US Vice President visits Russia’s neighbors
20 July, 2009, 19:37
US Vice President Joseph Biden has arrived in Kiev on a three-day working visit. Talks with the Ukrainian leadership and top politicians are on the agenda. He then heads to Tbilisi for talks with Georgia’s President.
On Tuesday, Biden is set to meet with President Viktor Yushchenko. Together the two officials are expected to pay a visit to the memorial site of the Holodomor famine and lay flowers for the victims of the 1932-1933 tragedy.
Later the same day, the US Vice President is to meet with Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko and Parliamentary Speaker Vladimir Litvyn. Talks with the leader of opposition faction, Party of Regions, Viktor Yanukovich, and prospective presidential candidate Arseny Yatsenyuk, are also on the agenda.
On the last day of his Ukrainian visit, Biden is expected to devote his time to talks with Ukrainian businessmen and NGO representatives.
The White House confirmed that during his visit, Mr. Biden will discuss US Secretary-of-State Hillary Clinton's visit to Ukraine, as well as the possibility of a meeting between Presidents Obama and Yushchenko.
While visiting Georgia, the U.S. Vice President is believed to be more focused on global politics rather than talking about the country’s internal problems. The visit can be seen as support from Washington, suggests Georgia’s Foreign Ministry.
“It’s a logical continuation of the new U.S. administration's support for the Georgian government's domestic and foreign policy," Georgian deputy foreign minister David Djalagania said on Monday.
Meanwhile, Georgia’s opposition still plans to seek Biden’s attention to the internal situation in the country. Nino Burdzhanadze, the leader of the opposition party “Democratic movement – United Georgia”, has been meeting with leading American politicians in the U.S. over the past few days, reports Russia’s Interfax news agency. Burdzhanadze has also met with Congressman Howard Berman, Chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee. Berman promised to hand over all information to Biden that the Georgian opposition leader has provided before the Vice President arrives in Tbilisi.
In both countries, the U.S. Vice President is expected to give speeches. In Ukraine he will speak at the American Chamber of Commerce and in Tbilisi Biden is expected to address the parliament.
Read also Russia and China Hold Peace Mission Drills to Show USA Its Place
The U.S. Vice President’s visit to Ukraine and Georgia gives mixed signals to Russia. However, president’s Obama’s personal visit to Moscow shows that relations with Russia are the top priority.
That is according to political analyst Ivan Eland of the Independent Institute, who was speaking to RT’s Alyona Minkovsky.
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