You're reading: Ukraine’s ambassador in Washington talks Trump, elections, bilateral relations

Ukraine is gearing up for the country’s March 2019 presidential election. But as politicians here hit the campaign trail, they are also undermining influential Americans’ faith that Ukraine will preserve its pro-Western path.

At least, that’s how Ukraine’s ambassador in Washington, Valeriy Chaly, sees it.

In an expansive Aug. 31 interview with the Evropeiska Pravda news site, Chaly commented on everything from the 2016 U.S. presidential election and working with U.S. President Donald Trump to how Kyiv’s relationship with Washington increasingly resembles a strategic partnership.

The Kyiv Post breaks down some of the most important takeaways from Chaly’s interview.

Campaign consequences

What happens in Ukraine doesn’t stay in Ukraine, according to Chaly. Several months ago, as campaign season began, “American experts” began asking him about Ukraine’s “Euro-Atlantic course,” the ambassador said.

With both presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for 2019, some candidates are proposing that Ukraine should be a neutral country and that it must seek a resolution to its conflict with Russia.

“They hear this across the ocean,” Chaly told Ukrainska Pravda.

Chaly believes that only two candidates appear prepared to follow a clear path toward NATO membership and to continue cooperation with the International Monetary Fund — a statement likely referring to incumbent President Petro Poroshenko and former Defense Minister Anatoly Grytsenko.

Even if the other candidates actually support this direction in private meetings, their public statements and campaigning are what is analyzed, Chaly said.

“For this reason, I see a risk of (Ukraine) returning to the status of a buffer state, a gray zone between NATO and Russia,” he added. “And I’m convinced that being in a ‘gray zone’ between Russia and NATO led us to war with Russia.”

Trump’s America

Previously the deputy head of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine, Chaly has served as the country’s ambassador in Washington since 2015. He has worked under both the administrations of Barack Obama and Trump, and described the changes he sees to Evropeiska Pravda.

According to Chaly, Trump “has completely different approaches from the previous administration.” For this reason, working with the Trump Administration is “more difficult, but simultaneously has more possibilities.”

Unlike Obama, Trump is less likely to listen to the advice of European partners, focusing instead on his own advisors, Chaly said. However, many of Trump’s advisors on issues of national security — for example, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis — support conducting foreign policy from a position of strength.

Chaly characterized this as one of the reasons why Trump had increased sanctions on Moscow and agreed to provide Ukraine with lethal aid.

He also told Trump that many Ukrainians in America had supported him during the presidential election, and that they are also now helping Ukraine by, for example, sending the country night vision goggles.

“This was unexpected for (Trump),” Chaly said.

Additionally, the Ukrainian government has informed its American counterparts that it is ready to purchase weapons from the United States, and not simply receive military aid. This was important for Trump as a businessperson, Chaly said.

Balanced approach

Trump’s election in 2016 caught most everyone off guard. Several embassies in Washington simply closed and sent their diplomats on vacation after Trump’s inauguration because they didn’t know what to do, Chaly said — likely one of the most unusual remarks from the interview.

However, the Ukrainian Embassy was one of the few in Washington that simultaneously worked with both the Democratic and Republican camps, he claimed.

According to Chaly, after the presidential primaries, the State Department invited ambassadors to both the Democratic and Republican national conventions. Many ambassadors only went to the Democratic National Convention. Russia only went to the convention where Trump was nominated. But Chaly said he attended both.

“I had the opportunity to establish personal contact with both candidates’ teams,” he said. “As a result, the President of Ukraine was one of the first five foreign leaders to call and congratulate the newly-elected U.S. president.”

However, with these comments, Chaly may also be pushing back against claims that Kyiv attempted to help Hillary Clinton during the campaign.

In January 2017, Politico reported that the Ukrainian government had disseminated documents implicating Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort in corruption and worked to suggest that the Trump campaign had ties to Russia. In August 2016, Manafort resigned.

The Politico story has sparked debate over what constitutes election interference, especially when compared to Russia’s actions during the 2016 campaign.

However, President Trump has at certain points seized upon the Ukraine allegations to defend himself from accusations of collusion with Russia. On July 25, 2017, he published a tweet about “Ukrainian efforts” to sabotage his campaign and criticized U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions for not investigating.

Strategic partnership?

When the United States and Ukraine committed to a strategic partnership in December 2008, that agreement more resembled an aspiration. Now, it is increasingly a reality.

“For the first time in all the years of our cooperation, I can say that the U.S. — at least the Pentagon and intelligence — has begun to view Ukraine as a strategic partner in the defense and security sectors,” Chaly said.

Today, the United States sees Ukraine as playing an important role in containing Russian aggression in the region. Additionally, the country has experience fighting back against so-called “hybrid warfare.” Ukraine is also helping the United States to understand how to organize defense against new weapons systems that Russia is using in Donbas and how to fight “information attacks,” according to Chaly.

“The U.S. is interested in our state being more successful than Russia, and for that we need reforms, non-standard steps, and quick advancing development,” he said. “The U.S. expects that, after this, our neighbors to the East will look at us and say: ‘It turns out this model works!’”

As a result, a pro-Russian president or one who “will return Ukraine to the past” is unacceptable to the United States, Chaly added.

Buying weapons

Since Russia opened the bridge connecting occupied Crimea to the Russian mainland in May, the country has used its navy to take de facto control over the Azov Sea.

In 2019, the United States is scheduled to deliver two Island-class patrol boats to Ukraine for free to help it guard its territorial waters. Kyiv will only pay costs related to their delivery and equipment.

But Ukraine should also purchase weapons from the United States, something important to Trump. For this reason, Chaly has criticized Ukrainian Interior Ministry plans to purchase 55 Airbus helicopters from France. He suggested that countries which provide the most aid should receive priority for purchases.

Ninety percent of material and technological aid to the Ukrainian Armed Forces comes from the United States, Chaly told Evropeiska Pravda.

The problem with the contract, he says, is that there won’t be money in the future for other contracts, and no one appears to be clearly setting the country’s priorities.

“Yes, this is sometimes difficult, because there are different interests. But it must be done,” Chaly said.

“When we’re talking about key issues, we need to foresee the reactions of other partners and maintain a balance.”