Eastern European countries are playing a leading role in dealing with the Ukraine war. This reflects their historical experiences with Russia. Today we know that their warnings were not heard enough in the West.
Joint press conference in besieged Kyiv: Janez Jansa, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, Mateusz Morawiecki, Denis Schmihal and Petr Fiala (from left).
The pictures of this unusual tour group may one day end up in history books. On their perilous train journey through besieged Ukraine, the heads of government of Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovenia bend over a map with worried expressions on their faces. In Kyiv, which is regularly under Russian fire, they meet President Volodymyr Zelensky and the Ukrainian leadership in the bunker at a long table with the flags customary for such occasions. There, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala speaks the central message: “You are not alone.”
He is later photographed on the night train on the way back: he is wearing a helmet and a bulletproof vest. His security advisors had advised the Slovakian head of government not to take part.
The Czech Prime Minister wears a bulletproof vest on the night train.
The risk of this trip was considerable and the delegation had little to offer in substance. The demand for an armed “peacekeeping mission” in the Ukraine, raised by the strongman from Poland, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, who was also present, stood no chance from the start. NATO immediately rejected it. For these reasons, criticism was heard from the European capitals, although the visit had been agreed with the EU.
However, this is inappropriate. The symbolism prevails in this case, and it can hardly be overestimated: Three weeks after the invasion, Zelenski receives top representatives from EU and NATO states for political talks in Kyiv – although according to the Russian plan the capital would have fallen long ago and the president would have been under a puppet regime have to give way. This is not only a sign of European solidarity, but also of the remarkable resilience of the Ukrainians.
Painful historical experience with Russia
It comes as no surprise that the initiative came from Eastern Europe. Here, the Soviet oppression is known from painful historical experience and, in contrast to the West, there is little sentimentality in dealing with Russia. In the Baltic States and in Poland in particular, fear of overpowering neighbors shapes political decisions. A survey recently showed that 85 percent of Poles are concerned about the security of their own country because of the Ukraine war. Two-thirds even believe that Russia could use nuclear weapons against Poland.
This fear is the main reason that hardly any other country supports Ukraine as strongly as Poland. It has taken in almost two million refugees with overwhelming hospitality and is the hub for Western arms deliveries to Ukraine. Warsaw was even willing to hand over its MiG-29 fighter jets to its neighbor. The project failed due to concerns from NATO partners.
This is by no means a matter of course. Even if the Ukrainian “brothers and sisters” are often mentioned in Poland at the moment, the relationship is not unencumbered. In particular, the massacre of Polish civilians in Volhynia and eastern Galicia by Ukrainian nationalists towards the end of World War II is a festering wound.
«Today Georgia, tomorrow Ukraine»
Poland’s greater trauma, however, is the attack by the Red Army in September 1939, painfully reminded of the war of aggression against Ukraine. This confirms Warsaw’s skepticism about Moscow. At the moment, reference is often made to another trip made by top Eastern European politicians: in August 2008, heads of state from the Baltic states, Ukraine and Poland flew to Tbilisi to express support for Georgia after Russian troops had invaded. Lech Kaczynski, Jaroslaw’s deceased brother and Poland’s president at the time, said at the time: “Today it’s Georgia, tomorrow Ukraine, the day after tomorrow it’s the Baltic States, and then maybe it’s my country’s turn, Poland.”
Today the words seem almost prophetic. It is becoming clear that the West has not taken the warnings seriously enough. Eastern Europe is by no means a unified bloc. Viktor Orban, for example, was a prominent absentee from Kyiv, although Hungary currently chairs the east-central European Visegrad Group. It is also ironic that in Kyiv the heads of government of Slovenia and Poland praised democracy and called for Ukraine to join the EU quickly, even though they are dismantling the rule of law at home and often accusing Brussels of dictatorial tendencies.
But in dealing with the Ukraine war, the Eastern European leadership is to be welcomed unreservedly. She deserves more support. The President of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, or the President of the EU Council, Charles Michel, should not be missing on the next trip to Kyiv.