The interview came after the magazine Foreign Policy reported that the Trump Administration is considering a proposed project stipulating a reduction in overall foreign financial assistance in fiscal year 2018, including a significant cut in aid to Ukraine.
The news outlet quoted the State Department budget document as saying that Ukraine is facing a 68.8 percent reduction in the US financial aid, which had been allocated to it to revive its economy and implement reforms.
#EU tells Ukraine their energy sector is about to collapse
— Atlantic Monitor (@Marko_Obdam) 12 апреля 2017 г.
Kiev, Ukraine. The European Bank for Reconstruction an… https://t.co/UWynsEMrpT pic.twitter.com/VcCBpJ4xy7
Speaking to Sputnik, Alexey Bychkov of the Moscow-based Institute for Political Studies think tank said that such a significant cut in US financial assistance to Kiev indicates that Ukraine is already not among the current US Administration's top foreign policy priorities.
According to him, "there are more people in the current US administration who are interested in developing their own country rather than bolstering foreign policy guidelines that lead to confrontation with Russia."
US draft budget for 2018 cuts Ukraine aid by almost 70% https://t.co/vfT6pHHISJ
— Alexandru Cociorvei (@AlexandruC4) 25 апреля 2017 г.
"The United States was interested in Ukraine only from this point of view, namely, Washington saw Ukraine as an anti-Russian 'object' near the Russian border. But now it is already a relic of the past, with all the Ukrainian troubles, unfortunately, due to hit ordinary Ukrainians," Bychkov said.
In his opinion, Europe has also sidelined Ukraine in terms of its foreign policy priorities.
"Right now, Ukraine is on the sidelines of the interests of the EU, which is largely dependent on Washington. Without US funding, Ukraine is turning into a 'neo-colony' of the EU; namely, it [offers] cheap labor and black soil (agricultural land)," Bychkov said, citing attempts to sell this soil and sow rapeseed there.
Earlier, Russian political scientist Boris Shmelev told Sputnik that Europe is already tired of the endless Ukrainian crisis and Kiev's inconsistent position on the matter.
He recalled that the situation in Ukraine is expected to top the agenda of talks between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and senior Russian officials during her visit to Moscow in early May.
"Of course, it is too early to predict how these talks will wrap up but it's clear already now that Europeans are concerned about and tired of the Ukrainian crisis, which shows no signs of abating. During the talks, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko says one thing but under the influence of the [country’s] radical forces does quite the opposite," Shmelev said.
In February 2015, the Kiev forces and supporters of Donbass independence in eastern Ukraine signed a peace agreement in Minsk, the capital of neighboring Belarus.
Despite the agreement brokered by the Normandy Four states (Russia, France, Germany and Ukraine), the ceasefire regime is regularly violated, with both sides accusing each other of multiple breaches, undermining the terms of the accord.
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