Ambassador of Ukraine 🇺🇦 to the Republic of Slovenia Andrii Taran led the Ukrainian delegation at the annual 19th Bled Strategic Forum, which was held on September 2-3 this year in the city of Bled (Republic of Slovenia) under the name "A world of parallel realities".

As part of the Forum, the Ambassador of Ukraine to the Republic of Slovenia A. Taran held several bilateral meetings, in particular with the Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia Tanja Fajon, State Secretary for Foreign Policy and International and National Security of the Office of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia Vojko Volk, State Secretary of the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Slovenia Damir Črnčec, Head of the Permanent Representation of Slovenia to NATO Andrej Benedejčič and other representatives of Slovenian political and expert circles, representatives of foreign delegations of countries participating in the forum, representatives of the diplomatic corps accredited in Slovenia.

Ambassador Andrii Taran took part in the panel discussion "NATO Beyond 75: An Alliance Fit for the Future" and Putin's Long War and Parallel Realities in Russia's Domestic Affairs: In-Between Chaos and Stability.

During the leadership discussion panel entitled "A World of Parallel Realities", which took place immediately after the official opening ceremony of the event, the leaders of the countries of the Balkan region voiced strong signals of support for Ukraine.

In particular, the Prime Minister of Croatia, Mr. Plenkovič, emphasized the importance of continuing to provide strong support for Ukraine, and the Prime Minister of Albania, Edi Rama, noted that "it is necessary to provide Ukraine with everything necessary for victory and not to limit the choice of military targets."

A feature of this year's forum was the participation of representatives of Russian opposition forces in discussion panels, such as Gary Kasparov and Yulia Navalna. In particular, Gary Kasparov voiced several signals regarding the need to support Ukraine. He noted that "it is not enough to help Ukraine to win simply, but it is also necessary to do everything necessary to bring russia to justice for the committed war crimes."