UKRAINE HOPES NEW ROMANIAN GOVERNMENT WILL RECOGNIZE EXISTING BORDERS.

Ukrainian Foreign Ministry envoy for special assignments Volodymyr Vasilenko stated yesterday that Kiev hopes for Romanian recognition of Ukraine’s territorial integrity following the election of Emil Constantinescu as Romanian president. Vasilenko noted that Constantinescu’s campaign emphasized the goal of Romania’s early accession to NATO and the European Union as a high priority. The two organizations require countries aspiring for membership to drop territorial claims on their neighbors and to sign treaties of good-neighborly relations, Vasilenko pointed out. He expressed hope that Bucharest would now move "as expeditiously as possible" to recognize Ukraine’s borders and finalize the negotiations toward a bilateral political treaty. Also yesterday, Ukraine’s first deputy foreign minister, Anton Buteyko, speaking to the North Atlantic Assembly, expressed hope for an improvement in relations with Romania. But Buteyko asked NATO to defer consideration of Romania’s accession to the alliance pending Bucharest’s recognition of Ukraine’s borders in a bilateral treaty. (Interfax-Ukraine, November 19)

The Western-oriented Constantinescu and his Democratic Convention defeated incumbent president Ion Iliescu and his leftist coalition in this month’s presidential and parliamentary elections. Bucharest until now has directly or indirectly affirmed its perceived title to parts of Bessarabia, Bukovina and to Serpents’ Island, which have been part of Ukraine since the dissolution of the USSR. Negotiations toward a Ukrainian-Romanian bilateral treaty are stalled over Bucharest’s demand that the document reflect its position on those territories.

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