Yevgeny Magda
The
Ukraine-EU summit was marked by political statements of European Union leaders
but not by a long-awaited visa liberalization for Ukraine.
Prosecutor General
Yuriy Lutsenko tried to build bridges with the International Criminal Court in
the Hague. The Kremlin has rather expectedly made its yet another
"Yanukovych move".
The European Union will try to grant Ukraine a
visa-free regime in the near future. Such a conclusion can be drawn from public
statements by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and European
Council President Donald Tusk at the Ukraine-EU summit. It was clear that the
precise date of the introduction a visa waiver will not be voiced but Juncker’s
calls to make a decision before the end of the year, as well as Tusk’s
confirmation of the fact that Ukraine had met all the necessary requirements to
obtain a “visa lib” sounded loud enough.
However, there was also a hustle around the issue of
round timber, causing outrage in UAnet. It should be reminded that the
Carpathians have been “getting bald” lately despite the moratorium on timber
exports introduced earlier. So the point here is not about the European
interest and a EUR 600 million aid package promised in exchange for lifting the
moratorium – it’s about Ukrainian violators and chronic mismanagement, because
after all, forest resources are in fact renewable.
At the same time, the EU has allocated more than EUR
100 million for Ukraine on increasing salaries of officials, which gives a
timid hope of attracting quality staff to the public service.
Interestingly, Ukraine and the EU renewed their
memorandum of understanding and cooperation in the energy sector, which
recognized Ukraine as a strategic gas transit state to the European Union on
the eve of the anniversary of Naftogaz of Ukraine’s refusal to buy gas from
Russian Gazprom.
Of course, rapprochement with the EU in this area
should take into account the Ukrainian interests as well, in particular, in
terms of exploitation of OPAL gas pipeline and the possible construction of
Nord Stream-2.
Ukrainian visa-free expectations were brilliantly
exploited by Prime Minister of Hungary Victor Orban. On the day of the
Ukraine-EU summit, he met with Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman and
announced the cancellation of fees for the Ukrainians who obtain Hungarian
national visas. Orban has shown its fellow citizens the ability to distance
himself from the policies of Brussels and reminded about Hungary as a center of
attraction for some Ukrainians.
The European Parliament’s Resolution on countering
Russian and Islamist propaganda is something worth noting, indeed. The European
politicians showed they are aware of not also the Russian propaganda but also
Moscow's support of various political projects in the EU.
For Ukraine, the EP resolution makes it possible to
translate to its partners more actively a unique experience in combating hybrid
aggression. Yuriy Lutsenko, visited the Hague, where he handed over to the
International Criminal Court materials on Russian aggression against Ukraine.
It should be reminded that relations between Ukraine
and the ICC are quite complex: the Verkhovna Rada did not dare to ratify the
Rome Statute, at the same time giving the ICC the right to investigate events
of the EuroMaidan indefinitely. After the statement voiced in a report by ICC
Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda stating that the annexation of the Crimea is, in
fact, a military conflict, the Ukrainian government and the public cheered up
considerably.
But it shouldn’t be forgotten that the Ukrainian law
enforcers need to objectively prove the criminal intent of Viktor Yanukovych
and his Russian curators, who had established control over Ukraine during his
presidency, in order to tie together the EuroMaidan events, the annexation of
Crimea, and the unfolding of the Donbas conflict. The task is difficult, but
solvable.
Meanwhile, Viktor Yanukovych played an already
familiar role of the Kremlin puppet. Interrogation of the ousted ex-president
of Ukraine via Skype was not held Friday, and he decided to compensate for this
fact with holding a press conference in Rostov-on-Don.
There Viktor Yanukovych reiterated an updated set of
theses, first tested on public when he still claimed a status of
"legitimate" president, not adding anything new. His speech should be
viewed in conjunction with a number of events: the ransacking by a group of
thugs of Russia’s Sberbank subsidiary branch office in Kyiv on the Day of
Dignity and Freedom and a statement by Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church
Kyrill that the ROC will never allow Ukraine to create its own local Orthodox
church. The Kremlin uses all means possible to ultimately discredit in the eyes
of world.
Another interesting point was a hysterical comment of
the Press and Information Department on readiness of Croatian Prime Minister
Andrej Plenkovic to establish a working group to assist Ukraine in peaceful
reintegration.
The Kremlin after the failure of the attempted coup in
Montenegro is experiencing phantom pains of the past glory in the Balkans,
besides trying to set off its own non-constructive position on the
establishment of a road map of settlement in the Balkans.
At the same time, Ukraine should not count on any
serious diplomatic breakthrough at a Normandy Four meeting scheduled for next
week.
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