“We welcome the person who creates the newest history of Ukraine, new future of a new country.” This is how Viktor Yanukovych was referred to by his Israeli counterpart Shimon Peres at the reception in Jerusalem on November 30. Israel’s president also called the first visit of Yanukovych a historic one. According to him, Yanukovych is “a president who does not build walls but instead he builds strong relationship between Eastern and Western Europe, between the past of dictatorship and the future.” In his turn, the head of the Ukrainian state said that in the development of its international relations Ukraine will always be guided by the principle of national pragmatism. At the same time, he stressed that Ukraine is actively moving along the course of European integration.
The Day turned to the head of the Board of Trustees of the Jewish Agency (JAFI) Natan SHARANSKY with some questions. Sharansky was born in Ukraine and fought for human rights in the USSR.
“Ukraine is a very important country in Eastern Europe. At time when there are many countries that demonstrate poor understanding of the situation they are in, Ukraine supports Israel in international organizations. For us it is also a very important step toward strengthening of our friendship. I have always viewed Ukraine’s independence as an important factor for stability in Eastern Europe. Actually, since the time when I was in Gulag for a while with fighters for Ukraine’s independence, we have always spoken about what an important step in establishing stability in the former Soviet Union countries Ukraine’s independence is. Strengthening our relations is a very important factor for both sides.”
Israeli President Shimon Peres called the head of the Ukrainian state “the creator of the modern history of Ukraine.” At the same time, heads of the Western states point out that with Yanukovych coming to power the level of democracy declined and persecution of opposition started. How can you comment on this?
“I am not a commentator of our president. In order to find out what he meant by this or that in what he said, you should contact his office. I do not think that, when he talked about the historic importance of the visit, he had in mind the limitation of democracy, but certainly we want to see the consolidation of democracy in all countries, including Ukraine. It is not in our national interest that in any country either in Western Europe, Eastern Europe, or somewhere in the Middle East democracy would be restricted. When the president spoke about the relationship between Israel and Ukraine, he had in mind the historical perspective, the perspective of learning the hard lessons, on the one hand, and the common history of Jewish and Ukrainian people. The same is at the state level of the relations development between our nations. It is a very important historic process.”
Why does not Israel recognize Holodomor as an act of genocide against the Ukrainian people?
“At the level of personal attitude, there are many people in Israel who, as a matter of their own experience, have a very distinct and strongly negative attitude to all the horrors of Stalinism, including Stalin’s attitude to national minorities, including Ukrainian people. What concerns state relations, I think that Israel, like other countries, has to take into account relations with many countries of the world, including Russia. Therefore, when decisions on such matters as the Armenian genocide against the Armenians or the Holodomor, we must distinguish the moral stance from expression of sympathy or solidarity.”
