Ukraine- Russia: the year after friendship

On April 21, 2010, the historic Kharkov agreements between Russia and Ukraine were signed; the main results of it were: the agreements on the questions of the Black Sea Fleet presence in Sevastopol and gas prices reducing for Ukraine. On April 27, these agreements were bonded by the blood during the hand-to-hand fightings in the parliament.

A year has passed – it is the time to sum up the intermediate results and to chart the future tasks. With this aim, on April 14, Kharkov gathered political scientists, experts from Russia and Ukraine at the conference: “Russian-Ukrainian relations – the year after the Kharkov agreements”.

The conference was organized by RIA Novosti, the Institute of CIS Countries, the Russian Embassy in Ukraine, the Foundation of Yevgeny Kushnaryov.

The event took place at the “Metalist” stadium conference hall.
The conference participants were met by the representatives of the following organizations:
“Rus Triedinaya”, the club named after Army General Margelov, “Russkoe Veche” with the Russian tricolor and “Pamyat Derzhavi”,with the monarchist flag, which the activist, in the form of the Drozdovsky Regiment, held. For dozen of the Ukrainian nationalists that had gathered to declare their protest, it was the unpleasant surprise.

The conference was opened by the head of RIA Novosti agency in Ukraine, Zakhar Vinogradov. He gave the floor to the Director of the Institute of CIS countries, Konstantin Zatulin, who thanked the activists of the Russian organizations for their support.

Here is the some brief outline of the report from his speech: “Before the victory of Viktor Yanukovich the Cold War was between Russia and Ukraine was and Kharkov agreement is confirmation the fact that after Mr. Yanukovich coming to the power, the Russian-Ukrainian relations rebooting had started.

The foundation of this rebooting is the Kharkov agreements.
It is the sample of the compromise. And as any compromise, the one is not liked by the nationalistic parties, which any agreement with Russia conceive as the betrayal of the Ukraine's national interests, even if this agreement corresponds to the interests of Ukraine in a greater or lesser degree.

Russia has considered it possible to concede in price for gas, it has the reserve of the capacities.
Why now is there any slight disappointment in the Ukrainian-Russian relations?
The Ukrainian authority was engaged in everything this year, but the one did not take care the promotion of the Ukrainian-Russian relations “- he said, adding that the momentous promises, given to the Russian-speaking voters, were not executed.

And nevertheless by the Kharkov agreement we have removed undecidable stalemate with coming date of 2017. The Kharkov agreements have saved the Ukrainian economy from breakdown”.

“We struggle for the Ukraine return to the negotiating table, which the one left because of the «Orange Revolution “in 2004, because the discussion of the common economic space was begun in four, not in three.

Today, in Ukraine, the persons that have made their geopolitical choice and the ones that do not think of people and economics and which would like to demonstrate alignment with the West, fight against against the accession to the Customs Union.

The point of view that the accession to the Customs Union will put the end to the policy of the permanent maneuvering between East and West that is so fond by the Ukrainian political elite, is dominated on the part of certain forces and it unfortunately gets in the ruling party.

The elite would not like to take shape, it would like to be everywhere at once and the one does not like the situation of the forced choice. But in this situation the one will have to choose between the European integration myth and the Customs union accession specific benefits”.

After the Konstantin Zatulin speech the sociologist of the company “Research And Branding Group”, Alex Liashenko had made the presentation on “Russian-Ukrainian relations in the sociology mirror”.


In his presentation, Liashenko citing the series of numbers, noted that “at the time of Kharkov agreements signing, the Ukraine's population expressed a high opinion to them, and today there is some slowdown, associated with the population disappointment”.

If year ago the 58% of respondents referred to the fact of their signing in much positively, but now we have reduction by 20% , said Liashenko.

Regionally, more than half the residents of the South-East of Ukraine (55%) refer to the Kharkov agreements signing the most positively , whereas 52% of the residents of the Western Ukraine have negative attitude to this fact.

