30 November 2004
Bush Says U.S. Supports European Mediation in Ukraine
Bush comments and State Department press briefing excerpts
President Bush phoned Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski November 30 to convey strong U.S. support for European mediation in the crisis in Ukraine that has followed the disputed November 21 election, according to State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher.
President Bush mentioned the phone call during a joint press conference with Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin in Ottawa, Canada, later in the day, saying that Kwasniewski will again lead a delegation to Ukraine "to encourage the parties to reject violence, and to urge the parties to engage in dialogue toward a political and legal solution to the current crisis. Our common goal is to see the will of the Ukrainian people prevail."
Bush said he and Prime Minister Martin wanted "to thank President Kwasniewski for his efforts, and we wish him all the success."
In other diplomatic activity related to Ukraine, Secretary of State Colin Powell talked to Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Boucher said during the State Department Daily Press Briefing. In addition, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage spoke to both of the presidential candidates, Viktor Yanukovych and Viktor Yuschenko, on November 29.
Boucher said there will be a new round of discussions in Ukraine with the representatives of the European Union and Kwasniewski, and that EU High Representative Javier Solana "is heading down there to Kiev today. The Secretary spoke to him this morning about his mission and about our desire to support him in his efforts to find a peaceful, political and legal settlement to the problems of Ukraine."
The United States believes President Kuchma's suggestion of new elections "should be considered and we welcome the fact that he is discussing and entertaining different ideas about how the situation can be resolved peacefully," said Boucher.
Armitage conveyed to Prime Minister Yanukovych the strong U.S. "objections to any separatist initiatives" and urged the government and his supporters to refrain from any use of force, he said.
With Yuschenko, Armitage spoke about the importance of continuing the peaceful and orderly nature of the protests and to support the deliberations underway to resolve the crisis, according to Boucher.
The United States is trying "to encourage a peaceful outcome that respects the legal and political process underway in Ukraine and that ... comes to results that reflect the will of the Ukrainian people, unlike the flawed election that was held," he said.
Earlier, White House spokesman Scott McClellan, briefing reporters aboard Air Force One en route to Canada, said, "We believe it's important for the international community to signal their strong support for Ukraine's sovereignty and freedom and independence and territorial integrity."
The Ukraine election crisis is "a matter that needs to be resolved peacefully and in a democratic way. That's what our position is."
Following are excerpts from the November 30 State Department Daily Press Briefing:
(begin excerpt)
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE DAILY PRESS BRIEFING
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2004
12:45 p.m. EST
Briefer: Richard Boucher, Spokesman
[...]
QUESTION: Could we move on to Ukraine? The opposition has pulled out of the talks. Do you have an opinion on whether they should have continued the talking, and do you today have any assessment of President Kuchma's suggestion yesterday that perhaps there should be new elections in the country?
MR. BOUCHER: Let me start with the latter part, on President Kuchma's suggestion that there might be new elections. That is certainly something that we do think should be considered and we welcome the fact that he is discussing and entertaining different ideas about how the situation can be resolved peacefully. And that is one that, if the parties can agree on, would certainly be satisfactory to everybody.
On the question of the discussions that have been held, our understanding is there had been some follow-up working group discussions to the last visits of the Polish President and the European Union High Representative and others, and that it was these working group talks that they had found, at least the opposition had said that they were pulling out of. There's going to be a new round of discussions now with the representatives of the European Union and the Polish President himself both going down there in the course of the next day or so. High Representative Solana is heading down there to Kiev today. The Secretary spoke to him this morning about his mission and about our desire to support him in his efforts to find a peaceful, political and legal settlement to the problems of Ukraine.
Second of all, the President, President Bush, spoke this morning with President Kwasniewski and conveyed our strong support for European mediation in that phone call as well. So we're keeping in very close touch at senior levels, also at other levels with the Europeans, as they continue their efforts, and we urge all of the Ukrainian parties to cooperate with them and work with them and look for, as we have said before, a peaceful and political outcome.
I think I described yesterday how the Secretary had talked to President Kuchma and Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov. In addition to that, yesterday afternoon, Deputy Secretary Armitage spoke to both of the presidential candidates, Mr. Yanukovych and Mr. Yuschenko, again, to encourage both of them to look for peaceful, democratic efforts to resolve all the questions related to the fraudulent election. The Deputy Secretary also conveyed to Prime Minister Yanukovych our strong objections to any separatist initiatives and to urge the government and his supporters to refrain from any use of force.
With Mr. Yuschenko, Mr. Armitage spoke about the importance of continuing the peaceful and orderly nature of the protests and to support the deliberations underway to resolve the crisis.
So the United States is trying to work with the parties in Ukraine, trying to work with the Europeans as they make their efforts, and we're making our own efforts to work with people on the ground to try to encourage a peaceful outcome that respects the legal and political process underway in Ukraine and that results in -- that comes to results that reflect the will of the Ukrainian people, unlike the flawed election that was held.
QUESTION: Did the Deputy Secretary tell the Prime Minister that his victory was a fraud?
MR. BOUCHER: I don't know the exact language that he used.
QUESTION: You used "fraudulent," I think.
MR. BOUCHER: Yeah, yeah.
QUESTION: The reason I think Matt may be interested is that you guys previously have been very careful to say "allegations of fraud" and call for an investigation; now you've just said "fraudulent election." You've reached that conclusion unmistakably that it --
MR. BOUCHER: I'd have to look back at exactly how we worded it, but I think both Senator Lugar and the OSCE representatives said flat out there was a widespread fraud, and we're accepting those conclusions.
QUESTION: But he definitely conveyed to the Prime Minister the U.S. feeling that his victory is a sham, it's not reflective of the -- that the official results are not reflective of the will of the Ukrainian people?
