The head of the President's Office, Andriy Yermak, told journalists about Ukraine's chances of obtaining frozen assets of the Russian Federation, the implementation of the "Peace Formula" and relations with Hungary and China.
These and other questions are discussed in the interview of the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak to the news agency "Interfax-Ukraine«
Just the day before, you had a telephone conversation with the head of the Hungarian Foreign Ministry, Peter Szijarto, and have already scheduled a meeting in Uzhgorod on January 29. In the last few weeks, we have been observing the invigoration of contacts with the Hungarian side. What does this indicate? Can we already say that we are moving towards a meeting between Zelenskyi and Orban?
We are definitely moving towards the meeting between Zelenskyi and Orban. This will be the main task during our meeting with Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba and Minister Siyarto on January 29 in Uzhhorod.
We agreed to spend as many hours as needed to discuss all issues and reach an understanding when, where and with what potential agreements the meeting between the President of Ukraine and the Prime Minister of Hungary can take place.
Dmytro Kuleba and I want to go through the entire range of issues. We have a lot of them. Hungary is our neighbor, Hungary is a member of the European Union and NATO. Therefore, we should talk and establish a constructive dialogue.
And yet, earlier such contacts did not succeed. In your opinion, what is the reason for the change in Hungary's position in this case? Because our - Ukrainian position has not changed...
Let's put it this way: this is probably both a change in Hungary's position and, after all, the results of two years of war, and the results of our advancement to the European Union, and the results of our rapprochement with NATO. That is, many factors.
It seems to me that in general the world respects the strong, the world respects those who respect themselves, and those in whom they see a future. I believe that Ukraine - unfortunately, as a result of this tragic war, but for many decades, for many centuries, has shown the whole world that we are strong and we will always be so, we are independent and quite purposeful. Many say they are ambitious. I like that word too.
During Zelensky's recent visit to Switzerland, this country expressed readiness to host the World Summit. How much closer has he become after this visit of the president? And at least approximately - when is it expected?
It became quite real. This is already a real agreement. We passed the second part of the ten-point Peace Formula at the last meeting of national security advisers in Davos. Working groups presented the results of their work.
As you know, the working groups include not only Ukraine, but a large number of countries, including the countries of the Global South. Everyone saw that it was already about absolute specifics. That is why we came very close to holding the first Summit at the level of leaders.
The question of the date will depend on the following: we believe that the World Summit should have the maximum number of leaders, and also the time of its holding should be convenient for everyone. As the presidents of Ukraine and Switzerland said, we started work on the Summit while we were still in Davos - the very next day after the agreement. Many of our meetings there were dedicated to this. And today, phone calls and meetings are held every day. We are working on it. As soon as there is an opportunity to announce a potential date, we will certainly do so. But this is already a reality. And this is a big event that needs to be prepared.
In this regard, I want to say that I am very impressed by the level of organization of the meeting of national security advisors by Switzerland. Everything was organized in a short period of time - and at the highest level. It was convenient, comfortable. After all, the main spirit of the work on our President Zelenskyi's Peace Formula is to make it convenient for all countries that respect our sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence to be together and speak very openly.
The uniqueness lies in the fact that for the first time we are trying to solve such a serious problem as ending the war and solving the crises that resulted from this war, not under the table, not on the sidelines, but openly. This, in principle, returns respect to international law, to the origins from which all international organizations were created.
What, in your opinion, prevents China and some countries of the Global South, Latin America, Africa from joining the Peace Formula? There is an opinion that they do not want to join because it will allegedly be interpreted as supporting the US...
Several reasons. The first - I think that, unfortunately, here is our big mistake. Over the past 30 years, we have not been sufficiently represented in these countries, we have not told them enough about Ukraine. As a result, they do not have a clear idea of what Ukraine is, what we are fighting for, etc. But we have such a task. We haven't fully fixed this bug yet, but we're definitely working on all of them. The President set such a task.
