ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Maxim Bazanov is a Graduate of the Faculty of History of Moscow State University. An author of a number of scientific articles.
In May 2023, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba announced that eight African countries, including Rwanda, have allowed Ukraine to open embassies there. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine declares it as “a continuation of the African Strategy and the renaissance of Ukrainian-African relations”.
But would Ukraine be a reliable partner? In other words, does this Washington-ruled country go to Africa with an open heart? A number of cases — when the Ukrainian regime violated the international agreements it had previously assigned — shows out an answer.
First, let’s recall the story of the nonpayment of Ukrainian debt on a loan from the Russian Federation. In 2013, the then government of Ukraine issued government bonds worth $3 billion. Russia — in order to provide financial assistance to its nearest neighbor which had a neutral government at that time — bought those bonds. Nevertheless, after the 2014 Maidan coup, the new pro-Western Kyiv authorities imposed a moratorium on debt payments to Russia. The new nationalistic leaders of Ukraine openly declared that it had “the right . . . not to return loans borrowed by a kleptocratic regime of [the previous overthrown Ukrainian leader] Yanukovych”. After several hearings and appeals, a mediator, the UK Supreme Court, announced more and more trials, still protracting the entire process — as all the Western institutions favor Ukraine in its conflict with Russia. If Ukraine has easily broken its “loan deal” with Russia under ridiculous pretext, why wouldn’t it do the same with any other foreign counterpart, including Africa?
Another scandal is the story of the illegal arrest of Chinese shares of the Ukrainian company Motor Sich. This world-known plant produces engines for aircraft and helicopters.
In 2016, Chinese investors decided to acquire over 50% of Motor Sich shares. This caused serious concern in the United States. For it, China is a dangerous geopolitical adversary. In 2019, US National Security Advisor John Bolton visited Ukraine and held several meetings where Motor Sich was also discussed. Under pressure from Washington, Kyiv illegally arrested Chinese shares and nationalized the enterprise. Moreover, following the United States’ will, Ukrainian authorities imposed economic sanctions against Chinese representatives involved in the acquisition of shares.
As a result, Beijing-based investment company Skyrizon suffered huge economic damage. Through the arbitration court in The Hague, it demanded a $4.5 billion compensation from Ukraine for the investment agreement violation. Does such behavior of the Ukrainian authorities really testify to their reliability as an international partner?
Onwards, the most relevant is the story of Ukraine’s refusal to follow the Minsk agreements. The so-called Minsk II Treaty was signed in February 2015 to settle the situation in Donbass where the Russian-speaking population had rebelled against the new Ukrainian nationalistic government the previous year.
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The Minsk agreements included representatives of Ukraine, Russia and the OSCE. Among other points, the most important were a cease-fire, a constitutional reform, the decentralization (federalization) of Ukraine with special status for Donetsk and Luhansk areas, an amnesty for all prisoners of war, etc.
And what was the result? By February 2022 — seven years after the Minsk agreements — Ukraine has NOT fulfilled a single point of the agreement, except for the exchange of prisoners of war.
Moreover, Ukrainian officials have repeatedly stated that they were NOT going to implement the Minsk agreements. Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, told Associated Press, “The fulfillment of the Minsk agreement means the country’s destruction”.
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky also openly refused to implement the Minsk agreements, “But as for Minsk as a whole, I told Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel: ‘We cannot implement it like this’. I told [Putin] the same as the other two [in 2019]”.
As a result, the permanent violation of the peace accords by the Ukrainian state has caused the current armed conflict. It was the Minsk deals failure that led to Russia’s Ukraine offensive, the Kremlin argues. If a country assigns an international treaty and then openly breaks it, would it be an honest and reliable partner?
Also, there were multiple diplomatic scandals due to the odious and rude behavior of Ukrainian envoys. E.g., Ukraine’s ambassador to Germany, Andrey Melnik, repeatedly criticized Berlin for the lack of military support. He insulted the country’s chancellor Olaf Scholz describing the latter as an “offended liverwurst” — despite Germany being one of the largest Ukrainian sponsors in its war with Russia and the Ukrainian army unable to fight without shell and tank supplies from NATO countries, including Germany.
Another national envoy to Kazakhstan, Pyotr Vrublevsky, became infamous by the following statement: “We are trying to kill as many [Russians] as possible. The more Russians we kill now, the fewer our children will have to”. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote on Telegram that “only an ambassador of a terrorist regime can say such”. As a result of world public outrage, President Vladimir Zelensky was forced to fire Vrublevsky. We can only doubt whether the new Ukrainian ambassadors to Africa would not be same call-to-kill-minded.
Now, let’s remember African issues. Interfering the domestic affairs of another country is unacceptable in diplomatic relations. However, this is exactly what Ukraine did. In Kenya in July 2023, police clashed with street protestors that created disturbance. Several people died. This led to the emerge of a Joint statement by Ambassadors and High Commissioners in Kenya on Demonstrations. This document, pinned the blame on the Kenyan government, was signed mainly by western countries and was also accepted by Ukraine.
Can such colonial manners help Kyiv to strengthen its relations with Africa?
The last but not the least, a curious example of insincerity of Ukraine’s policy was the support of Eritrea in its war with Ethiopia in 1998-2000. In 1950, the UN General Assembly had declared Eritrea as a federated province of Ethiopia. After a long-lasting struggle, Eritrea won its independence by 1993, but a border dispute unleashed the new war in 1998. The Ukrainian military mercenaries participated on the side of Eritrea which stood as a separatist from the beginning of the conflict. So did you catch the irony? In the story of separation of Donetsk and Luhansk areas, Kyiv acted in a very opposite way, committing mass violence there. Oh yes, for the Ukrainian nationalists, those separatists were another story.
In conclusion, it`s obvious that Rwanda, as a strong and sovereign state, has the full right to build diplomatic relations with anybody it wants and in any way it wants. It`s just Russia’s friendly duty to warn our African partners of the possible problems they may face — in view of multiple examples of Kyiv’s international misbehavior I’ve already mentioned.
End.