The next speaker, the head of the corporation of the strategy consulting “Gardarica”, Konstantin Matvienko mentioned that the contacts between Russia and Ukraine, in the humanitarian fields have been activated.


The speech of the Assistant Managing Editor for “Arms export and defense industry of Ukraine”, the head of the military-industrial projects of the Research Center of Army, Conversion and Disarmament, Vladimir Kopchak raised many questions, and the speech passed to the discussion. The speech concerned the subject of the cooperation between Russia and Ukraine in military-technical field.

Noting that the “military-technical cooperation is developing regardless the relations between the Bankovaya and the Kremlin; he proposed to create the interstate exhibition center of weapons and military equipment in the Crimea.

The subject was continued by the Russian military commander, Adm. Igor Kasatonov, who said that the major gesture in the promotion of the cooperation between Russia and Ukraine, per his opinion is the sale of the missile cruiser “Ukraine” to Russia. He noted that the issue is only in the price: "Ukraine wants to have the payment as for new one, but it stood for a long time and lost some its positive qualities”.

The interesting presentation was made by Yuri Molchanov, the producer of the “Inter” media group and the board member of the public organization “The Day of the Rus Christianizing”.
He spoke about both the role of the of the Orthodox Church and the first visit in Ukraine of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, Kirill, in 2009.


"The question about TV coverage of the Patriarch's Kirill arrival has arisen and not all were confident that it will be interesting for the audience.

I insisted on the visit showcase in full and as it turned out I was right, because the five television broadcasts with the patriarch participation and one live broadcast per the ratings turned out to be more successful than many resonant football matches”, - mentioned Molchanov, adding that the broadcasts with the participation of the Patriarch, from 14 to 20 million of Ukrainian viewers have watched.

In his speech, Yuri Molchanov mentioned that “the Church is the only institution, which has not lost the public confidence”.


As explained by Molchanov, the doctrine of the Russian world, proposed by the patriarch Kirill that is able to unite the peoples of both Russia and Ukraine, “has met fierce resistance” on the side of very many persons in Ukraine - and it is necessary to think about how you can change the situation. So, the “the doctrine itself (of the Russian world) has still not explained to people”.

“Today, the new primate of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, who said: “Guys, why will we build the Russian world, if we build the Ukrainian one, was mentioned? From the point of view of the ecclesiastical vocabulary it is a heresy - said Molchanov - because the Russian world includes both Ukraine and Russia. We are the Kievan Rus, it is our world”.

The adviser of the President of Ukraine, Dmitry Vydrin shared as to his vision of the situation: “The voting of the Verkhovnoy Radi of Ukraine for Kharkov agreement - it was the voting not for both the gas and the navy, it was for a different way of self-identification of Ukraine, it is the opportunity to look at many things in a different way

The Black Sea Fleet, in Sevastopol, had been before the Fleet of the enemy country, now the one is the fleet of a friendly state”.


Dmitri Vydrin drew attention to the role of the media and the Ukrainian journalists position relating to Russia – “for them, Russia is still something dangerous, something negative. This situation is very difficult to fix, because it was developed at worldview level”.

He has dramatized that it is important to bolster simple social ties that exist along the line of culture, literature and human relations.
“It's much more complicated than simply to sign the agreement. And how they shape well, the Ukrainian relations will depend on in many respects”.


The Kiev political analyst Vladimir Fesenko made point clear as to the overestimated expectations from Kharkiv agreements and inevitable, in this case, disappointment. Operating with numbers, he has tried to argue the audience into the advantages of the European integration.


The director of the Ukrainian branch of the Institute of CIS countries, Vladimir Kornilov engaged in the controversy with him. He has operated with figures. He noticed that the Customs Union it is, first of all, the civilization choice of Ukraine.

In the flared updiscussion, it was said that the new phase of anti-Russian economic relations is started. Ukraine falls into the same trap as that it was at Yushchenko time. That is, waiting for some super effect from the economic integration with Europe, the one say to Russia again: “We do not need you!”. A new wave of dubious illusions starts again. Naturally, it will lead nowhere, and there will not be any significant economic effect for Ukraine, nobody in Europe is not going to maintain its industry.

