“Senator Dayton, thank you for coming to Kiev—you are most welcome,” Dovzhenko began as a small group of Ukrainian and American reporters and photographers recorded the moment.
“It’s an honor to be here, Mr. President, especially now,” Dayton said as the cameras clicked away.
“Your support for us in the U.S. Senate means a great deal to us, as does your willingness to come all this way to meet with me. The situation on our eastern border is growing critical, and we need faithful friends like yourself.”
“In such times as these, we need good leaders with great courage, do we not?” asked the senator.
“We do indeed.”
“The words of Sir Winston Churchill come to mind,” Dayton said, playing for the cameras. “‘The belief that security can be obtained by throwing a small state to the wolves is a fatal delusion.’”
“Hear, hear.”
“Mr. President,” Dayton continued, “I cannot account for why the White House isn’t doing more to stand with you, but I vow to do my best to push our president and my colleagues in the Senate to do as much as possible. This is why I’ve come.”
Dovzhenko bade the members of the press corps farewell, then led the senator and his aides through a side door to a book-lined study, where they were served tea. After some pleasantries, they quickly got to the heart of the matter.
“I’m hearing reports that some fifty thousand Russian troops are currently conducting exercises close to your territory,” Dayton said. “Is this accurate?”
“Unfortunately, no—the number is considerably higher,” Dovzhenko replied. “As of this morning, Luganov has amassed more than a hundred thousand men and more than a thousand battle tanks on our borders. Squadrons of bombers and fighter jets have been redeployed from the Asian theater to the military district immediately adjacent to us. And the number of Russian intrusions into our sovereign airspace has quadrupled in the past two weeks.”
“Have you talked directly to President Clarke about all this?”
“We spoke briefly when I congratulated him on his election,” Dovzhenko replied uncomfortably. “We spoke again last week for a bit longer. The president assured me he considers Ukrainian freedom a ‘major priority.’”
“Has he invited you to the White House?”
“Not yet.”
“But he’s promised to send more aid?”
“Yes, well, a bit—but ‘nonlethal assistance’ only, I’m afraid.”
“What about the heavy arms and ammunition you’ve been asking for?”
“Let’s just say the president was noncommittal,” said the Ukrainian leader. “I will tell you what I told him. We are not asking for American or NATO troops to shed a single drop of blood for us. We are ready to fight the Russians alone. But give us the means to defend ourselves with honor.” Dovzhenko leaned forward in his seat and lowered his voice. “Senator, I know you are familiar with the Budapest Memorandum, but how many other Americans are?”
“Very few, I’m afraid.”
“Then I ask you to educate them,” Dovzhenko said. “They need to understand that when the Soviet Union collapsed in December of 1991, we in Ukraine possessed almost two thousand nuclear warheads. At that time your president, along with the British prime minister, insisted that we turn these warheads over to Russia to be dismantled and destroyed. As you can understand, we were highly reluctant. Those weapons provided us a guarantee—perhaps our only guarantee—that we would never be reinvaded and reoccupied by the Russians. But Washington and London pushed us hard to give them up in return for so-called ‘security assurances’—including assurances that Moscow would respect our sovereignty and borders. On December 5, 1994, my predecessor signed the agreement in Budapest.”
Dovzhenko paused for effect.
“Senator, Ukraine kept its part of the deal. We gave up our nuclear weapons. All of them. But Moscow has broken its word. They have annexed Crimea. They have seized parts of our eastern territory. And they are preparing to come for the rest of us. They would never have done so if we were a nuclear-armed power. We are not, because your country and the British persuaded us to give up those weapons with the promise that you would never let us be threatened, much less invaded, by the Russians. Yet here we sit. Forgive my bluntness, but your president does nothing.”
“President Dovzhenko, this is a significant reason I am actively considering running for president myself,” said the senator. “I see what Luganov is up to. I want to strengthen NATO, and I want to help you—with arms, with intelligence, with whatever you need so you can defend yourselves, by yourselves.”
“This is all very well and good, Senator, and believe me, I and my people are grateful for your wisdom and your courage. But let us be frank. I will not get involved in your presidential campaign. I cannot afford to play partisan politics. Time is of the essence. I agreed to meet with you in hopes that you will take a personal message back to the president, back to Congress, and back to the American people. The Russian bear is awake, and he is hungry. He is on the prowl. Our very lives and freedoms are at risk. You made us promises. You must keep them. I implore you, sir—keep them now.”
53
EN ROUTE TO TALLINN, ESTONIA—21 SEPTEMBER
“Dovzhenko is right,” Dayton said after they lifted off from Kiev. “We need to figure out how to help him.”
“No, sir, he’s not right—not entirely,” Annie replied.
Marcus looked up from a text he was writing to Nick Vinetti in Moscow.
“What do you mean?” the senator asked. “The Ukrainians did give up their nukes in return for American and British security guarantees. Now they’re about to be overrun by the Russians, and the White House is AWOL.”
“It’s not that simple, sir.”
“Sure it is,” Pete interjected. “Look, this isn’t just a strategic issue. It’s a moral one. America doesn’t cut our allies loose. Yet that’s exactly what Clarke has done. And if you position yourself right, Senator, you can use this to show that Clarke has no idea what he’s doing when it comes to foreign policy.”
“Annie, Pete’s right,” Dayton said.
“No, sir, he’s not,” Annie pushed back firmly but respectfully.
“Why not?”
“For starters, Ukraine is not an ally,” she replied. “A friend? Yes. But an ally? No. Second, reread the Budapest Memorandum. There’s no question the Russians pledged to respect the territorial integrity of Ukraine, and there’s also no question that they have clearly and repeatedly broken that pledge. But nowhere in that document does the U.S. explicitly promise to go to war with Russia to defend Ukraine. Nor does it explicitly commit an American president to provide weapons and other war matériel to Ukraine if the agreement is violated. It’s not a treaty, and if it were, it never would have been ratified by the Senate—not in 1994 and certainly not now.”
“What are you saying?” Pete asked, becoming far more animated about this than Marcus would have imagined. “Are you suggesting Clarke is right to cut the Ukrainians loose to the likes of Aleksandr Luganov?”