Kuleba: Ukraine consolidates partners to strengthen strategic Baltic-Black Sea security

08.10.2021 16:57

Ukrinform

Against the background of the growing aggressive actions of the Russian Federation in our region and the world, Ukraine consolidates its partners in the Euro-Atlantic community in order to strengthen the strategic Baltic-Black Sea security axis.

"Ukraine consolidates partners to strengthen the strategic Baltic-Black Sea security axis and protect the security space, prosperity, respect for international law and democratic standards. In the coming years, the Euro-Atlantic community should give priority to strengthening this region," Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba said, delivering a speech at the Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, the Foreign Ministry's press service informs.

Kuleba outlined six priority cooperation areas to strengthen the Baltic-Black Sea region: strong economic ties and trade, energy security, integrated transport corridors, joint military and security alliances, counteraction to propaganda and cyber threats, development of people-to-people contacts.

The minister pointed out a number of steps that Ukraine is already taking to achieve this goal.

"Ukraine implements a proactive foreign policy, puts forward new initiatives, creates new regional alliances: the Lublin Triangle, the Associated Trio, the Quadriga. But the most striking example of a new, mature, and proactive foreign policy was the creation of the Crimea Platform," Kuleba noted.

The minister stressed that Russia's militarization of the temporarily occupied Crimea currently posed the greatest threat to the Black Sea region as Russia had more than tripled its military presence on the peninsula during the years of occupation.

At the same time, Russia's malicious actions go far beyond the Black Sea. The Kremlin continues to threaten NATO, exacerbate conflicts between countries, discredit democratic values, uphold autocratic regimes, rewrite history, interfere in elections, launch cyber attacks on businesses and governments, and persecute opponents.

As reported, the 9th meeting of the Ukraine–Turkey Joint Strategic Planning Group took place in Lviv, in which Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu took part at the invitation of Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba.