The Finnish newspaper «Iltalehti» published the article by Ambassador Andrii Olefirov dedicated to the 25th anniversary of Independence of Ukraine.

Opinion

On August 24, 2016, Ukraine is going to celebrate 25^th anniversary of her independence from the Soviet Union. It is very important to underline: from the USSR, since the history of Ukraine has much deeper roots…

The territory of modern-day Ukraine gave birth to the civilization of the Eastern Slavs. Back in the 10th–11th centuries, the powerful European state of the Kyivan Rus flourished there. Why was it European? It was European because it maintained cultural, commercial, political and dynastical relations with European countries of that time.

The Ukrainian Cossacks who ruled in the 15-th century, wrote another outstanding story for our history books. The Cossacks had their own political and administrative center called the Zaporizhska Sich and elected their leaders based on democratic principles.

The history of diplomatic relations between Ukraine and Finland originated in 1918. Finland was one of the first countries which recognized Ukraine in 1918 and opened its diplomatic mission in Kyiv. The Ukrainian diplomatic mission was established among the first six foreign embassies in Helsinki.

On August 24, 2016, Ukraine will become one generation apart from the USSR. There were bright moments in the history of independent Ukraine, but there were also miscalculations, slow reforming and lack of a vision – it takes time to build any independent state at all, let alone a country that underwent “the Soviet experiment”.

Today, Ukraine and Ukrainians are an outpost of the European civilization in a struggle for freedom, democracy and European values, the values of the Euromaidan, where people have chosen their own path to think and speak freely and fought for the core European values.

The annexation of Crimea in 2014 was a flagrant violation of international law condemned by majority members of the UN family. Late that year, Russia provided direct political and military support to the illegally armed groups in the East of Ukraine, rejecting any international legal norms and order, undermining European security architecture.

Ukraine remains committed to the implementation of all Minsk agreements. As Russia and its proxies in Donbas continue defying them, we are looking for additional effective mechanisms to ensure their implementation and thus practical progress towards the peaceful settlement.

Ukraine appreciates very much Finland’s unwavering support of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. We are also grateful for generous contribution of Finland to address the immediate needs of the internally displaced persons via the Finnish Red Cross and other renowned organizations for the purpose of humanitarian aid.  

By celebrating 25^th anniversary of our independence we remember our past but focusing on building better future within the big European family of democratic nations.

  

Andrii Olefirov

Ambassador of Ukraine to Finland