Kiev: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton may have initiated renewed US interest in Ukraine after a flurry of pro-Russian moves by its new leadership when she visited the ex-Soviet republic yesterday, analysts said.
Clinton's stop in Kiev, at the start of a five-country regional trip, is the first to Ukraine by a top US official since President Viktor Yanukovich was elected in February, ousting pro-Western leaders and tilting policy towards Moscow.
Unlike ex-Soviet Georgia, which Clinton will also visit, the Yanukovich leadership sees little danger in US President Barack Obama's efforts to "reset" relations with Russia.
Since taking over from the pro-Western Viktor Yushchenko, Yanukovich has abandoned the aim of joining Nato, extended the stay of the Russian navy in a Ukrainian Black Sea port and stepped up commercial contacts with Russia.
But he would like Washington's blessing for what he says is a pragmatic policy that looks both to Russia and the West, and for Ukraine's efforts to stabilise its economy with help from global financial lenders.
An IMF mission is currently in Kiev for what the government hopes will be conclusive talks on a multi-billion-dollar loan to boost Ukraine's economic recovery.
‘Balancing act'
Washington applauded in April Yanukovich's move to get rid of highly-enriched uranium and has reacted publicly with some indifference to his downgrading of relations with Nato.
Clinton herself has recognised Ukraine's need to manage a "balancing act" between Russia and the West.
US officials, ahead of Clinton's trip, said improved US-Russian relations are good for Russia's neighbours and countries should not have to choose between one or the other — comments that should hearten the Yanukovich leadership.
But analysts at the same time expected Clinton to make clear that Washington remained interested in Ukraine's direction under Yanukovich and its commitment to democracy.
"One of the things that I hope the Secretary does when she is in Kiev is say, ‘look, from the outside it looks like you have leaned rather dramatically toward Russia'," Steven Pifer, an analyst at the Brookings Institution think tank, said in Washington.
‘If in fact you are interested in a more balanced relationship, you might want to pay some more attention to your relations with the United States and with Europe,'" added Pifer, a former USW ambassador to Ukraine.
Clinton was due to meet late yesterday former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, Yanukovich's arch-rival who is now in opposition and under the shadow of possible prosecution for alleged misdemeanours while in office.
"There will be a single message: that US interest in Ukraine and what is happening not only in foreign policy but also in internal policy is now being renewed," said Valery Chaly, deputy head of the Razumkov analytical centre in Kiev.
Chaly expected Clinton to urge Yanukovich to ensure that there was no row-back in media freedoms and freedom of assembly in Ukraine.
Last week, US Ambassador to Kiev John Tefft expressed concern about reports of pressure on journalists since Yanukovich came to power.
