...“I haven’t been a guest here for a long time,” Mr. Medvedev told them. “It’s nice that it has taken place at last. We have just signed documents that are very important for both Ukraine and Russia. They will strengthen our friendship and our brotherhood for a long time to come.”
Highlighting the Russified elements of today's basing agreement, Clifford Levy portrays a Ukraine drifting east. помедленнее! Slow down. Kiev is still a largely Russian-speaking city. Kharkiv, near the Russian border, is also unsurprisingly Russophone. Stop by a village in Kharkivska Oblast though, and you'll hear Ukrainian on the street. What this has to do with basing rights in Crimea is beyond me. Today's agreement may be symbolically important, but, as former Foreign Minister and Presidential 3rd runner-up Arseniy Yatsenyuk points out, that's all it is:
Arseniy Yatsenyuk, a former Ukrainian foreign minister, said Mr. Yanukovich had no right under Ukraine’s Constitution to extend the lease. “For now, it’s just paper,” Mr. Yatsenyuk said of the deal. “The fact of its signing has no legal significance.”
Yes, Viktor Yanukovich is more friendly to Moscow than Viktor Yushchenko; he is also shorter than Manute Bol and slower than Usain Bolt. When it became clear--four years ago--that Mr. Yushchenko was a lame duck President, it also became clear that his successor was bound to shift Ukraine's geopolitical orientation a few degrees north-east. While Citizen Yanukovich's history demands that his overtures to Moscow be heavily scrutinized, today's events are proof of nothing. The basing agreement is not a surprise, but rather a small symbolic price to pay for reliable winter heating. Despite the comments on Korrespondent's message board ("@#$%& зэк и маму продаст" ..; translation: @#$%& convict would sell out his own mother...), let's wait for the Victory Day reunification announcement before proclaiming the resurrection of The Evil Empire.
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