Mykola Riabchuk: Culture has Long Substituted Other Institutions for Ukrainians

Ukraine finds itself in a rather specific situation since culture has been substituting for centuries all the other institutions – parliament, school, church.

Mykola Riabchuk, the President of the Ukrainian PEN Center, stated this during the 11th Kyiv Security Forum in Kyiv.

"Ukraine finds itself in a rather specific situation since culture has been a substitute for centuries, replacing all other institutions – parliament, school, church,” he said.

According to M.Riabchuk, nowadays culture plays, of course, a different role in the Ukrainian society, as all these institutions are present.

At the same time, Ukrainians are still “under the pressure of the imperial influence that was perpetrated on us as aborigines”.

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The annual international event Kyiv Security Forum was launched by the Arseniy Yatsenyuk Foundation Open Ukraine in 2007 as a platform for high-level discussions on the current issues in Europe and the Black Sea region. 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.

The event is being held with the support of NATO Information and Documentation Center in Ukraine, the German Marshall Fund, The Victor Pinchuk Foundation, The Royal Institute of International Relations, Chatham House (UK), and The Regional Representative Office of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Ukraine.