“The Strongest Weapon of the Ukrainian Government is the Truth” – Ukraine's VP

What You Need To Know:

✅ “The strongest weapon of the Ukrainian government is the truth;”

✅ “Unfortunately this weak and cautious position of the partners and of the west has caused Russia feeling impunity and then moving on with the attack and illegal annexation on Crimea and open attack on eastern part of Ukrainian Donbas;”

✅ Most EU sanctions with regard to the Russian Federation are tied to the implementation of the Minsk Agreements and Ukraine’s VP strongly believes that Ukraine’s partners are willing to keep Putin within the framework of those negotiations and within the framework of those promises;

✅ Russia, by trying to provide the world with falsified information on alleged subversive groups in Crimea and by suggesting that diplomatic relations with Ukraine be cut, proves Russia’s real intentions of trying to escalate the situation.

Heightened tensions between Russia and Ukraine have alarmed many political leaders and international organizations. Some have made statements acknowledging Ukraine’s territorial integrity. Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, Ukraine’s Vice-Prime Minister On European Integration says that “the strongest weapon of the Ukrainian government is the truth,” and praises the efforts of all journalists who are providing objective evidence that discredits claims presented by the Russian Federation.

Klympush-Tsintsadze warns of the failure to ignore warning signs from the aggressor: “unfortunately this weak and cautious position of the partners and of the west has caused Russia feeling impunity and then moving on with the attack and illegal annexation on Crimea and open attack on eastern part of Ukrainian Donbas.”

Most EU sanctions with regard to the Russian Federation are tied to the implementation of the Minsk Agreements and Ukraine’s VP strongly believes that Ukraine’s partners are willing to keep Putin within the framework of those negotiations and within the framework of those promises. She warns, however, that “his statement of the senselessness of the Normandy Format, should be alerting for all of our partners.”

Russia, by trying to provide the world with falsified information on alleged subversive groups in Crimea and by suggesting that diplomatic relations with Ukraine be cut, proves Russia’s real intentions of trying to escalate the situation, says Klympush-Tsintsadze. “We as Ukraine, back in early march or April of 2014, immediately after the illegal annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, should have actually reacted at that point and stopped diplomatic relationship with the Russia Federation. “

Hromadske’s Nataliya Gumenyuk and Andriy Kulykov spoke to Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, Ukraine’s Vice-Prime Minister On European Integration during The Sunday Show on August 14th, 2016