When Robert Serry arrived in Kyiv, he sensed that Ukraine\u2019s independence would carry consequences far beyond its borders\u2014though not the tragedy seen today.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u2013 Robert Serry<\/p>\n
Ukraine and European Security<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
At that time, in the former Dutch ambassador\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
Ukraine\u2019s Renunciation of Nuclear Weapons<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
First, Ukraine did not actually control these nuclear forces, since command was based in Moscow rather than Kyiv. Second, Ukraine\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
\u2013 Robert Serry<\/p>\n
In Robert Serry\u2019s 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\u2019s rise to power, in his assessment, strengthened an imperial attitude toward Ukraine.<\/p>\n
Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten, during a conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, also confirmed that the Netherlands would continue to support Ukraine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Robert Serry arrived in Kyiv, he sensed that Ukraine\u2019s independence would carry consequences far beyond its borders\u2014though…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":29057,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[10399,10400,82,10401,10402,10398,10403,3831],"class_list":["post-29056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-dutch-ambassador-ukraine","tag-netherlands-support-ukraine","tag-news","tag-nuclear-disarmament-ukraine","tag-robert-serry","tag-robert-serry-dutch-ambassador-ukraine-ukraine-european-security-ukrainian-independence-nuclear-disarmament-ukraine-netherlands-support-ukraine","tag-ukraine-european-security","tag-ukrainian-independence"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29056"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29056\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}