Baltic Rim Economies 2/2022
Special issue on Ukraine / Crimea
Published on the 28th of April 2022
The fight for the future
“On February 24th 2022 Russia ruthlessly bombed and invaded Ukraine. Russian military encroached into peace and freedom of Ukraine, killing innocent people, destroying cities and threatening the security of the entire civilised world.
They called it a military operation, having fabricated and continuing to fabricate pretexts for such invasion and seizure of our land.
But this is a real, bloody, brutal, cynical war started by a mad dictator, a war criminal putin.”
Valentyn Nalyvaichenko
Member of Parliament
Co-Chair of the Inter-parliamentary group of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on inter-parliamentary relations with the Republic of Finland
Secretary of the Parliamentary Committee for Ukraine’s integration into the EU
Before Putin’s war with bombs, there was a war with disinformation
“In June 2020, the European Parliament decided to combat disinformation by foreign actors and set up a “Special Committee on Foreign Interference in all Democratic Processes in the European Union, including Disinformation”, more aptly abbreviated as INGE. 18 months later, the findings of the Committee, in which I was rapporteur for the Greens/EFA Group, proved to be unambiguous: There is an overwhelming lack of awareness in all fibres of society within the EU when it comes to the severity of threat posed by authoritarian regimes and their disinformation attempts. For too long, the EU and its Member States have turned a blind eye to increased attempts of foreign interference in the information space and have underestimated, how impactful threats of disinformation are.”
Viola von Cramon-Taubadel
Member of the European Parliament
Crimea: Eight years later
“The annexation of Crimea by Russia in 2014 laid the foundation for the current “special military operation in Ukraine”, or rather, aggression against an independent and democratic state. Watching the unfolding tragedy, we must remember this step as the first clear violation, when Russia ceased to comply with universally recognized laws and standards, and brute force played a decisive role.”
Grigory Yavlinsky
Russian United Democratic Party “Yabloko”
Professor
Higher School of Economics
Moscow, Russia
Offshore motive for the occupation of Ukraine’s Crimea
“The renewed Russian military invasion of Ukraine on Feb 24, 2022 goes along with the war on the sea. The activity of Russia`s fleet poses a threat not only to Ukraine, but also to other neighboring countries bordering the Black Sea. In particular, this concerns offshore gas exploration projects. Minelaying in the north-western sector of the Black Sea is aimed at blockage of the Ukrainian ports. Another threat is that mines drift towards the Bosphorus through the Romanian, Bulgarian and Turkish sectors, where the offshore exploration by investors takes place.”
Mykhailo Gonchar
President
CGS Strategy XXI
Ukraine
Chief Editor
Black Sea Security Journal
Ukraine