Yanukovych Must keep Ukraine Democratic

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych must have returned to Kyiv a happy man. His visit to Washington is viewed by both American and Ukrainian officials as a success. Yanukovych even got praise from the editorial pages of the Washington Post – “A star at Obama’s nuclear summit,” was the title of the piece by Jackson Diehl -- for his announcement that Ukraine would abandon its stockpile of highly enriched uranium. Indeed, this announcement offered Obama the first concrete deliverable he could point to as some 40-plus leaders gathered in Washington for the nuclear security summit. That was smart politics on the Ukrainian side.

The very fact that Obama and Yanukovych met on the margins of the nuclear security summit – and the official word that there would be such a meeting didn’t come out of the White House until two days before – sends a very important signal that the U.S. intends to engage with the new Ukrainian leadership. It also sends an important signal to the International Monetary Fund to re-engage with Ukraine, to Brussels that the U.S. is prepared to do its part to help and so should the European Union and to Moscow that the “reset” policy with Russia will not come at the expense of relations with Ukraine. There is even talk of the possibility of a return trip to Washington before the end of the year for a more formal visit and meeting with Obama.