Bush Faces Wave of Strong Doubts in Ukraine Visit : Republics: Independence-minded leaders accuse U.S. of ignoring democratic forces by catering to Gorbachev.

When President Bush travels here today, he will leave Moscow behind in more ways than one. While his Soviet counterpart, Mikhail S. Gorbachev, welcomed the American President as a desperately needed ally, some leaders in independence-minded Ukraine have strong doubts.

Indeed, although the main streets in Kiev were dressed up Wednesday with lights and banners in English welcoming President and Barbara Bush, some nationalist leaders accused Bush of ignoring democratic forces in the Soviet republics to cater to Gorbachev.

“Once he became President, Bush seemed to have become hypnotized by Gorbachev,” declared Ivan Drach, head of Rukh, a loose coalition of 12 political parties struggling for an independent, democratic Ukraine. “Bush has consistently snubbed the democratic movements in the republics.”

Such grumbling by opposition leaders reflects the difficulty that Bush faces in visiting the capital of the Ukraine without entangling himself in the Soviet Union’s internal politics.

“Bush is not only not helping nationalist democratic forces--he is trying to put the brakes on them,” said Levko Lukianenko, a former political prisoner who heads the radical Ukrainian Republican Party. “It seems to me that the American President is willing to go along with the death of the democratic ideal in the name of stability.”

Drach even accused the White House of reneging on a commitment:

“We were promised by the American Consulate that Bush would meet with us, but then we learned from Washington that Bush had decided not to,” he said in an interview. “I find it ironic that Bush will meet almost exclusively with members of the Bolshevik system that has dehumanized the people of the Ukraine.”

Nationalist leaders said Bush’s refusal to meet with them reinforced their impression that the current U.S. Administration is working against pro-independence movements in the Soviet Union.

In choosing the Ukraine as the one place to visit outside Moscow, Bush was trying to pick a destination that would not offend the Kremlin unduly--as traveling to one of the pro-independence Baltic states or a war-torn republic in the southern Soviet Union might have done.

But the Ukraine is also emerging as a politically controversial republic. It was primarily the Ukraine that snagged Gorbachev’s Union Treaty, his plan for reconstituting the Soviet Union as a federation.

The Ukrainian Parliament is split over whether to sign the agreement and has put off all discussion until the autumn, delaying Gorbachev’s plans for a quick resolution for at least three months. Radicals say the Ukraine will never sign the Union Treaty as it stands now, preferring full independence for a state that is the size of France.

Vyacheslav Chornovil, chairman of the Lvov regional government and one of the most prominent radicals in the republic’s leadership, accused Bush on Wednesday of being no more than a messenger for the Kremlin.

“We have no reason to be satisfied by the appearance in our republic first of (German Chancellor Helmut) Kohl and now of Bush,” said Chornovil, who has met with President Ronald Reagan in Moscow and California. “They come to quiet us down and persuade us to sign the Union Treaty, which is so needed by the West.”

Despite the political situation in Kiev, Bush is sure to get an overwhelming welcome from the republic’s top officials.

“The very fact that the President of such a great nation as the United States of America will appear in our legislature and meet with a large audience indicates the United States welcomes a new kind of relationship with us,” Ivan Plyushch, first deputy chairman of the Ukrainian legislature, said in an interview.

“Bush’s visit to the Ukraine signals that the United States is ready to deal directly with the Ukraine and not only through Moscow as in the past.”

The only opportunity that nationalist radicals will have to challenge Bush will be during a lunch, at which five opposition leaders will be among about 40 lawmakers who have been invited.

If given the chance, Drach might be tempted to remind Bush at the lunch of something he said before he was elected President. In a 1982 speech to Ukrainians in Rochester, N.Y., Bush deplored the occupation of the Ukraine, according to Drach, and ended his speech with the Ukrainian nationalist slogan, “Shche ne vmerla Ukraina!”-- “The Ukraine still lives!”

But Drach said that all the republics that want independence from the Soviet Union--the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, the southern republics of Armenia and Georgia--have been given the silent treatment by the White House. Even Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin was long considered an outsider by Washington, Drach noted.

“It has taken extraordinary pressure before he has been willing to meet anyone in opposition to his friend Gorbachev,” Drach added.

Their criticism notwithstanding, the Ukrainian nationalists said they hope Bush’s visit will show him that the Ukrainian people deserve support in their quest for independence.

“During a century of subjugation by the Russian empire, the Ukraine was subjected to barbarian exploitation aimed at the spiritual and cultural exploitation of the population,” Lukianenko said. “In the Soviet empire, it has been genocide, ethnocide and ecocide, with millions physically eliminated, repressed or exiled to Siberia. . . . Do we then need a greater historical reason for our desire for independence?”

The Ukraine at a Glance

History: Cossacks became a powerful force in the 1500s. They later served as soldiers for Russia, which dominated the region after 1667. Ukrainian Republic was formed on Dec. 25, 1917, and joined the Soviet Union on Dec. 30, 1922. It was expanded in World War II and in 1954, when the Crimea was added. It is a member of the United Nations in its own right.

Population: Of the 51.7 million inhabitants, 36.5 million are Ukrainians and 10.5 million are Russians. Other major groups include Byelorussians and Moldovans.

Industry: It is home of the Donets coal fields. Also contains oil, deposits of salt and important chemicals.

Leadership: Leonid M. Kravchuk is chairman of Parliament. Presidential election is scheduled Dec. 1

Today’s Schedule (Moscow time, 10 hours ahead of PDT)

9:15 a.m.: Bush meets with American Embassy community.

10 a.m.: Departure ceremony, St. George’s Hall, Kremlin.

11 a.m.: Bush leaves Moscow for Kiev.

12:50 p.m.: Bush arrives in Kiev.

1:45 p.m.: Luncheon meeting with Ukrainian leaders at Mariinsky Palace.

3:45 p.m.: Bush addresses Ukrainian Parliament.

4:30 p.m.: Tour of St. Sophia Cathedral.

5 p.m.: Ceremony at Babi Yar memorial.

6:30 p.m.: Bush departs from Kiev airport.

9:50 p.m. EDT: Arrives at White House.

Source: Associated Press