By Brian Johnson - 24th January 2005
Newly inaugurated Ukrainian president, Viktor Yushchenko has promised to lead his country into the EU.
After taking the oath as president in Kiev on Sunday, Yushchenko made his way to Independence Square, to address a vast crowd of supporters.
“We are no longer on the edge of Europe. We are situated in the heart of Europe," said Yushchenko.
Independence Square was at the centre of mass demonstration after the widely discredited November presidential elections that led to a re-run and victory for Yushchenko and his ‘orange revolution’ on Boxing Day.
He told the hundreds of thousands of orange clad supporters that he would make Ukraine an “honest nation” and put the country in the heart of a “united Europe”.
“Our way to the future is the way of a united Europe. We share similar values. Our place is in the European Union," he said.
Foreign leaders lined up to be seen with Yushchenko, Ukraine’s third president since the collapse of communism, 13 years ago, and first pro-western leader.
Taking the oath of office in front Colin Powell, the outgoing US secretary of state, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, the NATO secretary general, EU external affairs chief, Benita Ferrero-Waldner and a host of foreign dignitaries, Yushchenko hammered home his country’s new relationship with the west.
Yushchenko made no direct reference to Russia or President Putin, who had disastrously backed Yushchenko’s pro-Kremlin rival Viktor Yanukovych.
But in a carefully worded address he warned that Kiev would not subordinate its interests to those of another nation.
“Ukraine will not be a buffer zone or battleground for anyone," he said.
“We are prepared to respect the interests of other states, but for me and for you, national interests are above all else."
Yushchenko’s victory is a crushing defeat for President Putin, who fears losing influence among former soviet client states.
But analysts believe that Yushchenko must tread carefully with Moscow, Ukraine’s leading trading partner, and point out that the new president needs to win the support of the country’s large Russian speaking regions.
“His two great challenges are convincing Yanukovych supporters that he is their President and convincing Russia that he is not anti-Russian,” said Markian Bilynskyj, a political analyst at the US-Ukraine Foundation in a report in the Times.
“The other goal is to put the EU on the defensive by meeting their criteria for membership."
EU support for Ukrainian membership is lacklustre, with Europe's leaders struggling to deal with the latest round of enlargement and with the looming prospect of Turkish membership.
Yushchenko immediately left for talks with President Putin on Monday, in a move seen as an attempt to make political peace with the Kremlin, and to reassure pro Russian detractors at home.
In a conciliatory move, Yushchenko told Sunday’s crowd “everyone can teach their children the language of their forefathers”, referring to the Ukraine’s large Russian minority.
After visiting Putin, Yushchenko travels to Europe later this week, including an address to the European Parliament on Thursday before heading to for the Auschwitz commemorations with his close ally, Polish President Alexander Kwasniewski.
Have your say...
Please enter your comments below.