Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko will find out if flattery with U.S. President Donald J. Trump gets him — and the nation he leads — anywhere.
Showing remarkable stamina and political adaptability during his 36-hour speed diplomacy trip in Washington, D.C., Poroshenko hailed Trump as a great leader in the mold of Republican icon Ronald Reagan, an about-face from the Ukrainian leader’s support for Hillary Clinton last year.
In a June 20 interview with Fox TV News reporter Brett Baier, whom Poroshenko also favored with an interview last year, Poroshenko called Trump “the real leader, the very charismatic person who can help me to bring peace to my land the same way that Reagan brought victory in the Cold War without (firing) one single shot. It’s a great story of success.”
Later in the seven-minute clip, Poroshenko wanted to make sure he drove the point home about his admiration for Trump: “My personal perception is that this is a great leader. He has a great charisma. He has a great political will. He’s a strong friend of Ukraine who will help me to bring peace in my country.”
Poroshenko also strongly implied that the Trump administration might drop his opposition to supplying Ukraine with lethal defensive weapons denied by former U. S. President Barack Obama.
Defense agreement
“We had very effective negotiations about defensive weapons,” Poroshenko said. “We said we did not need to attack anybody, but we want an effective defense mechanism. We want to have radio-electronic warfare, drones and other military equipment to defend our territory from Russian aggression and to put on display for the rest of the world the objective and non-compromised information about who, in fact, violates the cease-fire, who and when launches assaults, including attacks on civilian objects, who kills Ukrainian civilians and soldiers and who must stand before the court.”
Poroshenko said that U.S. officials are expected to visit Ukraine in autumn to sign a new defense agreement.
“Very important agreements will be signed, including the defensive cooperation, defensive procurement, and military-technical cooperation,” Poroshenko said.
In the TV interview, Poroshenko also said that Russia has 3,000 regular army troops in the Kremlin-occupied portion of the eastern Donbas and is backing a total of 40,000 militants on the territory.
He also said that he won assurances from Trump that the U.S. will keep economic sanctions against Russia until the Kremlin adheres to the Minsk peace agreement, which calls for Russia to end the war, return control of the eastern border to Ukraine and allow international monitors unfettered access.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko prays at the Holodomor Memorial on June 20 in Washington, D.C. (Mykola Lazarenko)
Many meetings
In two days, Poroshenko managed to meet with Trump, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, U. S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, U. S. Defense Secretary James Mattis, U. S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, U. S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry, International Monetary Fund managing director Christine Lagarde, World Bank president Jim Yong Kim, National Security Adviser H. R. McMasters, U. S. House Speaker Paul Ryan, U. S. House minority leader Nancy Pelosi and members of the Heritage Foundation.
He started his visit on June 19 with a visit to the Holodomor Memorial in Washington, D. C. In his meeting with congressional leaders, he “raised the issue of recognition of the Holodomor as an act of genocide of the Ukrainian people by the U. S. Congress,” according to the president’s official website.
Economic deals
Poroshenko said that he made progress on economic agreements that would bring to Ukraine coal from Pennsylvania and liquified natural gas from Louisiana. He also hailed Holtec International and Westinghouse, American companies doing business in Ukraine’s energy sector, “and many others.”
The aim is to intensify cooperating with America in energy security and nuclear energy to end dependence on Russia. He said American coal will substitute coal shipments from Russian-occupied territories, where Ukrainian coal mines had been confiscated.
‘Accelerate’ reforms
While Poroshenko put a happy face and a positive spin on all his meetings, statements from Pence and the IMF suggest that tougher talks were held in private than the Ukrainian president acknowledged publicly.
Pence’s statement noted that the U.S. reaffirmed support for “implementation of the reforms necessary to transform Ukraine into a peaceful, prosperous, and secure European country,” and also “stressed the importance of continued reforms to fight corruption, improve the business climate, and keep Ukraine’s International Monetary Fund program on track.”
The IMF, in a statement after Poroshenko’s meeting with Lagarde, said: “Discussions focused on pending pension and land reform, and on measures to speed up privatization and ensure concrete results in anticorruption efforts. They agreed on the need to accelerate the pace of reforms to secure stronger and inclusive economic growth.”
Trump’s agenda
Many people noted that Trump downgraded Poroshenko’s visit to an Oval Office to a brief “drop-in” session. The two leaders spoke for about two minutes in front of cameras and were very cordial to each other, despite Trump’s elementary gaffe in calling the nation “the Ukraine,” instead of simply “Ukraine.”
London-based Ukraine analyst Timothy Ash said that Trump needed to show strong support for Ukraine to dispel persistent suspicions that he favors Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump and his associates are facing intensifying investigations over their ties to Russia, which allegedly interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election on Trump’s behalf to defeat Clinton.
“My read is the more important strategy on June 20 was not to further isolate Russia, but actually to keep doors ajar with Russia, and flexibility for negotiation,” Ash wrote. “The aim was to head off ongoing efforts by Congress to tighten and codify Russia sanctions. I think the view in the Trump administration is that the codification of sanctions would actually weaken their hands in negotiations with Moscow in trying to reach some kind of settlement over Ukraine, as it would make rewarding Russia for progress/concessions therein almost impossible to deliver.”
Ash continued: “And I am not sure that Poroshenko was aware of the supporting role he was playing on June 20 in trying to head off the codification of sanctions. He seemed happy to get to shake Trump’s hand, putting one over Putin from a PR perspective, in advance of the slated Trump-Putin meeting set for Germany next month.”
