ROMANIAN - UKRAINIAN EXPERT DIALOGUE ON HYBRID THREATS IN THE REGION

– Mai 20, 2019, Constanţa –

On May 20 in Constanţa (Romania) took place an international round table «Security Threats in the Black Sea Region. The Face of Pontus Euxinus in the Post-Crimean Geopolitical Paradigm» with the participation of Romanian and Ukrainian experts. Participants of the event were scientists, diplomats, military activists. They have discussed security issues in the Black Sea region, related to Russia’s aggression and threats to international order as a result of its hybrid attacks.

“The idea of holding the round table was not accidental. This is due to the fact that in recent years Ukraine has gained an unprecedented experience in countering the hybrid war and can share it with other countries, including Romania”, one of the initiators, Ukrainian scientist Serhii Hakman said.

Emphasizing the attention of the round table participants on the main topic of the meeting, the former Romanian diplomat and expert on regional security, president of the Black Sea House, Dorin Popescu, touched upon the dangers of hybrid threats to the entire Black Sea region.

Famous Romanian geopolitical scientist, editor-in-chief of the GeoPolitica journal Vasile Simileanu said that despite the misunderstanding, Romania remains a reliable friend and defender of Ukraine’s interests in the European Union, while adherence to European values and standards will help two neighbouring countries overcome difference of opinions and strengthen bilateral relations.

Professor of Yuri Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University Serhii Feduniak outlined three major challenges to modern international security: the neo-imperial policy of Russia, whose goal is to restore the empire within the former USSR and weaken the West as an influential player; the policy of isolationism in the United States at Trump’s time; the crisis of European identity and institutions.

Oleksandr Rusnak, PhD in History, head of the “Center for Regional Cooperation “Dialogue”, analyzed the historical retrospective of events and processes, which transformed into a Russian-Ukrainian war.

A book by one of the best experts in the study of hybrid threats Yevhen Mahda was presented, as well as a book about the Ilovaisk tragedy of a former marines, a volunteer of “Dnipro-1” battalion Roman Zinenko, who survived in Ilovaisk and collected eyewitness testimony about this Russia’s flagrant war crime. Representatives of the public organization “Beregynia” (Dnipro), mothers of Ukrainian prisoners of war and missing persons (in particular, one of the 24 Ukrainian sailors captured by Russia during passing the Kerch Strait), appealed to those present with calls for assistance and the needs of international support in the release of the Kremlin prisoners and the search for the missing persons.

International round tables were organized by the Asociaţia Casa Mării Negre / Black Sea House (Constanţa, Romania), Asociaţia de Geopolitică «Ion Conea» (Bucureşti, Romania), Muzeul de Istorie Naţională și Arheologie Constanţa (Romania), the NGO “Center for Regional Cooperation “Dialogue” (Chernivtsi, Ukraine), NGO “Center for Political Narrative of Democracy” (Chernivtsi, Ukraine) and Charitable Foundation “Public Resources and Initiatives” (Chernivtsi, Ukraine).