The Foreign Service Journal, March 2020

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MARCH 2020 31 today. In a Nov. 27, 2019, interview with the Financial Times , the prosecutor general said he was “‘bothered’ by daily depic- tions of a lawless Ukraine in the U.S. impeachment inquiry. ‘This is not fair … Ukraine is not as corrupt as is being pre- sented there. …We have made significant progress as of late.’” It is in the clear interests of Ukraine and the United States that Ryaboshapka succeed. In fact, nothing will probably have a greater long-term impact on the development of Ukraine and its relations with Russia than building a strong and less corrupt economy. Although American policy toward Ukraine has remained consistent overall, there has been a constant drumbeat among critics who believe that the United States should be more realis- tic about Russia. Some American analysts argue that Washington should take the prospect of NATO membership off the table for Ukraine and Georgia, in exchange for a Russian withdrawal from the Donbas. Others recommend that Ukraine concede sover- eignty of Crimea to Russia in exchange for financial and other considerations for Ukraine. Critics of these approaches argue that they would, in effect, recognize Russia’s claim to a privileged sphere of influence in neighboring states. They argue that there is no guarantee that Russian behavior will change, and that Russia could very well continue to pursue its aggressive attempts to dominate the region. Others argue that the people of Ukraine (along with Georgia and other Central and Eastern European nations) will simply not accept Russian domination. They do not want to cede territory to Russia, or return to being a country without the inde- pendence and freedoms they have come to expect. Russian actions in Crimea and the Donbas in 2014 caused a sharp drop in the number of Ukrainians who had a positive attitude toward Russia.