The new Ukrainian authority, although it seems to us more pro-Russian, nevertheless, often still clings to some phantom.
Ukraine, as an economic project does not need for Europe, especially at time of the economic downturns, when in addition it is necessary to feed the Greeks.




The Ukrainian political analysts have received the explanation that the increase in gas prices for the residents is not due to the rise in price of Russian gas, because the population gets the gas, produced in Ukraine, so the initiator of the tariff - is the government in Kiev. However with it, the arrows of discontent put on Russia via mass medium successfully.

The role of mass media also caused a lot of disputes – is the one constructive or destructive? So, Yury Molchanov noted that the coverage of the enthronement of a new primate of the Greek Catholic Church showed that “very well co-ordinated work, directed against the canonical Orthodox Church in Ukraine, is going in the press”

Of course, not all have been so categorical in the mass media role assessing. The managing editor of “Izvestiya in Ukraine” newspaper, Yanina Sokolovskaya mentioned that the bridges between Russia and Ukraine are not erected by politicians currently, but by mass media.
With this Sokolovskaya reminded the statistics that indicates the predominance of Russian mass media in Ukraine. Even in Lviv they read the periodicals in Russian.

The managing editor of “Kiev Telegraph” Vladimir Skachko, who marked the confidence droping as to the mass media, was disagreed with the thesis of the significant role media in strengthening Russian-Ukrainian relations: “Only 4-5% of the people believe in it”.
"And if there is no trust in mass media, then the mass media will not be able to play its role in the development of the Russian-Ukrainian relations, and generally any relationship, if there is no trust, then there is no fulfillment of its function” - he said.

The head of the Department of Ukraine of the Institute of CIS, Kirill Frolov emphasized the participants' attention on the fact that Ukraine's media space is filled with tendentious political shows of both Shuster and Kiselev that do not reflect the reality and they serve the interests of quasi-elite. But opting for the European Union, Ukraine has the risk of contamination with spiritual diseases of Western society. And finally we can get the gay parades in the Sofia area.

Many participants mentioned that the decline of popularity of Kharkov agreements is caused by a lot of reasons, among of which the rating downgrade of the Ukrainian authorities occupies wooden spoon.

The guest from Russia, the General Director of the political conjuncture, Sergei Mikheyev put it down to both the management mistakes and “usage of the specific management methods”.

"Certainly here in Russia we are disturbed with it, because, unfortunately, the situation is, when the cooperation and the normal relations with Russia in the recent years tight associated with both the figure of Victor Fedorovich Yanukovich, and the position of the Party of Regions, said Mikheyev.

“The all adverse rating that both Mr. Yanukovich and the Party of Regions gather, as well delegates to the very idea of both the cooperation with Russia and the Russian initiatives in Ukrainian political space.

We have done much in order to support Yanukovich at the time of the last elections. And of course the Party of Regions is our main partner in Ukraine today, but it does not mean that Russia will support the Party of Regions under any circumstances, no matter what and how the one does” , - the speaker accented.

“Give up on the Russian project - it means to line up to someone foreign and to bid for the place in this line.



Hereto we are constantly being appealed by the liberals-westerners that confess the idealized view of the western world, which in fact, was not, is not and the one, which will never be. In the 90-s the liberals occupied all positions in the expert community, in the mass media, in the teaching staff and they still continue to live with beliefs of 60-s 80-s, with the dimentions that do not reflect the real life. They are bony and absolutely the ones cannot respond flexibly to this reality. They are gripped in a vice of ideologemes and in which case the ones are ready to put on the Red Square the guillotine and to cut off everyone heads, which is against liberal idea, which is intolerant. Unfortunately they deliver such a dissident-destructive ideology to a new generation.

And nevertheless, in future our country are doomed to unite in the alliance”- the expert summed up.

