Biden In Ukraine To Reassure On Russia 'Reset'

KIEV, Ukraine -- Vice President Joe Biden arrived here Monday on a mission to reassure Ukraine that US efforts to repair relations with Moscow will not come at the expense of support for Russia's ex-Soviet neighbours.

But while Biden's programmes in Ukraine and, later this week, in Georgia, provide ample opportunities to express US backing in word, his trip was not expected to spur much new support from Washington in deed, experts said.Biden was scheduled to hold talks Tuesday with Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and other political leaders before travelling Wednesday to Georgia to meet leaders there.Briefing journalists in Washington ahead of Biden's departure, one of his top aides summarized the message President Barack Obama's vice president was being sent to Russia's neighbours to deliver."Our efforts to reset relations with Russia will not come at the expense of any other country," said Tony Blinken, national security advisor to the vice president."We will continue to reject the notion of spheres of influence, and we will continue to stand by the principle that sovereign democracies have the right to make their own decisions and choose their own partnerships and alliances."Leaders in Kiev and Tbilisi are nervous that an improvement in US-Russian ties could translate into a rollback of Washington's aggressive past backing of their respective drives to move away from Moscow and integrate with the West.Russia has strenuously protested expansion of western influence and bedrock western institutions such as NATO into countries close to its borders and once part of the Soviet Union.Tensions also remain high since Russian troops in August 2008 pushed deep inside Georgia in a war over its breakaway regions, sparking new fears that Moscow would use force to assert its interest in the former satellite states.Obama spoke to such fears in a keynote speech in Moscow when he stressed his administration's "firm belief that Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity must be respected."Biden's two state visits are expected to drive home the message that the United States has not, and will not, abandon Ukraine and Georgia.But in its latest edition, the Ukrainian weekly Zerkalo Nedeli said that US interest in Ukraine has already sharply faded four years after a pro-Western coalition ousted the old Moscow-aligned elite in the 2004 Orange Revolution."In geopolitical terms, Ukraine remains a suitcase without a handle. It is too valuable to throw away but too cumbersome to carry" for the United States, the weekly commented ahead of Biden's visit."Times have changed, and the instruments of American 'influence' are minimal here."Biden will also use his visit to continue to press for more progress on democracy efforts inside both countries, according to Blinken, who said both nations face "the challenge of fulfilling the promise" of their revolutions.According to a source close the Ukrainian presidency, Kiev is hoping to secure a bilateral deal with the United States containing national security guarantees in connection with the expiry of the Cold War-era START nuclear disarmament treaty at the end of this year.Energy concerns will also be a topic of discussion in Kiev, where chronic disputes over gas prices with Moscow have interrupted European gas supplies, 80 percent of which are piped to Europe via Ukraine.Biden was scheduled to leave Ukraine on Wednesday for Georgia, where he was due to meet President Mikheil Saakashvili and deliver an address to the Georgian parliament.