The international media are eagerly commenting...
as political winds change.Still, there are several facts that cannot be changed. For example, making Sevastopol NATO"s Black Sea base is an absurd and dangerous idea, fraught with conflicts, misunderstandings and grudges. Neither would the Antonov aircraft design bureau, which was set up in the 1930s as a Moscow service centre for hang-gliders, fit into the alliance"s structure. These are the facts that neither Leonid Kravchuk, nor Leonid Kuchma nor Viktor Yushchenko could change, and Yanukovych is unlikely to have more luck.
Ukraine"s integration in the EU is a more complicated matter. All the previous Ukrainian governments viewed this integration as higher priority than integration with other post-Soviet states. Therefore, the post of a European integration minister was established in Ukraine, whereas it does not have a minister responsible for the development of a common economic space with Russia and other CIS countries (primarily Belarus and Kazakhstan).