HOW CAN RUSSIA DISSUADE UKRAINE FROM JOINING NATO?
RIA Novosti
MOSCOW, March 24. (RIA Novosti)-Despite the absence of threats, the new authorities in Ukraine say they want the country to join NATO. In an interview with Izvestia, Alexander Lebedev, deputy head of the State Duma's CIS committee, says this step may be detrimental to Russia's security.
However, there is no reason to panic. To begin with, Lebedev says, Ukraine can only join NATO in the very distant future, and, second, judging from polls of local population, most Ukrainians are against the idea. Ukrainian politicians advocating the step have a mistaken view of their country's national interest. This is because they see Russia as a threat.
If this problem is to be solved, Russia must discard its pseudo-imperial fixations, and forget about territorial claims against Ukraine. The best way to resolve geopolitical differences with Ukraine is to stop giving prominence to these issues, and then NATO membership will cease to be immediately attractive.
A prime area of cooperation with Ukraine is the economy. Both Russia and Ukraine are involved in global competition, in which only the fittest survives. So the two countries need to cooperate closely in all sectors if they want to survive and they should also integrate in some technological aspects. This would bring the two states closer together than the effect of any political declarations. Here one should not confuse capital investment in Ukraine with capital flight from Russia: gross national product is formed not only within the country, but also through the efforts of national companies abroad. So the state should pursue a policy promoting Russian investment in Ukraine. In trade, every encouragement should be given to the export from Russia to Ukraine of high-conversion products rather than raw materials. At the same time, assistance must be provided to establish plants in Ukraine that need components from Russia.
On balance, the deputy believes, Russia must recognize that the CIS has failed as an integrative mechanism, and so propose a new project.
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