President Zelenskyy To Kazakhstan: We Ukrainians Are Now Fighting For Our Freedom And Yours – OpEd
On May 24, 2024, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky met with a group of journalists from Central Asian countries, namely from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan, and answered their questions. The meeting reportedly took place on the premises of the Factor-druk publishing house in Kharkiv that had been bombed the previous day. Speaking to Central Asian journalists, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy suggested some Central Asian countries are frightened of Moscow and urged them to join a Kyiv-backed peace initiative.
“Your leaders’ balance is a bit off. I think they are tilting towards Russia out of fear of the Kremlin”, he said. “Tell me what those who don’t join [the Ukraine peace summit] are afraid of? They are afraid of losing something, afraid of losing even their relationship with today’s Kremlin. That doesn’t help end the war. Imagine that one of your countries finds itself in – God Forbid – our situation. How would your people look at the countries that do not support [peace]? Or, they kind of support it, but do not join [peace initiatives]? Sanctions may be a government policy issue, but a peace summit is about nothing, but peace, and dialogue. Imagine that you are alone in the war against any aggressor at all. I think it is weakness, a sign of weakness [to just stand by]. We [Ukrainians] would certainly like Central Asian leaders to be present [at the summit] to show their support for the very event”.
The President of Ukraine also noted that “today, none of your countries can have either a military or strategic alliance with Putin”.
His words about the Central Asian nations ‘tilting towards Russia out of fear of the Kremlin’ apparently could not have been left unanswered by governmental officials of Kazakhstan which, according to Vladimir Putin, is ‘the closest ally of Russia’, especially in conditions where Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan seem to have chosen to ignore them. The response by official Astana, though not immediately, came. On June 3, ten days after President Zelensky had met with that group of journalists from Central Asian countries, the Kazakh MFA made an official comment on that interview by the President of Ukraine to Central Asian journalists. What is remarkable is the way it was worded. In Monday’s briefing, the official representative of the Kazakh Ministry of Foreign Affairs Aibek Smadiyarov said: “Representing Kazakhstan’s MFA, I wouldn’t like to comment on that interview of the President of Ukraine. But we can not leave it overlooked. As far as we know, the Ukrainian side initiated this project independently and invited some private media in Kazakhstan. This information did not pass through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan. I would like to say that this whole idea of organizing an interview seems very doubtful to us. The material [the content of the interview] turned out to be more emotional than rational”. This seems like a short passage. But it raises several questions at once.
First. Does the words ‘the Ukrainian side initiated this project independently and invited some private media in Kazakhstan’ mean that because in advance official Astana hadn’t been informed of that meeting, it has taken a critical view of it? Freedom of the press, as one form of freedom of expression, implies the prohibition of prior authorization. The Ukrainian side has had every right to independently initiate such a project and invite private media representatives from any country that does not deny the right to liberty of journalists. The latter, in turn, were not obliged to coordinate their actions with the authorities of their home countries.
Second. How acceptable for one country’s MFA is it to describe an event hosted by top authorities of some other country as ‘very doubtful’ given that it is not directed squarely against the former’s interests?
Third. How appropriate is a reaction to the speech by Volodymyr Zelensky, leader of a country in the war that has brought strenuous hardships to its people, expressed by the official representative of the Kazakh Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the following terms “The material [the contents of his interview] turned out to be more emotional than rational”? As the Kazakhs say in such cases, a hungry child doesn’t play with a full child, and the latter doesn’t expect he will be hungry.
In the specific context of the present case, the Ukrainian side deserves to be treated with more respect. During the above meeting, Volodymyr Zelensky said he did not consider the Central Asian states enemies due to their neutral position. According to him, he is ready to meet with the Presidents of Central Asian countries.
He made it clear that he understood everything and judged no one. He just gave that warning: “Everyone found a balance with the Russians, with their policies – economic, military, and so on, so as not to awaken the beast. But the fact is that the beast does not ask anyone: it wakes up when it wants”.
The Turkish national television channel TRT entitled its report on the Kharkiv meeting “Zelensky: Kazakhstan will be next after Ukraine”. Eadaily.com, a Russian pro-Kremlin outlet, said: “In his interview, Zelensky said that if Russia wins over Ukraine, Kazakhstan will be next”.
So, to paraphrase those words by the Ukrainian President, they can be read as “We Ukrainians are now fighting for our freedom and yours”.
By the way, on the same day that Mr. Zelensky met with a group of journalists from Central Asian countries, namely from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, May 24, in an interview with Komsomol’skaya Pravda-Radio, Pyotr Tolstoy, the Deputy Speaker of Russia’s Parliament, claimed Kazakhstan could become the ‘next problem’ for Russia after Ukraine. Currenttime.tv commented on the speeches of the Russian MP as follows: “Russian politicians go on to look for enemies in neighboring countries. And once again, they are turning their attention to Kazakhstan”. And try to say after that the Ukrainian President overstates the threat posed to the security of Kazakhstan.
