At a Ukrainian lunch on Feb. 16 at Munich Security Conference, politicians and experts discussed the major problems that the country is facing, as well as the prospects and preconditions for Ukraine’s success in the future. The Victor Pinchuk Foundation co-organized the event on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.
The topic of holding free and fair presidential, parliamentary and local elections in 2019 dominated the discussions, starting with welcoming words given by the Ukrainian philanthropic industrialist Victor Pinchuk through to the closing remarks by Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin.
Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid opened the discussion with a speech on Ukraine’s progress in the last four years, as well as the need to achieve more to strengthen its democracy.
Kaljulaid called on her European colleagues to stand for Ukraine by not recognizing Russia’s annexation of Crimea or occupation in the eastern Donbas. She also called for all possible support to be granted to Ukraine, including diplomatic help for ending Russia’s war. Kaljulaid admitted that, in the end, it was up to Ukraine and Russia to broker a sustainable peaceful resolution to the war raging between the two countries.
Ukrainian presidential candidates Yulia Tymoshenko and Anatroliy Grytsenko came to speak.
Tymoshenko chose to concentrate on Ukraine’s economic and demographic problems with low investment and gross domestic product below 2013. As hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians leave the nation for good, Tymoshenko promised to bring Ukraine “from chaos to order within half a year” of being elected president.
Grytsenko concentrated on Ukrainian and global security. He stressed that Ukraine, with decades of experience in United Nations peacekeeping operations, “was not a beggar for security, but a contributor to it.” However, Ukraine can not stand against Russia alone. Grytsenko stressed the need for collective effort towards “suppressing Russia for military aggression (against Ukraine).” He also said that he saw “the Russian Federation as the biggest threat for peace in the world.”
The Ukrainian lunch ended with a panel discussion involving Kaljulaid, Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, Klimkin, and U.S. special representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker.
Volker stressed that in the current presidential campaign Ukraine was witnessing nothing but “real fight just to get votes.” He warned against simple decisions on complex issues like cooperation of Ukraine with the IMF and state regulation of gas prices. Walker expressed his conviction that “clean, free and fair elections” were of paramount importance for the country at this stage.
Klimkin saw two areas for Ukraine to concentrate on. The first one was the Russian challenge, which could not be resolved by any conventional methods: “Dealing with Russia on the Russian terms will (get you) thrown out of the window immediately.” However, Klimkin admitted that some of Ukraine’s problems were deeply endemic: “Corruption is not Putin’s weapon, but Ukraine’s failure.”
Kaljulaid admitted that the so called “Ukraine fatigue” was a reality in the EU political class. So, she called on the future Ukrainian president and parliament to act decisively in concert for the country’s benefit. This task was daunting for any politician: “Very often we get it (need for quick action), but nobody is able to deliver.”
Freeland praised Ukraine’s robust and vibrant civil society, but also pressed for the West “to help Ukraine run free and fair elections.”
