When Robert Serry arrived in Kyiv, he sensed that Ukraine’s independence would carry consequences far beyond its borders—though not the tragedy seen today.
Robert Serry, the first Dutch ambassador to Ukraine from 1992 to 1996, believes that an independent Ukraine has been crucial to the future of Europe and European security from the very beginning.
Robert Serry recalled his appointment as the first Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Netherlands to Ukraine in 1992. According to him, even then he understood the historic importance of the emergence of an independent Ukrainian state.
Even then, I began to realize that I had been appointed to a country that would change Europe. Not in the tragic sense in which this is happening now, but I immediately felt that Ukraine would be enormously important for European security, and that an independent Ukraine would become the best counterweight to Russian imperialism.
– Robert Serry
Ukraine and European Security
During his travels across different regions of Ukraine, the diplomat saw a strong shared identity among Ukrainians. As Serry noted, it was evident not only in the west of the country but in other parts as well.
He described Ukraine as a beautiful country with great potential. At the same time, in the 1990s, Robert Serry did not expect that the disagreements between Ukraine and Russia would ultimately lead to a full-scale war.
At that time, in the former Dutch ambassador’s view, there was still hope for a negotiated settlement of difficult issues, including the status of the Black Sea Fleet, Crimea, and other problems in relations between Kyiv and Moscow.
Ukraine’s Renunciation of Nuclear Weapons
Robert Serry also recalled the circumstances under which Ukraine gave up its nuclear weapons after gaining independence. He stressed that the decision was influenced both by the issue of actual control over the nuclear forces and by cooperation with Western partners and international financial institutions.
First, Ukraine did not actually control these nuclear forces, since command was based in Moscow rather than Kyiv. Second, Ukraine’s cooperation with the West, the IMF, and the World Bank also depended on the decision to give up these weapons. All of this took place under very difficult circumstances. And here, the United States played a far more important role than European countries.
– Robert Serry
In Robert Serry’s view, after independence was declared, Ukrainians were determined to defend their statehood at any cost. At the same time, in Russia, disappointment with the reforms of the Yeltsin era and Putin’s rise to power, in his assessment, strengthened an imperial attitude toward Ukraine.
Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten, during a conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, also confirmed that the Netherlands would continue to support Ukraine.