As Ukraine Sets Agenda For President-elect, Volodymyr Zelenskiy

On 21 April, 2019, Ukraine went to the polls in a presidential runoff, which led to the emergence of a political newcomer, Mr Volodymyr Zelenskiy in the face of growing Russian aggression. As expected, stakeholders are beginning to set agenda for the incoming administration. OMONU NELSON writes. The republic of Ukraine went to polls on 21 April, 2019, in a runoff election that sure to the emergence of a political outsider (newcomer), Mr Volodymyr Zelenskiy as president. As expected, stakeholders are beginning to set agenda for the incoming administration. For Nigeria, who shares historical ties with Ukraine in military, education, technology and infrastructures agreement, the Ukrainian envoy to Nigeria, Dr Valerii Aleksandruk, explained that the status quo will be maintained, if anything, the relationship will be taking to another level under the new administration. About 5,000 Nigerians are currently studying in Ukraine, especially Medical Sciences. It is also on record that when most countries turned Nigeria’s request for arms, Ukraine supplied Nigeria with military equipment and training in heat of the Boko Haram crisis. Ukraine’s presidential election, according to the international observers, were fair, transparent and in line with all democratic standards. Mr Volodomyr Zelenskiy, the 41-year old political novice, scored a victory in runoff presidential vote, winning 73,22 per cent of the vote. The incumbent president Petro Poroshenko received 24,45% of the vote. Meanwhile, world leaders congratulated the President-elect Mr Zelenskiy on his victory in the election and also stressed their hope that he will continue the country’s political and economic reforms. Among those who congratulated Mr Zelensky are the United States President Donald Trump, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and Council President Donald Tusk, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Prime Minister of United Kingdom Theresa May and many others. In the meantime, President-elect Mr Zelenskiy has reiterated Ukraine’s chosen European path and future reforms. Zelensky is coming at a time of heightened Russian aggression against the Ukrainian state. In a statement last Wednesday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine expressed its resolute protest in relation to the decree of the president of the Russian Federation that allows for Russian illegal “passportization” on the temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts of Ukraine. The statement said, the republic of Ukraine considers this document, “passportization” to be legally null and void and it shall not alter the affiliation to Ukrainian citizenship of the residents of certain territories of Donbas, occupied by Russia. According to the statement, with the action of “Passportization”, Russia has, once again, violated the state sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine and in so doing has taken an intentional step towards destroying the Minsk Agreements to which Russia is a party. “These actions represent a blatant interference in Ukraine’s internal affairs as well as Russia’s creeping annexation of Ukraine’s Donbas. Russia’s key objective is to destabilize the domestic political situation in this post-electoral period. It also confirms Russia’s intention to continue its act of aggression against Ukraine and its reluctance to deescalate. “The illegal “passportization” of Ukrainian citizens means that the Kremlin recognizes its occupation of certain territories of Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Once again, Russia debunks its own propaganda narrative that this is a so-called “internal conflict in Ukraine”. Of particular concern is the practice of illegal “passportization” of territories that Russia has illegally occupied. This strategy has been applied by the Kremlin in other protracted conflicts as a legal and humanitarian pretext for further aggression. “We demand that the Kremlin administration abolishes this outrageous decision and we call on the international community to respond by increasing political, diplomatic and sanctions pressure on the aggressor state, the statement said. Meanwhile, Ukraine has filed a request in the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (“ITLOS”) seeking provisional relief against the Russian Federation. The Request seeks the release of the three Ukrainian naval vessels and the twenty-four servicemen unlawfully seized by the Russian Federation in the Black Sea on 25 November 2018. Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (“UNCLOS”), naval vessels and the personnel on board have complete immunity, meaning that foreign nations may not seize them, detain them, or subject them to legal proceedings. Ukraine said the Russia’s seizure of Ukraine’s vessels in the Black Sea, continued detention of the vessels and the servicemen on board, and attempted criminal prosecution of those servicemen blatantly violates UNCLOS. On 1 April 2019, following months of efforts to secure the release of its naval vessels and servicemen and Russia’s continued, unjustified refusal to do so, Ukraine notified Russia that it was commencing mandatory arbitration under UNCLOS. Ukraine also has requested that ITLOS order immediate provisional relief to Ukraine by releasing its naval ships and 24 servicemen, in light of the urgency of the situation. Since their capture on 25 November 2018, Russia has continued to detain Ukraine’s naval vessels and its servicemen. The servicemen, who are being held in Russian prisons pending trial for alleged criminal violations of Russia’s border control laws, have been subjected to interrogation and involuntary psychological evaluations. If ultimately convicted, they may be sentenced to up to six years in Russian labor camps. Ukraine said every additional day of detention harms the Ukrainian servicemen and constitutes a further affront to Ukraine’s legal rights under UNCLOS and customary international law. Today’s request for provisional relief seeks to protect against the serious and irreparable harm that will be caused by the continued detention of Ukraine’s naval vessels and the continued detention and prosecution of its servicemen. The next step in the proceedings will be a hearing before ITLOS on Ukraine’s request. Ukraine expects such a hearing to be scheduled within the next several weeks, and that a decision will issue soon thereafter. In retrospect, with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Ukraine became an independent state, formalised with a referendum on December 1. With the 2004 enlargement of the European Union, Ukraine now became an area of overlapping spheres of influence of the European Union and the Russian Federation. This manifested in a political split between the “pro-Russian” Eastern Ukraine, and the “pro-European” Western Ukraine, leading to an ongoing period of political turmoil, beginning with the “Orange Revolution” of 2004.