It is very hard to imagine a more inconsistent, contradictory, controversial politician and head of state than Russian president Putin.

A series of the tragic events in Ukraine (occupation and illegal annexation of Crimea, invasion of Ukraine in Donbas, the hybrid war unleashed by Russia against Ukraine etc.) have shown unfortunately that it is impossible to believe or accept with confidence any information that comes from the President of Russia or his surroundings.

I often wonder about the relevance of the words of Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, a former diplomat, Ambassador of Prussia to St. Petersburg "Agreements with Russia are not worth the paper on which they are written"

By annexing Crimea and invading Ukraine in Donbas, Russia (read Putin) has broken a number of international multilateral and bilateral legal instruments. Since February 20-th, 2014 up to this day multiple acts of Russia’s aggression against Ukrainian’s territorial integrity, inviolability of its territory and frontiers have transformed once and forever the security situation in European region and in the world.

 The President of Russia showed no respect towards the application of universal principle of peaceful settlement of dispute.

Since the outbreak of the hybrid war against Ukraine Russia has flagrantly violated principle that forbids the use of force in international relations. Thus, it entailed violation of another principle – of the territorial integrity of states.

How do I perceive Putin's visit to Slovenia? Negatively. The man who is responsible for the death of 10 thousand of my compatriots during the last two and half years comes to honor the memory of a bit more than a hundred prisoners of war, who had died because of the avalanche in 1916 during the construction of the road.

I have nothing against honoring the memory of those prisoners of war. But even in this very case we do not see any sincerity from the Russian side. Moreover, this 100-th anniversary, these commemorative events are just a pretext for Putin to demonstrate that he is normaly accepted in the country that is a member of EU and NATO.

Returning to commerative events, I would like to emphasize that those prisoners of war were the representatives of different nationalities, not only the Russians.

Only on Kapellenthal cemetery in Vrsic there are 68 of my compatriots from Galicia and Bukovina who had died between 1915 and 1917 because of the avalanche or for other reasons.

Another Russian attempt to privatize the memory about the perished prisoners of war and to make them a part of so called “Russian world”.

This is my personal perception of Putin’s visit to this country, and I am not the only one, in Slovenia too.

 

Ambassador of Ukraine to the Republic of Slovenia

Mykhailo F. Brodovych