Thread by @SlawomirDebski

Great @AmbDanFried is a top-notch expert on Central & Eastern Europe so it’s no surprise that he called attention to the “Declaration of Joint European Heritage and Common Values” (the Vilnius Declaration) signed by the FMs🇱🇹🇵🇱🇺🇦(Text here: gov.pl/web/diplomacy/…) Thread 1/20

https://twitter.com/ambdanfried/status/1413262853595963393

2) The Vilnius Declaration goes beyond political symbolism - an act of political homage paid to the republican, democratic, and freedom traditions of the ancient Commonwealth. The signatories see it a driving force of today's political cooperation of 🇱🇹-🇵🇱-🇺🇦.

3) It's a revolutionary document, that can be regarded as a symbolic turning point foretelling the end of an ongoing 150 year process of nationalizing the past by Lithuanians, Poles & Ukrainians, an unavoidable phase for any nation&state building process. gov.pl/web/diplomacy/…

4) In Western Europe nationalism was a strong driver of imperialism and colonialism; in Central and Eastern Europe it drove the struggle for freedom and national self-determination, thus being an anti-imperial force – in the case of Poland, of anti-German and anti-Russian edge.

5) Meanwhile 🇱🇹&🇺🇦 national movements of the 19th & 20th centuries, fearing 🇵🇱 cultural&demographic predominance, traditionally portrayed the Commonwealth as a tool of 🇵🇱 oppression, even bondage. Therefore their struggle for national identity often meant rejecting its tradition.

6) But now the Vilnius declaration underlines the Commonwealth as the common, primordial state of today’s Belarusians, Lithuanians, Poles, and Ukrainians, a political community that developed these nations’ shared love for freedom, sovereignty and rejection of despotism.

https://twitter.com/dmytrokuleba/status/1412487517895639048

7) Now 🇱🇹, 🇵🇱 and 🇺🇦 recognise that the tradition of the Commonwealth not only helped mold their European identities and feelings of national dignity but is also both, an asset in the European integration process as well as a challenge to the imperial idea of 'Russkiy mir'.

8) Actually, it was 🇺🇦FM @DmytroKuleba , who upon signing the declaration emphasized to the media that it is an ideological response to “Russian world,” accentuating the eternal connection of Ukraine with Europe, incl. its legal & political cultures radiosvoboda.org/a/news-liublin…

9) Recalling the positive role of the Commonwealth goes against the Russian imperial propaganda,incl. Putin’s delusions based largely on 19th century concepts of Russian nationalism, claiming Belarusians and Ukrainians and Russians to be of the one nation.
chathamhouse.org/2021/05/myths-…

10) The Kremlin's propaganda already circulates the thesis that Warsaw is building a „Polish mir” currently aiming to vassalize Ukraine and in the future, Belarus and sees the Vilnius declaration as a threat to the Kremlin interests:
russian.rt.com/world/article/…

11) BTW Russian imperial propaganda consistently seeks to enflame antagonisms between Poles and Lithuanians, Poles and Ukrainians,

https://twitter.com/mfa_russia/status/1359240349407969281?s=20

12) The declaration emphasizing the cultural and political unity among Belarusians, Lithuanians, Poles, and Ukrainians is a reminder that Moscow’s domination over Belarus & Ukraine was relatively recent, spanning only 200 years.This point supports Ukraine’s European aspirations.

13) Precisely this contemporary aspect of the Vilnius declaration is the most important.Neither does the foreign minister’s document solve the historical disputes over common heritage,nor does it provide any arguments toward it. Rather it accentuates its common political utility.

14) Thus the signing of the declaration should rather be seen in the context of the German decision to complete the #NordStream2 pipeline and the Biden administration’s decision over ceasing efforts to stop this project.

15) In February 2021 ministers @RauZbigniew and @DmytroKuleba warned that completion of NS2 is a threat to Western unity and increases Putin’s abilities to endanger peace throughout Europe politico.eu/article/nord-s…

16) In the @faznet newspaper Rau recently called attention to the fact that activating NS2 will generate a security deficit on NATO’s eastern flank while creating a security vacuum for Ukraine gov.pl/web/diplomacy/…

17) Rau also declared Poland's readiness to participate in the compensation of the emerging deficit - by increasing the deterrence potential on NATO's eastern flank, defense potential of Ukraine, its energy sovereignty and by strengthening its feeling of unity with Europe.

18) However, the struggle with this deficit demands contesting feelings of abandoning and alienating Ukraine whose defense interests were ignored by Germany and to a much lesser degree by the Biden administration zn.ua/international/…

19) Thus the Vilnius declaration is a political act – it underscores Ukraine’s bond with Europe and the transatlantic community originating in the tradition of the Commonwealth, as well as Ukraine’s right to seek membership in NATO and the EU. urm.lt/default/en/new…

20) Since Lithuania and Poland became NATO and EU members by referring to the political tradition of the Commonwealth, then Ukraine, which is part of this same tradition, can’t be discriminated against in its aspirations to join NATO and the EU. #END.