Petro Poroshenko, the billionaire businessman and member of parliament who is leading the polls to become Ukraine's next president, was vague about his foreign-policy direction during a May 10 debate.
Poroshenko simply did not say which military-political bloc Ukraine would join, if any, although he conceded that the armed forces was the most important issue facing Ukraine. He, nonetheless, courted controversy by saying it was a mistake for Ukraine to have given up its nuclear weapons after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Twenty-three
candidates are registered for the Ukrainian presidential election, scheduled
for May 25, and essential international to establishing the legitimacy of Ukraine’s political leaders following the EuroMaidan Revolution that toppled Viktor Yanukovych as president.
State-run First
Channel is hosting a series of debates among the candidates, which includes a
number of set questions, an audience forum and addresses by the candidates
themselves.
The second
round of the presidential debates featured three non-party-affiliated
candidates: Petro Poroshenko, Vasyl Tsushko and Zoryan Shkiryak. Tsushko and Shkiryak do not even register in recent polls, and it was clear that they had been
brought in to provide an ideological contrast to the centrist-leaning
Poroshenko, who leads the race by a wide margin.
Tsushko is a former Socialist
Party member from Odessa Oblast who worked in the government of Prime Minister Mykola Azarov. He only spoke in Russian.
Shkiryak is a native of Uzhgorod in western Ukraine, and was a member of the
national-democratic Our Ukraine party during the rule of President Viktor
Yushchkenko in 2005-2009. He is currently a deputy of Kyiv City Council.
The main
questions of the debates concerned the structure of the state, foreign policy,
economics and language, although the related questions were narrow in scope.
The tone of
the debates was sedate, even though they touched on some of the most sensitive
topics of the day. Not even the language question got them riled, as Poroshenko
and Shkiryak dismissed the notion that this is a serious issue for Ukrainians
and broadly supported the rights of non-Ukrainian speakers. Tsushko simply
ignored the question.
The strongest
disagreement came in the area of foreign policy, whereby Shkiryak declared the
need for Ukraine to join NATO immediately, while Tsushko resolutely stated that
Ukraine should be neutral and non-nuclear, but have strong military relations
with several blocs.
Poroshenko
dropped a political bomb at the outset of his answer by stating the Ukraine had made a
mistake when it agreed to go nuclear arms free in 1994.
Presidential candidate Petro Poroshenko regrets that Ukraine gave up its nuclear arsenal in 1994.
However, he followed
this up with an evasive foreign policy statement, in that he is not convinced
that the Ukrainian people want to join NATO, although he would not rule out
Ukraine joining another military-political bloc. What was needed, Poroshenko
explained, was a new agreement that would definitely guarantee the sovereignty
of Ukraine in the wake of the shattered 1994 Budapest Memorandum.
The only
back-biting came at the end of the show, when Shkiryak asked Tsushko to justify
why he did not support the EuroMaidan Revolution, like he and Poroshenko did. Tsushko said
that he was busy with critical economic issues.
On the
structure of the state, there was widespread agreement. All three candidates said
that Ukraine should be a parliamentary-presidential republic and that the
powers of the president should return to those of the 2004 Constitution. They
all even agreed that shortly after the presidential election parliament should
be dismissed and parliamentary elections held as soon as possible.
The economic
debate revolved solely around natural gas. Both Poroshenko and Shkiryak argued
that Ukraine should and would be gas independent within two years, which would
include reverse gas flow from Europe. Ever toeing the party line, Tsushko is in
favor of staying friends with Russia on the gas issue, regardless of what
happens with Crimea, because of the long-standing close relations between the
‘brotherly’ nations.
The candidates
fielded a few questions from the audience, although nothing so controversial
was asked that it shook the candidates’ confidence.
Tsushko often
referred to previous governments and revolts as “bourgeois,” and believes that
popular sovereignty must start at the grassroots level and rise through layers
of “Soviets.” Shkiryak called Russian President Vladimir Putin as “the new
fascist of the 21st century.” In fact, that was the only time Putin
was referred to by name during the debates. Others times the candidates used
words like “Russia” or “foreign aggressor.”
The final
bombshell came at the end when, during his summation, Shkiryak announced
that he was formally withdrawing from the presidential election campaign.
Kyiv Post business journalist Evan Ostryzniuk can be
reached at [email protected]