As always, the language issue has caused the heated debates, which the new government, despite his election pledges, whether in no hurry to decide or in general the one is not going to solve.
Konstantin Zatulin has noted that: “during the reign of Yushchenko a bunch of different solutions, which worsened the Russian language position, were made. Only a part of these decisions is canceled, but generally speaking, and in this context even the situation of 2004, from the point of languages comparability is not returned”.

Alright, if in Western Ukraine or in Central Ukraine the population does not want to have the Russian schools, okay then. But why, then, in eastern Ukraine and Crimea is not possible to make this language as regional, along with the Ukrainian language, what are the reasons here? “
“Define the movement!” - Konstantin Fedorovich expressed the summarizing appeal as to the Ukrainian authorities.

Further it was stated that the authorities do not counteract the outright veneration of the fascist collaborators. Western Ukraine has turned into area of unlimited nationalistic Sabbath, hence the representative of the Kharkiv Union of officers read out the message as to the banning to host Euro 2012 in Lvov.

At the time of the roundtable discussion the defenseman of the student, Sergey Pozdnyakov that is accused with regard to the case of OUN-UPA stone demolishing in Kharkiv - Olga Doroshko made a talk. She talked about four-year investigation: “The new authorities have done nothing to dismiss the criminal case and to demolition the illegally installed stone”. They remembered about the plaque in honor of the Uniate bishop and the confessor of the SS “Galichina” division, I. Sleepy that was newly installed by the Kharkov governor-regional.


The Chairman of the “Russian Veche”, Gennady Makarov spoke as to the role of the Russian movement organizations that will force the authorities to fulfill their promise.
The Chairman of the non-governmental organization “Rus Triedinaya”, Sergey Moiseyev, in his speech, said that the problem of Ukraine in the mental disruption of the elite from the people and this process began in XVI century and the one continues up to now.
“When choosing the development vector, we must rely not on benefits, but the meanings.
Now it is beneficially to keep a good company with Europe, we will start to build, and tomorrow, China will offer something, and we will give up the unfinished deal. We will start to toss. A benefit is poor cement and the real friends should not be chosen per a benefit.
We have the common spiritual foundation with Russia - it is important. We must build the future on this basis, and everything else will be enclosed.
Euro-integrators, who are selling birthright for a mess of pottage, should be ashamed.
After Kharkov agreements, we need further courageous steps. It is possible to stabilize the Russian-Ukrainian relations, when at higher levels we will coordinate and declare Kharkov as the Customs union capital, and supranational structures will be moved to Kharkov. This fact is reasonable from geographic, general political, cultural and historical points of view.





Kharkov has started his history since Pereyaslavskaya Rada year – it is the fruit of the commonwealth.

And it is not just symbolic, it is sustained and in particular Kharkov prepared to be as the depositary of the keys of the Russian-Ukrainian Union. As a matter of fact, the Europeans made Brussels as the capital of NATO.

We can rest on the historical examples of our unanimity, as the guarantee of the both victories and highest achievements.

At present time we pass the test of the separation, but the historic task of our association should be built on the high ideals serving. We have the solid foundation it is our common past. We must awake the gene of association”.

The idea that Kharkov is like the Orthodox Brussels, as later additionally Kirill Frolov said, immediately acquires about two million of supporters who are the Kharkov inhabitants.

The state boundaries are contingent in large measure, they can be moved by fancy, but it is not possible to cancel spiritual kinship and kindred by fancy.

(When preparing the material the transcripts of RIA Novosti were used partially.)

P.S. “I foresee the recovery of mighty Russia, even more strong and powerful. On the bones of the martyrs, remember, as on solid foundation, the new Rus will be erected per the old model that will be strong with their faith in Christ and God and Holy Trinity!” And it will be per the covenant of the holy Prince Vladimir - as the united Church!
The Russian people no longer understand what is Rus: the one is the footstool of the Throne of the Lord! “
Saint and holy John of Kronstadt