Tranquility in the Black Sea Region Depends on Yanukovich

Nearly three years have passed since Georgia displayed war aggression against South Ossetia. It will be seen with the lapse of time whether mankind have done much or little for avoiding bloodshed on the territory of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

In order to clarify the war conflict European Parliament established its independent committee, the conclusions of which were announced at a closed session in a year. Apparently European Parliament deputies lacked courage to declare the committee's decision in public where the attack of Georgia against civilian population of South Ossetia was confirmed. Unfortunately, despite the conclusions made by the committee, European Parliament turned out to be dumb, deaf, and blind as Justice that makes judicial decision in honour of the side that puts more coins on its scale. Georgian aggression wasn't given legal treatment by international organizations either.

Relying on standards of international law Russian Federation admitted independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia in order to avoid destruction of civilian population of these countries. Their independence was also acknowledged by Nicaragua, Venezuela and Nauru.

This shouldn't be surprising as South Ossetia and Abkhazia have been independent countries for 20 years. According to democratic procedures, referendums were held on the territories of these countries. The question raised on this referendum was to form an independent state, which was backed up by the majority of the population. The states also adopted Acts of state independence, Constitutions, elected presidents and formed both government and executive bodies.

It is well-known that Georgia is a dependent state and being under direction of the USA it adopts a policy of atrocity and aggression against its neighbours. War aggression of Tbilisi against South Ossetia in 1991-1992, in summer, 2004 and in August, 2008, against Abkhazia in 1992-1993 confirm their policy. When Saakashvili came to power it became extremely obvious that Georgia is a puppet state. Since he was elected the President of the country in January, 2004 American military instructors have begun to organize Georgian army in a systemic way, and in 2006 there have been prepared a plan "Tiger's Rush" supported by the USA which provided capture of the mentioned territories.

Ukraine wasn't aside. In Abkhazian and Georgian conflict Ukrainian nationalists from Ukrainian National Assembly – Ukrainian Public Self-Defense (UNA-UPSD) took an active part in hostilities on the side of Georgia, what is confirmed by the documentary "War Shadows" shot by Grigory Gongadze. It is not the only sin made by Ukraine: in August, 2008 fighters from UNA-UPSD took part in attack against civilian population of South Ossetia. Ukraine also sold different kinds of weapons to Georgia, including armoured vehicles which were used for attack against South Ossetia. Ukrainian military instructors were training Georgian fighters before the attack. These facts are given in the documentary "Ours and Foreigners" shot by Andrey Golotvin and Tatyana Chubakova.

We'd like to hope that having come to power in Febraury, 2010, Yanukovich could change foreign-policy situation in Ukraine. In contrast to Yuschenko, Yanukovich can be an independent and strong politician. But he has to admit independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, otherwise he wouldn't differ from his predecessor.

Besides, admitting independence of these states Yanukovich would make a geopolitically aware step, bringing tranquility to the Black Sea region and strengthening relations between our states. Apart from political interest there is also an economic one: Ukraine will be able not only to export goods in demand into these countries but also to become an investor in such profitable fields as wine-making and travel business.

Igor Cherkaschenko