RUSSIA IS LOSING THE BATTLE OVER THE CRIMEA TO WASHINGTON AND BRUSSELS
\nAuthor: Tatiana Ivzhenko
\n[The European Union vies for clout with the Crimea.]<\/p>\n
Nezavisimaya Gazeta
\nOctober 20, 2009<\/p>\n
The European Union joins the Russian-American backstage battle for
\nthe Crimea. Web site of the Ukrainian government posted a brief
\nnote to the effect that implementation of the EU’s Joint
\nInitiative of the Commonwealth in the Crimea was going to begin
\nright after election of the president. The program in question
\nincluded investment projects in all economic and social spheres.
\n\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Sources in the government claim that European countries’ plan
\nof actions on the peninsula was already charted and that its
\nendorsement was scheduled for spring 2010. Each EU participant
\nwill be put in charge of some particular sphere like economic
\ndevelopment (Great Britain), environmental protection (Sweden),
\nand civil society (the Netherlands). Finland, Germany, Hungary,
\nPoland, Lithuania and, perhaps, Estonia are prepared to join the
\nprogram too. Kiev counts on up to 12 million euros worth of
\ninvestments in the Crimea in 2010 alone. Gunnar Wiegand who
\nrepresents the European Commission in the project recently met
\nwith the government of Ukraine. He informed the Ukrainians that
\nthe European Union regarded the Crimea as an extremely important
\nregion, “one with a powerful potential for all of Europe”.
\n\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0As far as Senior Deputy Premier Alexander Turchinov was
\nconcerned, the new Crimean project meant rapid rapprochement with
\nEurope and a wholly new level of relations with it.
\n\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0“The project is of paramount importance for the government of
\nUkraine and for Yulia Timoshenko… particularly at the onset of
\nthe presidential campaign,” Konstantin Bondarenko of the Gorshenin
\nInstitute of Management Issues confirmed. “It offers them an
\nopportunity to show that the Crimea is part of Ukraine and, also
\nimportantly, that Ukraine is a country to invest in.” Bondarenko
\nrecalled that President Leonid Kuchma had approached the Russians
\nwith analogous ideas in 2002 – 2003 [with the idea of joint
\ninvestments in development of the peninsula]. “Unfortunately, I
\ncannot call the Russians particularly enthusiastic or energetic,”
\nhe said. “At the very least, I do not think much of the economic
\nresults of the Russians’ activeness. The impression is that they
\nerroneously made an emphasis on politics but people cannot be
\nexpected to last long on slogans alone.”
\n\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Vladimir Kazarin of the Sevastopol administration seconded
\nthis opinion. “It is clear now that Russia is losing the battle
\nfor influence with the Crimea. It was Russia and the United States
\nvying for clout with the peninsula once, but no longer. The
\nEuropean Union is joining them too, these days, and Brussels makes
\nan emphasis on investments rather than on politics.”
\n\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Kazarin pointed out that the new player moved in just as
\nRussia was losing ground. “We witness these days what would have
\nbeen considered impossible barely a year ago,” he said. “We see
\npickets with anti-Russian slogans and posters in front of the
\nBlack Sea Fleet HQ. What counts is that these protest actions are
\norganized by Black Sea Fleet’s ex-employees. I can only surmise
\nthat the Russian authorities are not informed, that they do not
\ngrasp long-term political consequences of the current underfunding
\nof the Black Sea Fleet… when 8,000 employees including 1,000
\nofficers are to be laid off, when wage arrears mount along with
\ndebts to Sevastopol’s department of public works and to the
\npensions foundation. The situation is challenging indeed. Anyone
\ncapable of solving economic problems of Sevastopol and, broader,
\nall of the Crimea will earn the locals’ gratitude,” Kazarin said.
\n\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Neither did the United States withdraw from the battle for
\nthe peninsula. Establishment of a diplomatic mission or
\ninformation bureau in Sevastopol was suggested this spring but
\nprotests from the population and the local authorities persuaded
\nWashington to table the idea then. It is on the agenda again,
\nthese days. It is the US Consulate General that the Americans want
\nto set up in the Crimea now. “The way I see it, problems were
\nencountered because the Crimean authorities had deliberately gone
\ntoo far in their efforts to make the whole matter political,”
\nVladimir Nalivaichenko of the Ukrainian Security Service said.
\n“What can be so political about an American mission? We all see
\nhow the Russian Consulate General operates in the Crimea.
\nDiplomats were the first to arrive, followed by Russian
\nbusinesses, capitals, and so on.”
\n\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Valery Chaly of the Razumkov Center did not think that the
\nAmericans could really count on unproblematic existence in the
\nCrimea. The population was thoroughly suspicions of all and any
\nWashington’s initiatives concerning the peninsula, he said. Not so
\nthe EU’s initiatives which the locals never associated with
\npolitics.
\n\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Political scientists meanwhile comment that Russia does not
\neven try to counter these Western moves. Crimean pro-Russian
\norganizations complain of the lack of support. The Russian
\nCommunity of the Crimea, Russian Bloc, Russian Crimea, Tavria
\nAlliance, Faith, Crimean Civil Activists, and Crimean Russian
\nYouth Center set up a coordinating council. This body will chart a
\ncommon strategy and coordinate joint efforts aimed at “promotion
\nof the Russians’ legitimate rights and interests.”
\n\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0One of the activists explained that interests of the Russians
\nwere vulnerable and needed promotion because “the Ukrainian
\nauthorities and their Western patrons are determined to drive the
\nBlack Sea Fleet out of the Crimea while everyone is distracted by
\nthe crisis.” The activist commented that the news of the EU’s
\ninitiatives was released in the midst of fresh scandals involving
\nthe Black Sea Fleet. Ukrainian media outlets reported movement of
\nthe fleet’s units and forces – allegedly to training grounds – the
\nUkrainian authorities had never been notified of in advance. Local
\nnationalists appealed to the authorities to confiscate military
\nhardware of the Black Sea Fleet for violation of the terms of
\npresence specified by Ukrainian-Russian agreements.
\n\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Ukrainian experts point out that Moscow deliberately refuses
\nto acknowledge the latest scandals involving the fleet and the
\nUkrainian organizations that volunteer to promote interests of
\nRussia. Political scientists agree that political actions are
\npointless when there is an economic crisis to grapple with.
\nEconomic projects, ones that offer jobs, salaries, and security
\nare the only thing capable of swaying public opinion. Economic
\nprojects are precisely what the European Union might beat the
\nUnited States and Russia with.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
RUSSIA IS LOSING THE BATTLE OVER THE CRIMEA TO WASHINGTON AND BRUSSELS Author: Tatiana Ivzhenko [The European Union vies for clout with the Crimea.] Nezavisimaya Gazeta October 20, 2009 The European Union joins the Russian-American backstage battle for the Crimea. Web site of the Ukrainian government posted a brief note to the effect that implementation […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":179175,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,835,42,783,34],"tags":[444],"class_list":["post-15577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-eu-members","category-europe","category-russia","category-ukraine-eastern-europe-english","category-usa","tag-crimean-tatars"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15577"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15577\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/179175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}