UCC Supports Democratic Movements in Russia

Ukrainians in Canada have always followed events in Russia closely, especially developments that serve as a barometer of the Kremlin’s domestic and foreign policies. Russia has had a problematic and difficult historical relationship with Ukraine fraught with many painful episodes for Ukrainians. Russia, like Canada, is home to large communities of Ukrainians, who reside from Moscow to the Caucasus and to the far reaches of Siberia. Thus, what happens in the Russian Federation matters greatly to Ukrainians. This is particularly true at the present time when Ukrainian citizens are trying to create a united, democratic, and prosperous independent state that enjoys mutually beneficial relations with all of Ukraine’s neighbours and is a respected member of the international community.

While greatly encouraged by the peaceful dismantling of the Soviet Union in 1991, ever since Vladimir Putin ascended to the Russian Presidency, Ukrainians have become increasingly worried about the political direction taken by Russia’s leadership. Not only has the Kremlin gradually reverted to many of the authoritarian practices of the one-party Soviet state, it has also revived the worst features of Soviet and Tsarist foreign policy in an effort to reconstitute the Russian Empire in everything but name.

Although Ukrainian Canadians continue to look for hopeful signs that Russia’s ruling elites are finally moving to shed their autocratic past and to abandon Moscow’s imperial pretensions, experience has taught them to be wary of Russian politicians and sceptical of the pronouncements that they make for Western consumption. That is why the Ukrainian Canadian Congress welcomes the frank talk of Russian opposition leaders in an article recently published in the Washington Post under the title “No More Western Hugs for Russia’s Rulers” and since carried by Canadian and other media outlets. In calling for the West to take a much tougher line in its dealings with the Putin-Medvedev regime, Russian democrats are clearly issuing an appeal for Euro-Atlantic states to revise their often hypocritical and self-serving policies towards Moscow - rationalized in the name of Realpolitik - and instead to deal with the reality of Russia today.

Just as Byzantium once distinguished between barbarian and Christian rulers in the way it conducted its trade and diplomatic relations, it is time for Western democracies to stop excusing and turning a blind eye to the Kremlin’s abusive treatment of its loyal Russian critics and its aggressive pursuit of a neo-imperial agenda.

The Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC) expresses its full support for the development of a Russia that fully abides by the rule of law, holds free and fair elections, and respects democratic opposition, independent journalism and human rights.

UCC Canada Ukraine Committee

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Concerned Russian Canadians and the Central and Eastern European Council are co-organizing a rally in support of the pro-democracy movement in Russia and in solidarity with Russians who protest on the 31st of every month as part of the informal group “Strategy 31”.

“Rally to Restore Democracy and Human Rights in Russia” will be held on March 31 at 6:30 pm. in front of the Russian Consulate in Toronto, 175 Bloor St. E. (at Church).