Foreign Correspondence

[CoalTrain]

Yushchenko’s defiance could cost him whatever legitimacy he has.


Of the Ukies I have spoken with they do not consider Kuchma or the thugs he supports to be legit. I spoke with a Ukie while traveling through Slovakia. Her father was the Captain of a Soviet Sub. When the U.S.S.R. broke up he was given early retirement under the condition he remain in the Ukraine. She said a lot of upper level military people were given the same option and Kiev has quite a number of them. Do you know if Moscow has a significant amount of troops near Ukraine? I am sorry to say I think the thugs in Ukraine will win again. The fight may go on for some time though. Many Ukrainians are really ready for a change and feel they have nothing to lose.

Almost every Ukie I have spoken with said that they were sure that if Russia sent troops to Iraq to fight the Americans the Ukrainians would fight on the side of Moscow. Unlike the Polish Hungarian and Slovak troops the Ukrainians are a battle ready force, not just young men in uniform. I am not sure of the significance of this because I do not know the number of Ukrainian troops in iraq. If the U.S. and the EU manage to pressure the current thugs out of office Ukraine will most likely get an invite into the EU and the loyalty of the Ukrainian troops will most likely swing to the U.S. assuming he U.S finds them significant. EU deals were being discussed about the same time the pipeline deals in Ukraine fell through. If Kuchmas boys win I wont be surprised to see the pipeline deals revived.