The then President of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma personally asked British “Prime” Tony Blair to support his country’s ambitions for EU membership in 2002. Within the Blair Administration there was a bitter internal struggle in favor of the “European vocation” Ukraine and against the “too rosy” view of Russian President Vladimir Putin exhibited by the former Labor “premier” and other Western leaders.
“Knowing that you are a sincere friend of Ukraine, I have high hopes of your personal support on this exceptionally important matter,” Kuchma wrote to Blair 21 years ago, according to official documents that came to light this week.
The prevailing view in the Blair Administration was that of then Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, granting Ukraine the same “special neighbor status” with Russia as Belarus and Moldova and resisting support for its entry into the EU.
“Ukrainians are depressed by the fact that they are being discredited by most of Europe and the United States,” Blair’s special envoy for Europe, Roger Liddle, nevertheless wrote. “We have a very rosy view of Putin, who is seen as a smart and presentable politician, but not as a democratic hero.”
Liddle advised Blair to “reinforce faltering democracy and economic stability in Ukraine” as the future eastern border of the EU and “as a formidable barrier against the resurgence of Russian imperialism.” “Kuchma may not be a nice politician, but he plays a very important role and sees Putin every four or six weeks,” the adviser for Europe concluded.
“Aren’t the Ukrainians really Europeans?” asked the then British ambassador in kyiv, Roland Smith, in another internal communication. “Belarus is a dictatorship and Moldova is the poorest country in Europe. While Ukraine is a democracy with its weak points, but not a dictatorship.”
“If we rule out Ukraine’s membership in the EU, we have to ask ourselves why we give that right to countries like Albania, Bulgaria, Romania and the eastern Balkans,” Smith added. “The question is whether we recognize the aspirations of the Ukrainians. Or do we really think that Ukraine should return to Russia, to which it belongs?”
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