Ukraine's Yanukovich Makes Visit to Washington

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STEVE INSKEEP, host:

Two years is a very long time in politics. Just look at the United States, or just look at Ukraine. That country's democratic revolution captivated the world just two years ago after Viktor Yushchenko came to power. He had the help of street protests in what was called the Orange Revolution.

Now the man he defeated has made a comeback and is in the United States trying to burnish his image.

NPR's Michele Kelemen has the story.

MICHELE KELEMEN: In those heady days of color-coded revolutions, Viktor Yanukovich was viewed here as Russia's man in Ukraine. Moscow supported his candidacy, while democracy activists accused him of trying to steal the election from Viktor Yushchenko.

Rather than fading into history after conceding defeat, his party managed to win parliamentary elections this past spring and Yanukovich is now back as prime minister, portraying himself as a democrat and a Ukrainian through and through.

Prime Minister VIKTOR YANUKOVICH (Ukraine): (Through translator) I have always thought of the interests of my own family and the interest of my own people. Whatever people might have said, I'm sure these were just political technologies.

KELEMEN: What he calls political technologies we might call public relations. And Yanukovich has clearly gotten the message that PR is what he needs here. His aides came to Washington armed with glossy photo albums of the prime minister posing with world leaders and with his former enemies from the Orange Revolution. Asked about the revolution, he said it raised expectations too high.

U.S. democracy activists like Adrian Karatnycky of the Atlantic Council can only hope that Yanukovich learned something from the experience.

Mr. ADRIAN KARATNYCKY (Atlantic Council): I don't pretend to look into his eyes and to be able to tell what is in his heart. But I can tell you that I think, given the way institutions are developing in Ukraine, he has to be a changed man or he would end up facing a huge amount of civic pressure, institutional pressure, constitutional pressure and the like. The Orange Revolution made politicians like Mr. Yanukovich behave by much more democratic rule.

KELEMEN: The Bush administration kept the visit by Yanukovich low key, nothing like the victory lap that President Yushchenko had after the Orange Revolution. The U.S. clearly doesn't want to get mixed up in the ongoing turf battles between the two men, according to Steven Pifer, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine.

Mr. STEVEN PIFER (Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine): The U.S. government does not want to get involved in the middle of that fight, and that's understandable. But at the same time, there is hope within the U.S. government that the two Viktors can come together on a common vision for moving forward on Ukraine. It doesn't help either the prime minister or President Yushchenko if they have, for example, differences on foreign policy that then spill out into the outside world.

KELEMEN: Pifer hosted Prime Minister Yanukovich at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. There, before the a packed house, Yanukovich said that he and President Yushchenko do agree on long-term foreign policy goals, if not, the tactics. Pifer agrees there are similarities.

Mr. PIFER: Both talk about supporting Ukraine's entry into the European Union. They want good relations with the United States. The differences are probably on questions of tone with Russia, and then there is the one big difference, which is this question of how far Ukraine should go with NATO.

KELEMEN: Prime Minister Yanukovich says there is little public support for joining NATO, a move also opposed by Moscow. He's taking a go-slow approach as he tries to balance his ties to Russia and reach out to the West to get some more credibility.

Michele Kelemen, NPR News, Washington.

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