The imperative of "peaceful coexistence"

It would seem that Ukraine's strategy towards Russia has long been defined.

It began to take shape immediately after the collapse of the USSR and at first simply fit into the formula "Ukraine is not Russia" invented by the second Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma, which was bound to provoke a serious conflict sooner or later.

Declaring its otherness, the Ukrainian government emphasized that it had chosen a completely different system of values ​​than the one followed by Russia: not Asian obscurantism with the omnipotence of special services and total state arbitrariness, but the European order, human rights and freedoms.

The conflict was initially incorporated into this concept, it only remained to fit the nationalist myth about Russia as the eternal oppressor of freedom-loving peoples, among which the Ukrainian, according to the right-wing radicals, occupied the top line.

The strategy took the most aggressive forms under Petro Poroshenko, who officially announced that Ukraine was waging a war with Russia that had attacked it, protecting itself from attempts to return it to a state of colonial dependence.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who demonstrated a commendable peacefulness and desire to establish peace in Donbass during the election campaign, won a landslide victory as a result.

His rhetoric suggested that he would adhere to a different, softer line in relations with Russia.

However, these hopes evaporated rather quickly.

It became obvious that the Ukrainian president is weak and independent, and his political course fits into the paradigm set by his predecessor.

Nationalists, who do not enjoy any serious support from the population, but are the most collected, tough, violent political stratum in Ukraine, under Zelensky continued to dictate the political agenda.

And recently the statements of the Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba sounded like an echo of the presidential election promises.

In his opinion, Ukraine needs to have a calm conversation about Russia, but society is not yet ready for this: “A person who is really ready for such a conversation will be labeled as either a fanatic or a traitor and will be exposed.

But this conversation is very necessary.

Without a strategy for Russia, there will be neither security nor prosperity.

This must be realized. "

Whatever this may mean, Kuleba stated that at the moment the conversation about Russia is neither peaceful nor calm.

No, the minister does not at all think that it is necessary to make friends with a neighbor, he, like other representatives of the Ukrainian politicians, is sure that the two states belong to different civilizations, however, the imperative of "peaceful coexistence", as he calls it, can be laid in bilateral relations.

“Personally, I believe that the short-term goal in our relations with the Russian Federation is to reach the principle of peaceful coexistence.

We must end the war and restore our territorial integrity, but we understand that Russia will not change from this and its destructive strategic goals in relation to Ukraine will not change either.

Therefore, reaching the principle of peaceful coexistence would be in the interests of Ukraine, ”says Kuleba.

Many experts and analysts assessed his words as a serious turn on the outer contour.

If Petro Poroshenko argued that the main task of the state is to successfully resist the Russian army on the battlefield and that this is the guarantee of the country's security, then Kuleba determines the same security not by war, but by peace.

I assume that no fundamental changes have occurred.

The Ukrainian official proceeds from the same misconceptions on which the general version of relations between Ukraine and Russia is based.

If peace is needed, then there is a war going on now.

And this, to put it mildly, is not entirely true.

But most importantly, the fundamental formula "Ukraine is not Russia" has not gone anywhere.

She is in her place, once and for all assigned to her.

Yes, of course, Kuleba's rhetoric is much softer than that of aggressive representatives of the "war party".

Not a word about "occupation" or "annexation" and about other Russian sins.

But the reference points at which the head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry plans to build a new strategy of relations have remained the same.

In addition, Volodymyr Zelensky's public statements on the same topic literally inherit the speeches of his predecessor - there are both the "aggressor" and "Russian troops" in the Donbass, and other word forms introduced into everyday life by Petro Poroshenko.

Appeals for peace from a man on Zelenskiy's team, while the president himself prefers to make belligerent statements, mean little.

Maybe the person was just in a good mood and decided that it was great to appear kind.

And, finally, words in Ukraine have depreciated long ago.

The Ukrainian government lies at every step, promises, but does not, speaks about its nonexistent merits, about plans to improve the lives of citizens that cannot be realized.

Therefore, I propose not to attach special importance to Kuleba's peace-loving statements.

He can say anything, but relations with Russia are formed not by the ruling team, but by a handful of nationalists, to whose tune Vladimir Zelensky regularly dances.

The author's point of view may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.