University gives Rice warm welcome

KIEV — Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice could not have asked for a better reception when she met yesterday with students from Taras Shevchenko National University, Ukraine’s oldest institute of higher learning.

During the hour-long meeting, Miss Rice drew applause and laughter — and even convinced some skeptical students that she is not as tough as her international image suggests.

“Before, I saw her as an aggressive politician,” said Sevil Musaeva, an 18-year-old journalism student who asked the secretary about Washington’s stand on the Kyoto environmental treaty. “I see her better now. I see she had a difficult childhood, and even with that, she became secretary of state.”

Miss Rice’s overriding message to the students was that Ukraine’s “Orange Revolution,” which swept President Viktor Yushchenko into power last year after a falsified vote, was only the beginning. It was now up to Ukrainians to secure democracy.

“It really now is up to you. Ukraine has won its democracy the hard way — you won it in the streets,” she said.

Miss Rice responded in the affirmative when asked about the most important issues to official Kiev. Miss Rice said Washington would support Ukraine’s bid to join the European Union, the World Trade Organization and NATO, once conditions were met. She said the Bush administration even understood the political necessity of Mr. Yushchenko’s pulling Ukrainian troops out of Iraq. The war has been unpopular in the former Soviet republic. The important thing was that Kiev still wanted to stay engaged, including by training civil forces, she said.

Asked whether she planned to run for president, she said she never wanted to run for office.

“I like what I’m doing,” she told students, who applauded wildly when asked about a possible Rice presidency.

It was, however, stories of the secretary’s childhood in the segregated South and in a less democratic America, and her rise to power that resonated most with the students.

Miss Rice said her parents had taught her to see obstacles as challenges. She recalled how after her second year as a music major, she realized other pianists were more talented than she. In her junior year, she took a class with Josef Korbel, who happened to be the father of one of Miss Rice’s predecessors, Madeleine Albright. After that, her passion became the Soviet Union.

“Find what you’re interested in,” the secretary told the students and encouraged young women to follow their dreams.

Miss Rice smiled broadly when one student asked her how she felt about being dubbed the “warrior princess.” Her description of caricatures of herself dressed in black Matrix and Wonder Woman outfits drew laughter from the audience.

The secretary’s visit to Ukraine was meant, in part, to support Mr. Yushchenko, whose popularity has declined in recent months because of economic and political ills that continue to plague the nation. The president and his allies face a critical parliamentary election in March. Polls show Mr. Yushchenko’s opponents are gaining ground.