomed outcome of talks.
Photograph: The Irish Times

UKRAINE: President Viktor Yushchenko vowed yesterday that Ukraine would never host Nato bases on its territory, after his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, warned that such a move could prompt Moscow to train its missiles on the country.

"If Russia is worried about military bases, then Ukraine will never move toward this," Mr Yushchenko said. "We are ready to underpin this constitutionally." He was talking a day after he and Mr Putin resolved a row over a fuel debt that could have prompted Kremlin-controlled energy giant Gazprom to reduce gas supplies to Ukraine.

The row was seen by many Ukrainians as the latest way for Moscow to prise political concessions from Kiev, which it fears is drifting out of its sphere of influence towards eventual membership of the European Union and Nato.

After announcing agreement on the gas issue, Mr Putin warned his guest that Russia might aim rockets at Ukraine if it joined Nato and hosted any part of a missile defence system that Washington wants to deploy in Poland and the Czech Republic - comments which US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice called "reprehensible" and "unacceptable".

Mr Yushchenko and his prime minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, say they would hold a referendum on Nato membership before leading their country into the bloc. Polls suggest most Ukrainians are not keen to join Nato, and fear the impact it would have on relations with Russia, a huge neighbour with which it has close ethnic, religious and cultural ties.

Ms Tymoshenko hailed the resolution of the gas row as a "great victory for the democratic team" that she formed with Mr Yushchenko during the 2004 Orange Revolution, and which was reunited last year after their alliance had split amid much rancour.

"This is another step towards establishing order in the gas market, another step towards eliminating corruption and shadow schemes in the energy sector," Ms Tymoshenko said, referring to an agreement between Russia and Ukraine to stop using a mysterious firm called RosUkrEnergo (RUE) as a middleman in their lucrative gas trade. Analysts are urging caution over the new deal, however. They note that no date has been set for the termination of RUE's role in selling Gazprom gas to Ukraine.

© 2008 The Irish Times

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times