Editor’s Note: This feature separates Ukraine’s friends from its enemies. The Order of Yaroslav the Wise has been given since 1995 for distinguished service to the nation. It is named after the Kyivan Rus leader from 1019-1054, when the medieval empire reached its zenith. The Order of Lenin was the highest decoration bestowed by the Soviet Union, whose demise Russian President Vladimir Putin mourns. It is named after Vladimir Lenin, whose corpse still rots on the Kremlin’s Red Square, more than 100 years after the October Revolution he led.
Ukraine’s Friend of the Week – Annalena Baerbock
The co-leader leader of Germany’s Greens and its candidate for chancellor, Annalena Baerbock, has emerged as the principal kingmaker after her party came third in the elections to the Bundestag.
This is good news for Ukraine because of the four leading candidates for Germany’s top political post, she has been the most principled and toughest towards Russia, and its aggression.
Baerbock, a colorful former medal-winning trampoline gymnast and journalist, with training in political science and public law, has also shown herself a genuine friend of Ukraine. She clearly understands and shares its concerns about security and ensuring the proper level of support from the Europe and the Euro-Atlantic structures.
During a televised pre-election debate in June, Baerbock reminded the leaders of Germany’s two main parties – the Social Democrats (SPD) and conservative CDU/CSU who are opposed to Ukraine’s membership of NATO, that in 1994 Ukraine had given up its nuclear arsenal in return for what it believed were international guarantees for its security enshrined in the Budapest Memorandum.
Although she herself agrees that Ukraine’s acceptance into NATO or even the European Union is problematic while the conflict between Moscow and Kyiv rages, the Greens’ representative believes that “increasing pressure on Russia” to stop its aggressive behavior and ensuring stability in the region is essential.
“The message to Moscow should be like this,” she says. “Sovereign states themselves decide the issue of their alliances. This also includes the prospect of Ukraine in the EU and NATO. But you cannot take the third step before the first, and, of course, not in a situation where there is a tough conflict with Russia.”
Baerbock not only wants Berlin to adopt a tougher position towards Russia in the Normandy Four format but also strongly opposes the controversial Nord Stream 2 Russian gas pipeline across the Baltic seabed to Germany.
She dismisses the arguments from the SPD and CDU leaders that Nord Stream 2 is purely an economic project and stresses it’s meant to undermine Ukraine. “I went to Russia and talked to key actors. It was said openly the goal was about Ukraine and to circumvent sanctions,” she during the debate.
With long-serving CDU leader Angela Merkel leaving the political helm, it is hoped that in the new coalition Baerbock will manage to mitigate some of the consequences of Berlin’s traditional ambiguous policy towards Moscow.
Ukraine’s Foe of the Week – Péter Szijjártó
Hungary’s Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó has shown double standards and contempt for his country’s eastern neighbor and thereby earned the title of Ukraine’s foe of the week.
First, he announced on Sept. 27 that Budapest has signed a 15-year agreement with Russian energy company Gazprom to purchase natural gas to be delivered by routes that bypass Ukraine.
Then on the following day, after Ukraine had expressed its disappointment, said bilateral relations were being harmed, and announced that it will apply to the European Commission to assess the compliance of the new gas deal with European energy legislation, Szijjártó summoned the Ukrainian ambassador in Budapest to express his “outrage.”
The foreign minister said that he was deeply offended by the Ukrainian government’s decision to challenge the Russo-Hungarian contract at the European Commission. “The Ukrainians have nothing to do with what we agree [and] with whom,” he wrote.
“We consider it a violation of our sovereignty that Ukraine wants to prevent Hungary’s secure gas supply,” Szijjártó said on Facebook. If, as the official argues, Hungary has a right to defend its interests, then why should he object to Ukraine doing the same.
Relations between Kyiv and Budapest have not been the best for quite some time, but for other reasons involving issues connected with the Hungarian minority in Ukraine’s Transcarpathian region. Hungary has periodically sought to pressure Ukraine on this by blocking its engagement with Trans-Atlantic structures.
Until now, both sides have moved, however, to find common ground and clear the air.
This latest display of insensitivity by Budapest to Ukraine’s predicament with its aggressive Russian neighbor, complete with significant energy security elements, has not helped matters.
Neither has the tone of Szijjártó’s undiplomatic responses.
Bilateral relations have taken a serious blow and official Budapest’s “friendship” called into question.
Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry has postponed the 5th meeting of the Ukrainian-Hungarian intergovernmental commission on economic development scheduled to be held from Sept. 29-30 and also summoned the Hungarian ambassador in Kyiv.
While Szijjártó pretends not to understand the hurt that Hungary’s gas deal with Russia has caused to Ukraine, we can imagine Budapest’s friends in the Kremlin chuckling with glee.
