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 — Diane Francis, a Canadian-American journalist and writer
The U.S.-born Canadian journalist and writer Diane Francis covers Ukraine’s ups and downs in articles for foreign media outlets like the New York Post, American Interest and Canada’s National Post.
Francis stands up for Ukraine on many issues. On Aug. 25, she published an interview in the Atlantic Council with Ukraine’s oil and gas company Naftogaz chief Yuriy Vitrenko discussing the “existential threats” posed to Ukraine and Europe by the pipeline.
She also condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin’s seven-year war in eastern Ukraine that killed 14,000 people, displaced 1.4 million, and “destroyed Ukraine’s industrial heartland — Donbas.”
Born in Chicago, Francis immigrated to Canada when she was 20 and became a naturalized Canadian citizen. In Ukraine, she helped to found the Canadian-Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce.
She also called out corruption in the country as a columnist and senior fellow at the Atlantic Council. Besides, Francis serves on the advisory board of the Kyiv Post, providing insightful columns on Ukrainian politics and life.
According to Francis, Ukraine is and was not only the breadbasket but also the equivalent of Silicon Valley for URSS. But its strong national identity helped the country to survive the Soviet Union and Putin’s repeated assaults.
“Ukraine had one characteristic that the rest of the former Soviet bloc countries did not have: a large, cohesive and motivated civil society, mostly borne out of churches and social clubs,” Francis said.
Francis first came to Ukraine in 1992, in the wake of the Soviet Union’s collapse.
Francis has visited the country many times since then as a journalist. She said that throughout all the years Ukrainians remain “defiant and undeterred.”
So Francis is Ukraine’s friend of the week — for her deep understanding of the country and admiration for its history and people.
Ukraine’s Foe of the Week — Dmitry Peskov, Kremlin spokesman
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the Crimea Platform summit, which took place on Aug. 23 in Kyiv, “unfriendly” and “anti-Russian,” an epithet often used by Moscow’s propaganda machine.
The summit was meant to bring global attention to the issue of Russian-occupied Crimea — and it did.
Leaders and representatives of 46 foreign countries visited it and signed a joint declaration saying that they don’t recognize Russia’s occupation of Crimea and that they are committed to pressuring Russia to end it.
Russia didn’t participate in the summit, in spite of Ukraine’s invitation. “The declaration will always have a place for Russia’s signature,” said Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky. It is a chance to “fix the mistake that Russia made,” according to him.
Other participants of the summit overtly criticized Russian policy in Crimea.
Austria’s Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg said that by occupying Crimea Russia was guided by the “law of the jungle” ignoring the international rules, while President of Latvia Egils Levits called Russia’s aggression in Crimea impudent and brutal.
Russia was furious.
“We categorically do not accept such statements in relation to the Russian region — the Crimea,” Peskov said. “We treat (the summit) as an anti-Russian event.”
Russia’s comments weren’t surprising. Even before the summit, its de-facto authorities called the Crimea Platform a “sabbath” to avoid.
“The main goal of the summit is to destabilize the situation (in Crimea), and Russia has to be prepared for it,” said Georgiy Muradov, Russia’s permanent representative in Crimea.
“Given the resentment of Russia, the main achievement of the summit is that it took place,” Zelensky said.
So Peskov is our country’s foe of the week — for denying that Crimea was and is Ukraine.
