Ukraine's foreign policy is determined primarily by Russian influences. When Ukraine's foreign policy took a decisively pro-western turn after the signing of the Charter on Distinctive Partnership with NATO, Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma was summoned to Moscow to usher in the Russo-Ukrainian Treaty and the Program of Economic Cooperation for 1998-2007. The September 2000 dismissal of the pro-western Minister of Foreign Affairs Borys Tarasiuk, amidst negotiations over Ukraine's gas debt and Russia's further energy deliveries, once again demonstrated Russia's clout. Soon, Russia had a chance to reciprocate by supporting Leonid Kuchma in the midst of his worst political scandal, when allegations of the President's involvement in masterminding murder of an opposition journalist Gongadze caused the collapse of the pro-presidential majority in Verkhovna Rada and mass demonstrations all over Ukraine.
Why is Russia so intent in keeping Ukraine in its orbit? Is it just an imperial hangover, the manipulative scheme of a potentially revisionist state - or a desire to come to terms with both the joint legacy and the shared problems? Is it a manifestation of mutual dependency that goes beyond sheer economic interest, to include manifold factors of political, social, cultural and ethno-demographic nature? Does Russian interest in a privileged partnership harm or benefit Ukraine? Without underestimating existing difficulties, security risks and the sheer opportunism of the elites, this paper argues that the Ukrainian-Russian partnership is indeed of special importance for both countries, and is not reducible to a zero-sum game of the Realist school of international relations. Deep structural interdependence is detected in the areas of security and defence, trade and economy. While this level of interdependence does not preclude conflicts of interests, they have been successfully submerged or managed until now. On the other hand, conflict appears less manageable in the realm of international politics of identity, as demonstrated by Ukraine's linguistic policies, which harm the cultural interests of its Russian minorities and cause substantial apprehension in Moscow. Hence, Ukrainian-Russian relations are less amicable than both countries' publics are often made to believe. However, it is equally erroneous to represent them as inevitably fraught with hostility.