MR. BOUCHER: The purpose of the phone call was --
QUESTION: But I'd just -- I have a follow-up, too.
MR. BOUCHER: The purpose of the phone call was to talk about how to move forward and how to correct the fraudulent election. Whether he actually referred to it in the phone call as a fraudulent election or not, frankly, I don't know. I wasn't part of it. But certainly that is the premise upon which our actions and the actions of others are based.
QUESTION: Well, the reason I'm asking is because -- do you get the sense that he -- that the Prime Minister accepts the idea --
MR. BOUCHER: I don't want to try to characterize the Prime Minister's views. At this point, I think he understands the difficulty of the situation. He certainly understands the need to avoid separatist activities and to try to seek a peaceful outcome. But beyond that, I don't think I can characterize his views in any detail.
QUESTION: Well, yesterday you spoke of how you saw a statement from him saying that he was prepared to accept a revote in certain places.
MR. BOUCHER: Under certain circumstances.
QUESTION: Right. Is that something that you encourage?
MR. BOUCHER: We were just talking about it in terms of the statement that President Kuchma that you guys cited to me yesterday.
QUESTION: But I'm talking about the Armitage call for the Prime Minister.
MR. BOUCHER: Again, the call -- I described the phone call to you. I can't go into every moment, everything that was said in the phone call, except to say that this was the basic thrust of the phone call and this was the goal, was to encourage them to seek a peaceful and political outcome. I don't, frankly, remember if there was any direct reference to a new election or a repeat.
QUESTION: Okay. Well, are you satisfied that both candidates agree on the need for a peaceful, legal and whatever -- peaceful resolution to the crisis --
MR. BOUCHER: Again, I can't characterize their personal views. I can say that they say they look for a peaceful outcome. They say they look for a political outcome.
QUESTION: Let me put them in the way that you can answer them. Are you concerned, after these phone calls, that Ukraine is on the brink of catastrophe or bloodbath, or do you think that your mediate -- your intervention and the intervention of the Europeans and everyone else that you just mentioned has a chance of succeeding?
MR. BOUCHER: I can describe for you what happened. I'm not about to go speculating on bloodbaths and things like that. The United States believes that our efforts and the efforts of others offer a way to the parties involved in the Ukraine to find a legal political process that can resolve the issues raised by the election. We believe we are offering them an opportunity. We are encouraging them to take advantage of the opportunity. But that's about as far as I can go, in terms of characterizing what we're doing and not trying to characterize how they will act in the future.
Nick.
QUESTION: Richard, in the Secretary's call to Minister Lavrov yesterday and in other contacts you've had with the Russians or the Ukraine, have you told them or signaled in any way any impact that their involvement in the election in Ukraine might have on your relationship with Russia?
MR. BOUCHER: The conversations are based on a, I think, a premise that we all want to see a peaceful resolution of these problems in Ukraine, that we all want to see, we and the Russians both want to see an outcome that reflects a peaceful, legal and political process in Ukraine. They're not threatening. They're based on how can we work together, how can we encourage that kind of result.
QUESTION: But clearly, the United States and Western Europe and Russia are not on the same side on this. The Russians have been involved in the campaign without hiding it.
MR. BOUCHER: I would look at -- look carefully at what the Russians have said. I don't want to try to characterize their views, but at least in our conversations with them, they, too, have said that they're looking for a peaceful outcome that rests on Ukrainian legal and political processes.
QUESTION: Richard, if you're able to say that we and the Russians agree on a peaceful outcome to this, why can you not say that we and the two candidates agree on a peaceful --
MR. BOUCHER: I think I phrased what I said about the Russians exactly the same way I phrased it for the two candidates, that they have said that they are looking for a peaceful and political and legal outcome.
Adi.
QUESTION: If there is a repeat of the second round of voting, do you think that that second round should be -- do you think the repeat should be partial and only in certain parts of the country or full?
MR. BOUCHER: I don't think that's a position that we've taken at this point. We'll see. There are these various ideas out there being discussed. I'm sure the European mediators will discuss them with the parties when they get out there about revoting or partial voting or perhaps other solutions that parties might agree upon. Our hope is that they can use the opportunity presented by the European mediators, the European representatives, to find a solution that's satisfactory for everybody, and that, in the end, will reflect the will of the Ukrainian people.
QUESTION: Richard, how would that will be expressed? Does it have to be approved by the Supreme Court in order for it to reflect the Ukrainian people's view? Does it have to be acceptable to both of the candidates or, you know, if one candidate wants to do a partial and the other wants to do a full, who do you think speaks for the Ukrainian people?
MR. BOUCHER: Our view is that these things need to be worked out by all of them. We'll see where it gets to, where the Europeans can get to, that would be the preferable outcome. I'm not going to try to take a position on judicial or other matters.
QUESTION: What do you mean by "all of them?"
MR. BOUCHER: That, as we've said, we've encouraged all parties, both of the candidates and their supporters, to find a solution that's acceptable to everyone and that results in a reflection of the will of the Ukrainian people. It's not for us to prejudge the legal process that is underway. The Supreme Court in Ukraine is looking at the matters again today. There are political processes underway in the Rada. But rather than take a position on sort of Ukrainian procedures and legal procedures, I think our general attitude is the one that I've expressed to you.
Yes, sir. You had another one, or -- who was changing the subject? I can't remember. You were.
QUESTION: All right. One more on Ukraine. Do you believe that the Russians intervened inappropriately in this process, both before the election and before the runoff?
MR. BOUCHER: I don't have anything on that today.
[...]
(end excerpt)
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