Photos and reports of loads of Russian
ammunition and weapons detained by Ukrainian border guards have
become your typical morning news. Thus providing Russian medication
to treat wounds caused by Russian guns in Ukraine is a dubious
goodwill gesture.
However, our Russian counterparts
insist they will bring the aid anyway – a claim which could be
regarded as a smuggling intention.
This wordplay between the two
foreign ministries is definitely not what efficient international
diplomacy is about. The whole world is now watching how Russian
officials are trying to keep a straight face in a very foul game.
It looks like Russian diplomacy has been reduced to a branch of
Russia Today TV channel. Kremlin keeps generating emotional
statements and inventing news opportunities to back Russian
aggression.
Using every talking head available,
Kremlin is calling on Ukraine to stop the ongoing Anti-Terrorist
Operation (ATO), designed to clear the east of the country of
separatists and – especially Russia’s insurgents. But Russia keeps
dropping hints that ATO is an obstacle to recognition of the May 25
presidential election, which brought Petro Poroshenko to power with
overwhelming support of the country’s voters.
So, five days since elections, there
has been no official recognition yet. Obviously, the Russian
Federation doesn’t have legal grounds to question elections
legitimacy. And though on May 29, Russian permanent representative to
the OSCE misstated that two regions ‘boycotted’ the elections and
mentioned ‘possible’ violations like ballot stuffing he learned
from mass media (as there were no official Russian observers in
Ukraine), it is clear that the true reason is different. It’s the
political reasoning Russia is heavily exploiting.
The massive anti-ATO information
campaign Kremlin has launched these days, with an avalanche of
doubletalk and fake news, signals one thing – this is Russia’s
last chance to try shifting the balance of international public
opinion. Without any moral grounds for it, but with extensive
resources – exactly the Kremlin’s way of doing it.
Against this slander, Ukraine needs to
stay strong and united with our international partners and opinion
leaders, calling a cat a cat, and a terrorist – a terrorist. The
wikipedia definition of terrorism as violent acts that are intended
to create fear (terror); which are perpetrated for a religious,
political, or ideological goal and deliberately target or disregard
the safety of non-combatants e.g., military personnel in peacetime or
civilians – accurately describes what we’re witnessing in Donbas.
This is why I see no excuse for honey
words towards criminals. Doubletalk is not a notion of diplomacy. It
is a notion of double standards.
Andrii Deshchytsia is acting foreign minister of Ukraine.
