The purpose of my visit was to reaffirm our policy that Ukraine is not alone in defending sovereignty, territorial integrity and the inviolability of its borders, and Ukraine has the right to defend itself. An independent and secure Ukraine is an inalienable part of Europe basing on the principles of the Charter of Paris for a New Europe, which we recently celebrated the 30th anniversary of.
Poland will work consistently to fulfil the promise of the Charter of Paris to create a truly new Europe. Poland calls upon all signatories of the Charter to respect their commitments.
In the discussions with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Dmytro Kuleba, the Head of the Ukrainian Delegation in the Trilateral Contact Group Leonid Kravchuk and Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories Oleksiy Reznikov, Minister Rau discussed the threats to peace in Europe arising from the finalisation of work on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline and the escalation of the security situation in the east and south of Ukraine.
We can clearly see that this project allows political, economic and military pressure to be synchronised. This pipeline, if launched, will pose a clear and lasting threat to peace in Europe.
We agreed that the massing of troops along the eastern section of Ukraine’s border and territory of occupied Crimea, as we have seen in recent days, should be taken into account in the process of shaping and conducting a policy of not appeasing the annexation of Crimea and violations of Ukraine’s territorial integrity. Depending on the course of events, Ukraine’s partners must be ready to have a serious debate about the scope and criteria for selective cooperation with countries that are in breach of fundamental norms of international law.
In January next year, Poland will take over the presidency of the OSCE and will represent all Member States interested in the shaping of a new Europe and the effective implementation of the principles of the Paris Charter and the Helsinki Final Act, advocating the peaceful resolution of conflicts, the non-leaking of unilateral use of force or the threat of its use, the inviolability of borders and the sovereign right of every nation to freely choose alliances and development model.