You're reading: Ukrainian World Congress President Paul Grod on what diaspora expects from Zelenskiy

Paul Grod, who was elected president of the Ukrainian World Congress in November, told the Kyiv Post on May 19 that he hopes President-elect Volodymyr Zelenskiy will continue the path towards Euro-Atlantic integration and will protect Ukraine against Russian aggression.

The UWC, which is an umbrella organization for a number of regional organizations representing both Ukrainians living abroad and those of Ukrainian descent, has been a vocal supporter of Ukraine internationally. They say they represent the interests of 20 million Ukrainians living outside Ukraine globally.

According to Grod, Zelenskiy must have a definitive position towards Russia and its ongoing aggression against Ukraine and maintain the path towards Euro-Atlantic integration. Zelenskiy will be inaugurated as the sixth president of Ukraine on May 20.

“We see continuous efforts by many European leaders to lift sanctions against Russia, to incorporate Russia into the international structures and that’s why President Zelenskiy and his administration have to be very clear that they oppose that,” said Grod.

Grod stated that outgoing President Petro Poroshenko did a good job in rallying international support around Ukraine. Poroshenko received 54 percent of votes from the foreign constituencies during the second round of Ukrainian presidential elections which took place on April 21, while receiving less than 25 percent at home.

Ukrainians living abroad, according to Grod, assess Poroshenko based on his foreign affairs and defense policies, and from those two perspectives, Grod says Poroshenko was successful, in terms of the international support that was built and the sanctions that were implemented against Russia.

Grod acknowledges however that diaspora doesn’t live in Ukraine and thus doesn’t focus on economic issues, which are crucial for domestic voters.

Concerning the new president, Grod says that it’s a two-way street. The UWC will be doing everything it can to support Ukraine on the global stage, by promoting sanctions against Russia and by advocating the blocking of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which if built will decrease Ukraine’s role as a gas transit country causing substantial financial losses.

Another issue on which the UWC will work on is to keep Russia from rejoining international institutions including the Parliamentary Assembly for the Council of Europe, which is a statutory body of the Council of Europe and oversees human rights issues and democratic standards.

However, the congress expects cooperation from the new administration. Besides defense and maintaining a healthy relationship with the West, which is crucial for Ukraine, Grod hopes that Zelenskiy and his team would be open to allowing dual citizenship for diaspora members.

“We must establish a birth right, whether you are born in Ukraine or a fifth generation (Ukrainian) living abroad, you should feel connected to Ukraine,” says Grod.

Grod believes that diaspora can help reform Ukraine and drag the country out of the post-Soviet system. However there are currently too few diaspora members in government while the system of both obtaining and maintain Ukrainian citizenship is followed by vast bureaucratic and legal obstructions.

Adding to that is the requirement of renouncing all other citizenships that a person may have, which doesn’t sound appealing for those thinking about obtaining a Ukrainian passport.

“I would ask President Zelenskiy to work together with the (Ukrainian) World Congress to establish an appropriate framework to encourage diaspora to come back, to work in government, in business, in humanitarian work,” says Grod, adding that dual citizenship is need, due to the reality being that too few are ready to give up their primary citizenship, while having a desire to work in Ukraine.