Denmark’ support for Ukrainian statehood goes back nearly a century. The small Scandinavian state was in 1918 one of a handful of countries to recognize the short-lived Ukrainian People’s Republic.
That earlier attempt was snuffed out by Soviet Russia in 1922 and, in the face of the Kremlin’s war against Ukraine since 2014, the Danes are once again standing by Ukraine and backing European Union sanctions against Russia.
Denmark’s relationship with Moscow has soured with thinly veiled military threats against Danes, including Russian flights into Danish air space and coastal waters several times. In 2015 Russia threatened to aim nuclear missiles at Danish warships after it said it would contribute radar capacity of some of its ships to NATO’s missile shield.
Russia has also staged provocative military training operations, as Economist editor and regional expert Edward Lucas noted in his report on Baltic Sea security published by the Center for European Policy Analysis:
“In June 2014, Russia mounted a dummy attack, using planes armed with live missiles, on the Danish island of Bornholm just as 90,000 guests—in effect the country’s entire political elite—were visiting the island for the Folkemodet public policy festival. Had the attack actually taken place, Denmark would have been decapitated,” Lucas wrote.
But while continuing to be supportive, Danes working in Ukraine, like many others from the country’s Western partners, feel let down by the political scandals in the country over the last few months.
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Denmark, Christian Dons Christensen (L) speaks with the Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko on Sept. 17 in Kyiv. (Mikhail Palinchak)
In the latest row, Ukraine’s Economy Minister Aivaras Abromavicius, a well-respected former Lithuanian banker, resigned on Feb. 3, accusing Ihor Kononenko, a lawmaker and close associate of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, of corruption.
Hanne Severinsen, a former Danish member of parliament, voiced the disappointment of Ukraine’s friends in Europe over this and other scandals in a Skype interview with the Kyiv Post on Feb. 8.
“A minister saying it so plainly. We can see that the suspicion seems to be right, and for me, having had hope for reforms for 21 years now, I’m not surprised and shocked, but I am disappointed,” Severinsen said. “Old patterns come back. And I know it very well because I have been tied to Ukraine’s reforms before and every time I have been optimistic.”
In 1995, Severinsen worked for the Council of Europe during Ukraine’s accession to the body: “In fact when I read the paper I wrote at that time, over 20 years ago, I warned about the legislation, the rule of law, and I warned about the general prosecutor, which had to be changed. It’s still the same problem,” she said. “To get rid of corruption there should not be this concentration of power in the presidential office together with the prosecutor’s office.”
Since the EuroMaidan Revolution, the Danes have been trying to pass on their knowledge.
In 2014, former Danish Foreign Minister Martin Lidegaard visited Ukraine four times and kicked off a joint initiative, the Ukrainian-Danish Energy Center, including a donation of 2 million euros. Denmark knows what it’s talking about in becoming energy independent. It was 99 percent dependent on foreign oil as recently as 40 years ago.
After the Arab oil embargo of the 1970s, the government invested heavily in renewable energy, domestic energy production and energy efficiency.
Now Denmark is one of Europe’s biggest energy exporters and one of the most energy-efficient countries in the world.
Anders H. Kristen, a Danish government energy expert, is head of the joint initiative to help Ukraine become energy independent.
As for support for Ukraine becoming an EU member, Denmark is unlikely to have such an individual stance, says Ask Foldspang Neve, a political scientist and a Ph.D. scholar in sociology at the University of Oxford. The centrist liberals in the Danish parliament, who supported the inclusion of the Baltic states and Poland in the EU and NATO, are likely to be “less keen” on expanding membership. One reason is the backsliding on democracy in such EU nations as Hungary and Poland, according to Foldspang Neve.
Foldspang Neve the biggest lesson Ukraine can take from Denmark is a change of attitude.
“Denmark has a highly egalitarian culture, where showing off prestige and wealth are frowned upon; my impression is that displays of wealth and power are much more accepted in Ukraine. If that were to change, it might also become less accepted for elites to behave with little regard for the law,” Foldspang Neve said.
