| Event Title: | ISAS Ambassador’s Lecture Series |
| Topic: | The situation in and around Ukraine: Implications for Asia |
| Date/Time: | 27 November 2014 | 00:00 - 08:19 |
| Venue: | ISAS Board Room |
| Speaker/s: | H.E. Pavlo Sultansky, Ambassador of the Ukraine to Singapore |
| Description: | Ukraine has never been spoken about as much as it has been recently if not for the Russian aggression after the Ukrainians ousted the corrupt regime during the Revolution of Dignity or Maidan uprising. Kremlin’s denial of Ukraine’s European perspective resulted in an illegal annexation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, armed invasion in the eastern Donbas, comprehensive support to the terrorist militants from heavy weaponary to advocacy in the UN Security Council (UNSC). Subsequently the Russian Federation being a nuclear power and a Permanent Member of the UNSC undermined the key principles of international law, neglected its international commitments and set an undesirable precedent for relations with the smaller and weaker neighbouring states. The so called “Russian world” ideology that justified Moscow’s offensive policy, was a theoretical construct which has evolved into brutal reality, posing a global threat. It is unimaginable that millions of people in Russia had consented to an act of aggression that deprived another nation from its sovereign right to choose its own way of life. Does this type of assertiveness extend beyond Russia’s neighbouring countries? Are there any implications of the “Russian world” game for relations between smaller and bigger nations in Asia? Across Asia, nations were indifferent to the Ukrainian crisis until the MH17 tragedy took place. It has changed since then. Moscow strives to replace the power of rule with the rule of power posing a grave threat to our small world, where Ukraine stands at the forefront. |