Posted on 05/18/2010 11:09:30 PM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Tuesday invited Ukraine to join a security bloc of former Soviet republics, a step that would draw Ukraine closer into Moscow's embrace.
Ukraine has forged warm ties with its former Soviet masters since the February election of President Viktor Yanukovich as president. Yanukovich, an ex-mechanic from the Russian-leaning east of the country, frequently speaks Russian at public events.
Former Ukrainian president Viktor Yushchenko shunned Russia and attempted to take his country into NATO, despite considerable public opposition. NATO members put Ukrainian membership on the back burner in 2008.
Medvedev, on his first state visit to Ukraine, said he would welcome the former Soviet republic into the Russian-dominated Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO).
"If in the future you would consider it proper to join the CSTO, we would be happy to accept you," Medvedev said in Kiev. "The CSTO is not the Warsaw Pact... we do not need confrontation with NATO or other military blocs."
The CSTO includes Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. It originally began in 1992 as the CST. Members have conducted military exercises and in recent years some of them agreed to set up a peacekeeping force and a rapid reaction force.
Ukraine agreed last month to allow Russia's Black Sea fleet to extend its lease on a base in the Crimean port of Sevastopol until 2042 in exchange for cheaper gas imports from Russia.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Join now, or pay the Russian Piper later...
rebuilding the bloc
They certainly can’t look to us.
If Yanukovitch does this he will be in very hot water. The Ukrainians have no wish to rejoin with the Rusian Bear.
Actually the past elections seem to indicate otherwise.
“We’re putting the band back together!”
A couple of years ago that was the case ...but Viktor Yushchenko (and somewhat Yulia Tymoshenko, although she survived, and is still in government) totally squandered the Orange Revolution. If I recall correctly in the 2010 elections Yushchenko did not even place in the top 3 (he was number 5 ...just checked). Sad because when the whole thing started 5 years ago there was so much hope ...I guess criticising the train service is easier than running the darn things (to paraphrase).
All said and done Yanukovitch won as the best of three no good choices. He is not respected [can't speak proper Ukrainian] did the deal on the harbor at Sevastopol [it is not that the Black Sea Fleet is capable, it is the idea of leaving the Bear in Crimea]and people are still alive who remember the Holodomor and also how Stalin destroyed so many churches.
A Bet. If Vitali Klitchko ran for President, he would win in a landslide.
The Reds Brothers…”We’re getting the band back together.”
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