U.S. President Barak Obama’s strategy to “reset” relations with Russia is a nice way to repackage what has consistently been the core of U.S. national interests in the former Soviet Union and beyond. U.S. Vice President Joe Biden’s message during his July 20-22 visit to Kyiv was: The U.S. continues, as it did under the Bush administration, to support the spread of democracy, and the sovereignty of rare and still-fragile democratic beacons in the region, foremost Ukraine and Georgia.
It is clear why developed countries, like the United States, support such strategies regardless of who is president. Free and democratic countries prosper and uplift their citizens with commitment to human rights, fairness, compassion, competition and rule of law. In contrast, Russia’s current leadership remains trapped in the 19th century fever of imperialism. It has no interest in letting its neighbors becoming free and democratic.
Neither Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, nor his de facto boss, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, will admit it, but their aim is to keep neighbors cash-strapped, unstable, dependent upon Russian energy resources, divided and conquerable with breakaway enclaves and ultimately controlled by dictators who are dependent on Kremlin favors. The evidence can be found all along Russia’s borders, starting with Moldova’s breakaway enclave of Trans-Dniester, to the separatist regions in Georgia, and further beyond to the petro-dollar fed dictatorships in Central Asia. These are Kremlin allies. They are not part of NATO. And average citizens in these places are poor.
Russia’s leaders want Kyiv and Tbilisi within their orbit of control. Biden’s rejection of any “sphere of influence” was welcome. But what real levers of influence does America or anyone else have to keep the Kremlin at bay? The strategy calls for better relations between the U.S. and Russia, in the hopes that cooperation on arms reduction and anti-terrorism will lead to more fruitful cooperation elsewhere. This is wishful thinking. Russia’s current leadership is not going to change. Last year’s Georgia war demonstrated that the Russia threat is real. Ukraine needs security guarantees. Not a member of any military alliance, the nation is unprotected should the Kremlin try to snatch Crimea away. America supports Kyiv’s NATO ambitions, but most citizens still oppose it.
As Biden pointed out: “It’s your choice.” With or without NATO or European Union membership, Ukraine could make progress in securing long-term independence and prosperity. Its leaders need to learn the art of compromise, rid the nation of corruption, reduce dependence on Russian energy and make the economy freer and more competitive. Until Ukraine gets its act together internally, it will never be welcomed in NATO or the EU. The West’s reset strategy for Ukraine should be one that keeps pushing the nation’s leaders to change, while tangibly helping Ukraine break into these exclusive clubs – the sooner, the better.
