Putin’s strategy in Ukraine is its “Dodonization” – Andrius Kubilius

Putin’s strategy in Ukraine is pretty simple: it is the “dodonization” of Ukraine – this is the opinion of Andrius Kubilius, Member of Parliament of Lithuania, expressed during the 10th Kyiv Security Forum held by the Arseniy Yatsenyuk Foundation Open Ukraine.

“Today, I am inclined to the conclusion that we can find ourselves in a situation where Putin would remain in power for another 20 years. This can happen even despite the activities of Alexei Navalny and all the demonstrations that take place in Russia attended even by children. Therefore, in order to counteract the aggression of Putin’s Russia against Ukraine, it is necessary to understand his strategy towards your state. In my opinion, it is very simple. Here I would like to recall the situation in Moldova, where a pro-Russian candidate I. Dodon won the presidential elections, and he is now trying to implement the plans of the Moscow in his country. For this reason, I would call Putin’s strategy in Ukraine the “dodonization”. I mean the creation in the country of a situation which would allow completely loyal to the Moscow political forces to take over. And the task of Ukraine is to prevent this from happening”, Andrius Kubilius noted.

The Lithuanian politician also said that Europe developed a new plan that would contribute to the process of European integration of Ukraine.

“Today, one cannot confidently state that Ukraine will become an EU member sooner than in 10 years. In order to encourage Ukraine to follow the path of European integration, we decided to offer Ukraine a new plan. This plan is based on the suggestions, which were previously spoken out by N.Yaresko, namely: to invest in Ukraine’s economy $25 billion over 5 years. In this case, $5 billion yearly would amount to 6-8% of GDP growth. And this would have a positive effect on the Ukrainian economy”, Andrius Kubilius stated.

However, as he added, this plan would not have a positive effect, if Ukraine did not carry out real reforms.

“At the same time, we understand that this money will not be used efficiently if the country would not carry out real reforms. The corruption in Ukraine remains quite strong and there is a risk that the money may be misused. Nonetheless, we must work together to convince Western investors that this plan will be implemented in Ukraine and that the Ukrainian government will keep on reforming the state”, the Lithuanian politician said.

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Kyiv Security Forum was launched by the Arseniy Yatsenyuk Foundation Open Ukraine in 2007 is an annual international event to high-level discussions on the current issues in the Black Sea region and wider Europe. The Forum aims at increasing security cooperation between the EU and the Black Sea region, raising awareness about regional developments among key regional players, promoting the role of independent and non-governmental actors in setting the security agenda in Europe.