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Ukraine: Bush in Kyiv; NATO Aspirations

Categories: Eastern & Central Europe, Ukraine, Governance, History, International Relations, Politics, Protest

Taras of Ukrainiana posts a comprehensive overview of George W. Bush's visit to Ukraine [1], complete with photos and video of the anti-NATO protest that took place in Kyiv. The issue of NATO featured prominently not only on the local level: “What followed was an otherwise boring press conference, except for one question that injected intrigue into the canned atmosphere. A Western reporter asked President Bush whether getting Russia to agree to missile defense deployments involved a certain trade-off — the soft-pedaling of Ukraine’s NATO aspirations. Bush replied that he will seek MAP for Ukraine, but the weight of the question did sink in.”