Yuschenko looks west

Ukraine’s President Viktor Yushchenko made his first trip to the West since his inauguration today, visiting Europe’s top human rights body as he seeks recognition of the former Soviet republic’s right to join the EU and other Western institutions.

Yushchenko was expected to tell members of the 46 nation Council of Europe that he is serious about carrying out democratic and economic reforms to bring Ukraine up to Western standards.

His turn west follows his first foreign trip on Monday to Moscow, to smooth relations with President Vladimir Putin and counter Russian fears he was about to take his country out of Moscow’s sphere of influence.

However, on his inauguration day Sunday, Yushchenko make clear his aim to shift Ukraine’s focus. “Our place is in the European Union,” he told tens of thousands of supporters in Kiev.

In Strasbourg, Yushchenko was to meet Terry Davis, secretary general of the Council of Europe, which Ukraine joined in 1995, and judges at the European Court of Human Rights.

Ukraine is strategically important to Moscow, which sees the country as a buffer zone between Russia and the expanded EU and Nato, as well as a major transit route for its oil and gas exports.

Yushchenko’s decision to follow up his visit to Moscow with the trip to Strasbourg and a scheduled address to the European Parliament in Brussels on Thursday is seen as the start of a delicate balancing act that he will have to follow in the years ahead.

Ukraine remains heavily dependent on Russian trade and energy supplies. The EU and Nato are keen not to upset relations with Moscow, and have taken a cautious approach to Ukrainian calls for membership.

Poland, which joined the EU in May along with nine other new members, is eager to get neighbour Ukraine on the membership track. But with Turkey and several Balkan nations already seeking to join the EU, many in the Union are concerned that expansion is getting out of hand.

So far, the EU has stopped short of offering Ukraine membership, seeking instead to develop closer economic and political ties through a “neighbourhood policy.” However Yushchenko’s victory adds to pressure on European governments to answer appeals that Ukraine be considered for membership.

EU foreign ministers are expected to review relations with Ukraine at a meeting in Brussels next week.