Thousands of Ukrainians now live in the United Kingdom. The majority of them consider London their second home. The crisis in Crimea is rising major concerns among the Ukrainian Community. Surprisingly, no action has been taken from their part.
Yorva Tsiakara interviewed the President of the Ukrainian Association of Great Britain, located here in London, Mr Lastowieckie. He has been serving as a President for 6 years now. The Association exists since 1991 and counts today 4,000 members. In 1946, as he narrated, the 1st Ukrainian arrived in the UK, since then there has been always a strong will to keep the Ukrainian tradition alive, this is where the idea of the Association came from.
In Ukraine, a state of 45 million inhabitants, there is the greatest borderline between Russia and the European Union (EU). Before 1991 the country was part of the Soviet Union, but after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Ukraine was invited to “reinvent” herself. However, that never happened after the external factors entered the “game” and soon the country ended up as a pawn between Russia and the West.
Mr Lastowieckie spoke firmly: “Our views on the conflict are very clear, we are totally opposed to Russia and the decision of President Yanukovych to sign for a future Union.”
He revealed that a lot of Ukrainian-Londoners have called the Association recently and sound very worried about their families back home. However, no specific action has been taken by the them and life continues as normal in London, as they feel more secure here and not willing to go back any time soon.
“I am not an economist and I cannot fully assess the pros and cons of European integration for Ukraine, but I believe that implementing REAL reforms and decreasing corruption levels will result in Ukraine becoming a truly independent and rapidly growing economy,” said Mr Lastowieckie.
The wild protests are the result of the historical confrontation between the residents of the eastern and the western part of Ukraine. Ukrainians in Kiev and western provinces are more pro-European, while citizens of the eastern provinces are believed to have closer ties with Russia, Eugene Zutenkov explains.
He is in London for a one-year masters course. According to Zutenkov, “Current visa policy only allows Ukrainian citizens to travel to UK in case of having 13 thousand pound debit balance for the last three months as well as clear set travel goals.” Zutenkov’s family lives in Kiev and he has a lot of friends who directly participated in the revolution. He doesn’t know a single person who is against the revolution, he reassured.
Ukraine is a poor country with a clear divide between the upper and lower class incomes. Therefore living or even travelling to UK is not an option to an overwhelming majority of Ukrainian people.
“UK is one of the countries which have signed the Budapest Memorandum, a deal between Ukraine and USA, UK, China and Russia, which is aimed to disarm Ukrainian nuclear weapon. At that time Ukraine was world third highest technological nuclear power. In exchange for that, second party of countries has guaranteed Ukraine’s independence and protected it against aggressors.
However, both UK and USA, at the start of the Crimea conflict, clearly stated that their military help is out of the question and China has practically chosen to ignore the situation. The last country that signed the memorandum is the aggressor itself.
“Honestly, I cannot blame third parties who will not send their citizens to die for a dispute between two other countries (so far), I can only blame Ukraine officials who went for that deal in the first place. Nevertheless, I am very thankful for the united global diplomatic support. Basically, the whole world has united in support of Ukraine, which is proven by recent UN vote,” Andrei said.
Andrei is half Russian half Ukraine, living in Islington and working in RBS with a pretty clear political views. He flew back home and participated in the demonstrations. He is one of the lucky ones that found a job who paid for his working visa, but he said: “My heart and concerns will always be in Ukraine.”
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