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
Friend: Michael Carpenter, U.S. Representative to the OSCE
Ukraine depends on U.S. support. Keeping that support alive requires the tireless work of officials who both understand and care about Ukraine like Michael Carpenter, the nominee to be the U.S. ambassador to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.
During his appearance before the U.S. Senate committee hearing to consider his nomination, the senior diplomat and foreign policy adviser stressed the importance of building resilience for Ukraine’s energy security because of the threat posed by Nord Stream 2.
He left no doubt about his commitment to confront the challenges posed by an aggressive Russia.
Carpenter is eminently qualified for this post. He is a former deputy assistant secretary of defense with responsibility for Russia, Ukraine, Eurasia, the Balkans, and Conventional Arms Control. Prior to joining the Department of Defense, Carpenter served in the White House as a foreign policy adviser to Vice President Joe Biden and as director for Russia at the National Security Council.
Most recently, Carpenter was a senior director of the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement at the University of Pennsylvania and a nonresident senior fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center.
The offspring of Polish political exiles, Carpenter has shown a keen interest in the countries of eastern and central Europe. He has been very supportive of Ukraine but has not hesitated to remind it that the country should not waver in combatting corruption and democratic transformation.
In late 2017 he even tweeted that he would recommend cutting all U.S. government aid to Ukraine, including security assistance, if the Ukrainian parliament voted to dismiss the heads of the country’s two main anti-corruption bodies and thereby roll back anti-corruption achievements.
For his commitment to Ukraine’s interests and knowing when to use tough love, Carpenter is the recipient of this week’s Order of Yaroslav the Wise.
Foe: Ella Pamfilova, head of Russia’s Central Election Commission
Ella Pamfilova is overseeing Russia’s parliamentary elections on Sept. 19.
These elections flagrantly violate international law by allowing and even pressuring inhabitants of Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine to participate.
Although Pamfilova is a state official following orders and not making policy, she is fronting this provocation against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. Encouraging people on an occupied, terrorized and effectively ethnically cleansed foreign territory to vote in Russia’s election is not only illegal and reprehensible, but also makes a mockery of the Kremlin’s claims that it is democratic.
But Pamfilova and her boss, Vladimir Putin, are only interested in one thing – maintaining the absolute majority of his party, United Russia, in the State Duma and perpetuating his power.
Cynically, the Kremlin insists that Kyiv agree to elections being held in the Kremlin-occupied territories of eastern Ukraine, clearly with the intention to legitimize Russia’s local proxies. The Ukrainian authorities have stressed that the proper security conditions need to be put in place first – meaning the territories must be de-occupied – and the 1.5 million or more internally displaced persons that were forced to leave must be allowed to participate in the voting under Ukrainian law and international monitoring.
The hollowness of Moscow’s purported interest in finding a peaceful solution to end its war in eastern Ukraine became even more apparent after it began issuing passports to Ukrainian citizens in the occupied territories. Since 2019, more than 600,000 people have received them and can take part in Russia’s election.
Pamfilova is an aide and accomplice to this hybrid act of aggression against Ukraine and an accomplice in prolonging Russia’s war masked as a frozen conflict.
It’s only fitting that she be awarded this week’s Order of Lenin.
