Ihar Rynkevich: Ukrainian side is hoping that common sense will finally prevail in Putin’s actions

What issues discussed the representatives of the civil activists and Belarusan politicians with the Ukrainian ambassador?

This week the members of the Belarusian Committee for Solidarity with Ukraine met the Ambassador of Ukraine to Belarus Mykhailo Yezhel.

The results of the meeting EuroBelarus Information Service discussed with Ihar Rynkevich, the head of the Enlightenment Institution “Democracy Development League “Civic Verdict”, the coordinator of the information and analytical direction of the Belarusian Committee for Solidarity with Ukraine.

- As the meeting took place on Radonitsa, we, together with Pavel Sieviarynec, the coordinator of the committee, presented our condolences in regard with the death of Ukrainians at Maidan to the representatives of the Ukrainian Assembly.

The Ambassador told us that the Belarusian Mihail Zhyzneuski, who was one of the first defenders of EuroMaidan to die, will be awarded posthumously with the high Ukrainian prize. In our turn we told the Ukrainian side that we are raising funds for the Maidan memorial.

We also informed the Ukrainian Embassy in great detail about the process of creation of the Belarusian Committee for Solidarity with Ukraine and about appeals, actions of the Committee performed over the last time, as well as about the plans to broaden the work of the Committee, and to increase the number of its participants.

The Ukrainian side got interested in it; I voiced the suggestion to create such kind of committees at the territory of other countries-neighbors of Ukraine, those who are members of the Eastern Partnership program in particular.

We were discussing dramatic events in Ukraine and the fact that it is now stands on the way to formation of new democratic authorities. The election campaign processes for the election of Ukraine’s president are very complicated. Those people from Russia, who stand behind the “little green men”, are aimed at disruption of the election and the legitimating of the new Ukrainian authorities.

 Pavel Sieviarynec has told the words of support with the Ukrainian people from Stanislau Shushkevich, who couldn’t make it to the meeting. In his turn, Mykhailo Yezhel emphasized that he is aware that the Belarusian Committee supports Ukraine and he appreciates it a lot.

The Ambassador also highlighted that the Ukrainian authorities watch the statements made by the president and the government of Belarus regarding the situation in Ukraine. And they highly appreciate the support of sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine in these statements, as well as the recognition of the negative role of federalization, which Russia is trying to impose.

Let me note that Mykhailo Yezhel is the former Ukrainian Minister of Defence; so is very competent in military issues. He was evidently worrying about the Black Sea Fleet, Crimean annexation and about Ukrainian army on the whole. According to his words, Ukrainian side is still hoping that common sense will finally prevail in Putin’s actions.

We also told Mykhailo Yezhel about the situation with media in Belarus: the monopoly of Russian TV channels, which form the one-sided picture of what is happening in Ukraine. He was interested in our suggestion for one of the Ukrainian TV channels to broadcast at the Belarusan territory, so that the citizens would be able to see the stance of the Ukrainian side. We didn’t discuss any specific channel yet, but I think that this question would be harmonized.

The Ambassador was also notified that the delegation from the Committee would visit Kiev during the first ten days of May, which was welcomed.

We also reached an agreement that similar meetings of Embassy of Ukraine to Belarus with the members of the Belarusan Committee for Solidarity with Ukraine will be organized on a regular basis, especially if there appear some actual events, such as the vote at the president election.

Besides, the Ukrainian Embassy is expecting that in 2015 the official representatives of Belarus as well as the general public will be present at the cultural events dedicated to Ukraine during the Year of Ukraine in Belarus.