The second reason is undoubtedly Russia's influence. Their relationship with the Soviet Union and their perception that Russia is 100% USSR. That is, they do not even know what role Ukraine or other countries of the former Union played in the USSR. That is, it is the influence of Russia, which, of course, categorically does everything to prevent acquaintance with their real role
The third reason is, relatively speaking, the points related to the relations of these countries with the countries that are our allies today. And the fourth is the absence of relations with many of them. Although, to be honest, I communicate with many people in India, Brazil, and South Africa. I talk to the people who are the closest advisers to the leaders of these countries at least once a month, or even more often.
Explaining exactly why the Peace Formula is the way to peace is work, and it takes time. To be honest, this does not surprise me, because before this, options of different forms of using intermediaries were most often used, which in our case has been a complete fiasco since 2014.
And therefore, in this case, it is such a completely new action, which is why it needs time to be clarified. I'll say right away: I don't see a way out of the plan, that it's impossible. It needs work.
During the period of the Councilors' meetings on the Peace Formula from Copenhagen to Davos, we have done a tremendous amount of work. Today, 82 countries are included in our work under our Formula. And, to be honest, even though we have not yet found a complete understanding with many countries of the world, we definitely speak, maybe not as friends, but as good comrades who listen to each other. It is very important.
I greatly value my personal relationship with both the Chairman of the Security Council of India, Mr. Duval, and President Ramaphosa's advisor Mufamadi, and President Lula's Special Envoy Amarim.
And with China?
We also work with China. I am sure that with this country, which was the largest trade partner of Ukraine, a country with which we potentially have many mutually beneficial directions, we have a chance to find grounds for the development of bilateral relations.
It should be taken into account that, unfortunately, relations with China came to us, like many other things, with a certain, to put it mildly, legacy, where there are many issues from the past, unresolved issues and from the point of view of the Chinese side, not quite, let's say so , clear
The Ukrainian side, the Ukrainian president, are definitely ready to resolve these issues. Zelenskyi had two very good, very constructive conversations with Xi Jinping. I can say that I was impressed by the depth of the Chinese leader's knowledge of Ukraine and his warm attitude towards us. You know that at one time he was in Odessa and Odesa region. I believe that we have great potential with China. Once again, you just need to work
According to the Peace Formula - have you finally given up using the UN platform in terms of promoting the Formula? This refers to the preparation of a decision at the General Assembly.
No. We did not refuse it. I have to say, by the way, that Mrs. Dicarlo, who participated in the meeting in Davos (UN Deputy Secretary-General for Political Affairs), and the UN support our Peace Formula. In general, one of the principles on which the Peace Formula is built is the UN Charter. We even saw that there are previously voted resolutions under each point of our Formula. I hope that the UN will be our partner and contribute to the holding of the first World Summit at the level of leaders.
On behalf of the President of Ukraine, I plan to have a telephone conversation with the Secretary General of the UN in the near future and thank him for his participation in the work on the Peace Formula. It is very important for us.
Regarding the agreement with Great Britain on security cooperation: can we say that the text of this document will become the basis for the rest of the agreements with the countries that are being prepared?
Of course, this deal has set a certain trend, a level, and certainly I think it's a level that everyone will try to follow.
Are there any mandatory clauses for Ukraine that should be in other agreements?
They are definitely in the Vilnius Declaration of the G-7 countries, which, I should note, was based on the draft of the Kyiv Security Compact developed by an international expert group under the joint leadership of former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen and myself. These points have already been developed in the treaty with Great Britain.
Of course, it is absolutely important for us that this agreement will be valid until our membership in NATO. It includes provisions on joint production of weapons, specifics of financial support, information security, sanctions, cooperation at the intelligence level. Not only military support. That is, the actual points that were at some declarative level fundamental in the G-7 Vilnius Declaration, and which have currently developed in the agreement with Great Britain, I think that all of them will be used, including with other countries.
