LUGAR, JOULWAN IN UKRAINE

. In overlapping visits to Kiev, two senior U.S. officials held talks with Ukrainian leaders on security issues and Ukraine’s relations with the U.S. and NATO. General George Joulwan, commander-in-chief of NATO forces in Europe, and Senator Richard Lugar met with Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma, Defense Minister Oleksandr Kuzmuk, National Security Council Secretary Volodymyr Horbulin, and other Ukrainian officials. The talks covered exchanges of military information, joint troop exercises under the Partnership for Peace program, and Ukrainian participation in international peacekeeping operations — which, Joulwan said, "have brought Ukraine and NATO a little closer." Lugar noted Ukraine’s progress on dismantling its nuclear arsenal, assisted in part by U.S. funding under the Nunn-Lugar program. Kuzmuk agreed to enlarge Ukraine’s commitment to peacekeeping in the former Yugoslavia, where a rotation of Ukrainian troops is due soon. Horbulin called for expansion of Ukraine-NATO cooperation beyond troop exercises, up to Ukraine’s inclusion in programs run by NATO’s military-technical and economic committees. In discussions on Ukrainian-U.S. trade, Lugar pointed to the recent contract for the delivery of 1,000 modern combines by the U.S. company John Deere to Ukraine as a breakthrough and an encouragement to potential U.S. investors in Ukraine. (Interfax-Ukraine, August 28 and 29)

Nation-Building in Uzbekistan.