Peace Blog
The views expressed in the blog are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the IIP.
From the beginning on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline – envisaged to transport gas from Russia to Germany – has been contested. Geopolitical arguments were brought forward by Ukraine, Poland and the Baltic countries that cautioned against increased dependence of Germany and other European countries on Russian gas reserves. It would also hurt Ukraine that would lose a source of revenue from transit of Russian gas through its territory.
Moldovans will go to polling stations on July 11 to vote in the snap parliamentary elections. It is hoped that the elections will end the prolonged political crisis that has mired the country for months, if not years. The stakes are high and, as it has been put by the country’s former Foreign Minister Nicu Popescu, the outcome of the vote will ‘signal either a multi-generational move toward greater liberty or continued corruption and state capture.’
A month ago, a Ryanair civilian plane flying from Athens to Vilnius was forced to land in Minsk when it was flying through Belarus’ airspace. Belarusian authorities arrested two passengers who were on board of the plane: Raman Pratasevich – a blogger and opposition activist and his girlfriend Sofia Sapega. The incident produced an international scandal, resulting in the immediate closure of the EU’s airspace for Belarusian planes.
For Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky 2021 started with a radical turn in his political credo: from a peacemaker and bridge builder to a guardian of Ukraine’s sovereignty. This new approach is aimed to win support of the nationalistically minded public after Zelensky’s moderate electorate has been increasingly turning away from him. Late 2020 saw Zelensky’s and his party’s ratings fall dramatically in the aftermath of the local elections. The president faced a standoff with the constitutional court last December that annulled a number of anticorruption laws. This further undermined Zelensky’s political power. To strengthen his position at home, the president turned to the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) – which he is a head of – to enforce decisions that serve to his political advantage. Thus, citing the NSDC’s concerns about national security threats posed by judges appointed under former President Viktor Yanukovich, he dismissed two constitutional judges in March, including the head of the court.
I was recently approached by a journalist of Radio Free Europe, concerning loopholes within sanctions against Russia in connection with the annexation of Crimea. I always supported targeted sanctions against Russia, especially after Russia‘s military intervention in Ukraine because the EU had and has to react to this clearly illegal occupation and annexation of Ukrainian territory. I did also want to underline the necessity to think about a solution which would respect the willingness of many Crimean citizens to stay with Russia and the desire of many Ukrainians, who were forced to leave, to return to their land of origin - from time to time or permanently. With Russia intervening in Eastern Ukraine and annexing Crimea, Peace in Europe suffered a major setback. There is no doubt about that. One needs to ask, is it realistic to fight for a return of the Crimean territory to Ukraine? Let’s take a look at the greater picture.
