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The Václav Klaus Institute Public Statement on the Situation in the Ukraine no. 2: Let’s Not Trivialize the Situation by One-Sided Interpretations

English Pages, 5. 3. 2014

1. In our public statement from February 21, we noted that “allowing a clash about the future of Ukraine and leading a fight about its orientation towards West or East ignores reality. It leads the country into an insolvable conflict that cannot have but a tragic ending… Giving Ukraine a choice between East or West means breaking it. This is, unfortunately, what seems to be happening.” We had no idea that our instincts and worries would come true so quickly, in just ten days.

2. The brutal political destabilization of Ukraine, which we could observe in the last months and which culminated in a political upheaval, caused – as we suspected – its territorial disintegration. The sequence of causes and consequences is evident – from the events in the Kiev Maidan to the Russian troops in Crimea. Individual events cannot be taken out of context.

3. The victim of this all is, of course, Ukraine and the people who live there. We thought that such tragedies which happened in Ukraine in 20^th century cannot occur anymore, but maybe we were wrong. The normal people of Ukraine, of Europe and indeed the whole world do not need anything of that which is happening in Ukraine today. It seems that no one needs it, yet that’s not true.

Another victim of today’s events in Ukraine is us, and together with us all European democrats. The rising tension in Europe and in the world, the return of the Cold War rhetoric, the movements of armies, will not stay without consequences. The atmosphere of confrontation, danger and fear will be quickly misused to further accelerate European unification and create a centralized European superstate. That is against our national interests and that is why we also are and in future will be a victim of today’s situation in Ukraine and of that, which caused it.

Václav Klaus, Jiří Weigl, March 4, 2014.