Yurii Kostenko
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
DOI: 10.37837/2707-7683-2021-7
Abstract. The article describes the preconditions and consequences of the Yalta meeting on confidence-building measures between the Georgian and Abkhaz parties. Assistance in its organisation as well as participation in the work of the Group of Friends of the UN Secretary-General on Georgia were of great importance for Ukraine’s international image. Ukrainian diplomats have come a long way in convincing UN members of the need and usefulness of Ukraine’s involvement in the Geneva process and in proving to the Abkhaz side that, despite the high level of partnership between Ukraine and Georgia, Ukraine is impartial in the conflict resolution process. Although the admission of our country to the Group of Friends of the UN Secretary-General on Georgia was not achieved immediately, one of the key roles of Ukraine in holding the Yalta meeting cannot be denied, as the fruits of Ukraine’s work and our state’s constructive position in resolving conflicts in the territory of the former Soviet Union, particularly in Transnistria, have already been confirmed by the international community.
This paper highlights the mechanisms of disguising the hegemonic policy of the Russian Federation, which imposes its ‘peacekeeping’ participation in the settlement of armed conflicts in strategically important regions of the post-Soviet space. The article also mentions the importance of recognising the parties to the conflict and how the status of a ‘non-participant in the conflict’ is used by the Russian Federation for its own purposes to promote the policy of regional domination by means of military-strategic and economic potential. Conclusions are made on the geopolitical processes in the territory of the former USSR.
Keywords: history of Ukrainian diplomacy, Group of Friends of the UN Secretary-General on Georgia, Georgian-Abkhaz conflict, peacekeeping activities.
References
1. Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (2008). Rishennia pro zakhody shchodo vrehuliuvannia konfliktu v Abkhazii, Hruzii [online]. Available at: https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/997_c15#Text [in Ukrainian].
2. UN General Assembly (1997). Podderzhka sistemoy Organizatsii Obedinennykh Natsiy usiliy pravitelstv po razvitiiu i uprocheniiu novykh ili vozrozhdennykh demokratiy. Dok. А/52/689 [online]. Available at: https://undocs.org/pdf?symbol=ru/A/52/689 [in Russian].
3. ‘Protocol shestoy sessii Koordinatsionnogo soveta gruzinskoy i abkhazskoy storon’ (2005). Gruzia Online, 8 October [online]. Available at: https://www.apsny.ge/notes/1128819555.php [in Russian].
4. ‘Stambulskoye zayavleniye ruzinskoy i abkhazskoy storon po vyrabotke mer doveriya’ (2005). Gruzia Online, 8 October [online]. Available at: https://www.apsny.ge/notes/1128820772.php [in Russian].
5. UN Security Council (1999). Report of the Secretary-General concerning the situation in Abkhazia, Georgia. Doc. S/1999/805, p. 3. [online]. Available at: https://undocs.org/ru/s/1999/805 [in English].
6. UN Security Council (2000). Statement by the President of the Security Council. Doc. S/PRST/2000/32 [online]. Available at: https://undocs.org/ru/S/PRST/2000/32 [in English].
7. Kiyevskiye vedomosti newspaper, 23 December 1999.
8. Zlenko, A. (2001). Zovnishnia polityka Ukrainy: vid romantyzmu do prahmatyzmu [Foreign Policy of Ukraine: From Romanticism to Pragmatism]. Kyiv: Presa Ukrainy, p. 164. [in Ukrainian].
9. UN Security Council (2001). Letter dated 17 March 2001 from the Acting Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General. Doc. S/2001/242 [online]. Available at: https://undocs.org/ru/s/2001/242 [in English]. 10.1017/s0020782900020878
10. Beshta, A. et al. (2001). Holovuvannia Ukrainy v Radi Bezpeky OON: zbirnyk materialiv [Ukraine’s Presidency of the UN Security Council: A Collection of Materials]. Kyiv: Yurinkom Inter, p. 131. [in Ukrainian].
11. Ibid., p 133.
12. UN Security Council (2001). 4300th meeting. Doc. S/PV.4300 [online]. Available at: https://undocs.org/ru/S/PV.4300 [in English].
13. Kuchma, L. (2003). Ukraina – ne Rosiia [Ukraine is not Russia]. Moscow: Vremya, p. 483. [in Ukrainian].
14. Ishchenko, N. (2019). ‘Uroky “rosiiskoi myrotvorchosti” dlia Ukrainy: yak Hruziia vtratyla Abkhaziiu’, Yevropeiska pravda, 26 September [online]. Available at: https://www.eurointegration.com.ua/articles/2019/09/26/7101218/ [in Ukrainian].
15. Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (2010). Pro mizhvidomchu komisiiu z pytan perevirky vykorystannia ta stanu zberezhennia obiektiv derzhavnoi vlasnosti: rozporiadzhennia Kabinetu Ministriv Ukrainy vid 9 veresnia 2009. Vtrata chynnosti: 02.06.2010 [online]. Available at: https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/1086-2009-%D1%80#Text [in Ukrainian].