Many expected that the first such agreement would still be with the United States, as our main partner. Why did Great Britain overtake them?
It was an internal arrangement. We are preparing with the Americans, we have already started the first consultations. America, as before, remains our main partner, ally.
So I think there will be more in the treaty with the United States. I think it will be even more special. We are working on it.
Does the domestic political situation in the States have any effect on the preparation of this treaty?
No, we have the full support of both parties of Congress today. I emphasize that I met with the Speaker of the House of Representatives in Washington. . Then we held these meetings together with President Zelensky. We came back with positive feelings. We do not have the feeling that the United States' support for Ukraine has somehow changed.
But, without a doubt, they (the USA) have already entered the period of presidential elections. They have their own internal phenomena, but the attitude towards us has not changed. And it seems to me that the level of support from them is very high, as before.
There is one unknown in the position of the Republican Party, namely Trump's opinion. It, as a presidential candidate's point of view, will influence the party's position in one way or another. Do you have any insight or at least a guess, other than what Trump has already said - to quickly end the war regarding his attitude to Ukraine?
It is very important to separate pre-election rhetoric and concrete steps. But we know exactly about the position of the Americans, and any government, any political leaders are always guided by the opinion of their people. The level of support of the American people is very high.
Several questions regarding sanctions against the Russian Federation. It was recently reported that following the latest sanctions against Russia's financial sector, Turkish banks and some Chinese banks refused to cooperate with Russian banks and suspended payments to Russia. What other effect do we expect from this package of sanctions on the financial sector?
We always expect one effect — that the capabilities of Russia's military-industrial machine will decrease. Therefore, this effect today is such a methodical work, in which the work of not only our partners, but also experts, primarily the Yermak-McFaul group, is very important.
It has been showing its high efficiency for two years, because we evaluate, give an examination, what works, etc. Therefore, I am very glad that our analytical work makes it possible, let's say, to adopt very well-thought-out sanctions already today, which either have a lightning effect, or at least lead to some such actions, which, including, you mentioned.
Although many questions remain, as before, we always have a large letter of recommendation, because, as you know, we find a sufficient number of elements, including in rockets that fly through Ukrainian cities, which are also produced in European countries. , and in Western countries.
This is a separate question - who, in your opinion, should play a decisive role in limiting the supply of such elements to Russia? Is this some department in the USA, the European Union?
And here, unfortunately, we cannot do without such a consolidated work, because we understand very well: the world is so big that there are always options for circumventing sanctions, etc. Therefore, when this happens, sometimes the Americans are the first to do it, sometimes the European Union. But to date, we have really coordinated work at a very high level. Vlad Vlasyuk (senior adviser to the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine) and Yuliya Svyridenko (First Vice Prime Minister – Minister of Economy of Ukraine) are also engaged in this.
Therefore, in principle, today we are in full and practically daily coordination with all departments of our partners. Of course, sometimes economic factors arise, sometimes factors arise, as, for example, with Russian propagandists, when the legislation of the partner countries is such that they have to weigh all the nuances, all possible lawsuits, how they will react to it and many other factors. But we do not stop for a moment.
I believe that no matter what Russian narratives come out there, sanctions have a devastating effect on the Russian economy. It doesn't always happen quickly enough, but it is very effective in the long run.
Recently, one Russian newspaper published information that Russia is already ready for the confiscation of Russian assets by the West, and the Russian government has hired legal companies that will appeal all these decisions. Is it true that the issue of confiscation of frozen state assets of the Russian Federation is one step closer to being realized?..
Yes, this question has indeed become one step closer. That is why the rhetoric of Russia, including the leadership of Russia, and today I read the news that they are going to demand the property of Tsarist Russia, etc. … I think in doing so they are openly admitting that they have few tools to counter it. You can always see behind them when they start insulting, threatening and so on: so, "good boots - you have to take them!"
According to the materials Interfax-Ukraine.
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