The “Security in Eastern Europe” panel discussion can be watched in its entirety here.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko used his time at the Munich Security Conference to rally the international community for stronger unified actions against Russia on Feb. 16.
In a meeting the same day, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence told Poroshenko that the United States strongly supports Ukraine. “We’re with you, and we stand with you,” Pence said. Pence said Russia’s attacks on Ukraine in the Kerch Strait are a “reminder of the challenges that Ukraine faces from Russian aggression.”
Joining Poroshenko in the security discussion was Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, Organization for Security and Cooperation Secretary General Thomas Greminger and European Parliament member Manfred Weber. Ian Bremmer, president and founder of the Eurasia Group, moderated the talk.
Poroshenko concentrated on Ukraine’s right to defend its borders and sovereignty, explaining that “if Russia stops shooting, it will be peace. If Ukraine stops shooting, there will be no Ukraine,” in the five-year-old war that his killed more than 13,000 people, including 2,925 soldiers; dismembered 7 percent of Ukrainian territory; and displaced more than 1.5 million people.
“If we stop defending freedom and democracy, we will kneel in front of the aggressor,” Poroshenko said. He said that Ukraine is NATO’s eastern flank, and that Ukrainians are fighting for everyone’s freedom. “If we do not have unity and solidarity, the aggressor can go significantly further,” he said.
He said that Russia justified its November attacks on Ukrainian vessels in international Black Sea waters by saying it was protecting the Kerch Strait Bridge. He said that, in the future, Russia could justify attacks in the Baltic Sea by saying it is protecting the Nord Stream 2 pipeline under construction to connect Russia and Germany. Poroshenko wants Western action in stopping the pipeline, but Russia and Germany are determined to complete it by 2020. Its capacity, combined with an earlier Nord Stream 1 line, will allow the transportation of 110 billion cubic meters of gas bypassing Ukraine’s transit pipelines.
Poroshenko expressed only satisfaction with the level of U.S. support. He said that U.S. President Donald J. Trump’s decision to supply Ukraine with Javelin anti-tank missiles has already reduced the willingness of Russian tank commanders to risk shelling the Ukrainian side from the war front.
He said the United Nations Security Council, with Russia having a permanent veto, “is simply not working,” but offered not replacement idea. He said that Ukraine is committed to joining the NATO military alliance because neutrality didn’t save it from Russia’s invasion.
Despite Russia’s war, Poroshenko expressed pride that Ukraine has undertaken “the deepest reform in the history of Ukraine.”
OSCE’s Gremminger said that his organization offered an exclusive platform for security dialogue and cooperation, including de-escalation of Russia’s war through the Minsk agreement and an ongoing observation mission in Ukraine’s war zone.
Georgia’s Bakhtadze echoed Poroshenko’s statements urging unity in countering “Russian aggression to Georgia and Ukraine.” He noted that, despite a cease-fire agreement to end Russia’s war against Georgia, more than a decade later the Kremlin is occupying 20 percent of Georgian territory — the provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. While the hot war has long ended, he said Russia continues its aggression in other ways. His nation wants to join NATO and the European Union not only for security reasons, but as “a civilizational choice.”
Croatia’s Plenkovic noted that his country had occupied territories in the 1990s, but finally the diplomatic path led to their reintegration.
Daria Kaleniuk, executive director of the Anti-Corruption Action Center, asked Poroshenko about the low level of foreign direct investment and pressure on business from law enforcement agencies. Poroshenko cited the European Business Association, a 1,000-member organization, that the business climate has significantly improved.
When asked by Bremmer, the moderator, if he is going to win re-election, Poroshenko took another shot at the Russian Federation, which has no free elections under the dictatorship of Vladimir Putin. “I am president of a free and democratic Ukraine,” Poroshenko said. “Nobody knows who will win in Ukraine.” But he allowed: “I am confident that I will have great results.”
