Complexities and prospects euro-atlantic policy L. D. Kuchma

Abstract

The article examines the Euro-Atlantic direction of Ukraine's foreign policy during Leonid Kuchma's tenure as President of Ukraine (1994-2004) and the peculiarities of the foreign policy "multi-vector". The historiography and the source base of the article are analyzed. The author of the article examines the evolution of foreign policy of L.D. Kuchma on the Euro-Atlantic direction. A brief analysis of the priorities of Leonid Kuchma's foreign policy is made. The author emphasizes on those cautious steps in foreign policy that Leonid Kuchma took to preserve Ukraine's sovereignty while maneuvering between such centers of geopolitical gravity as Russia, the EU and the United States of America. The influence of international factors on the process of Ukrainian state-building was noted, the main problems and peculiarities of Ukraine's becoming a subject of international relations were analyzed. In the article the author expresses his own belief that the personality of Leonid Kuchma played a significant role both in the achievements of Ukrainian diplomacy on the path of Euro-Atlantic integration and in failures along the way. Analyzing Leonid Kuchma's Euro-Atlantic strategy, the author concludes that even profile experts, especially those who criticize Kuchma's actions, do not fully understand the position of international partners, in particular, the economic and political pressure exerted by the governments of the United States of America., The European Union and the Russian Federation for the activities of the second President of Ukraine, and the existence of political arrangements, which have been reported recently in open sources, are not always taken into account. These factors were taken into account by the author of the article. It is argued that multi-vector politics have become a landmark in Ukrainian history. Studying this aspect of Ukraine's foreign policy will be useful and interesting for a wide range of specialists, a source for understanding the root causes of many contemporary problems in Ukraine.