Romania and the Situation in Ukraine

The Romanian community in Ukraine, numbering around half a million people, is mostly concentrated in the west of the country, on the Romanian territories seized by the Soviet Union in 1940 and inherited by Ukraine, as successor country, in 1991.

It is for this community, the second largest minority in Ukraine after the Russian one, that the Romanian checkpoint in Vicov, shut down in 2010, will be reopened.

This will shorten the route between the Ukrainian town of Cernauti and the Romanian village of Putna by 100 kilometers.

On Monday, Prime Minister Victor Ponta reiterated Romania’s total and unconditional support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and pointed out also that Bucharest backed all the decisions regarding the economic sanctions imposed on Russia.

“What matters the most is that Romania’s stance, similar to that of the European Union and of the United States, is very firm and clear as far as Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity are concerned. It’s important that Russia should withdraw any support for the separatists in eastern Ukraine. This is, in our opinion, the most important goal in the short-term”, Victor Ponta said.

Launched in Moscow, the hypothesis of a possible federalization of Ukraine is not accepted by Bucharest.

“A more extensive form of decentralization might be worth considering, or increased powers granted to regional authorities. But this is the decision of the Ukrainian political forces. We by no means believe that any suggestions and requests from the outside are likely to ease this political process. The political process depends exclusively on Ukraine’s internal sovereignty”, Foreign Minister Titus Corlatean said.

Any re-launch of Ukraine’s internal political process is conditioned, in the Romanian authorities’ opinion, on Russia’s withdrawing its political and military support for the pro-Russian separatists.

In the meantime, in eastern Ukraine the national army has made significant progress against the rebels in the past few weeks.

In their turn, the rebels have announced a counteroffensive.

The US has denounced Russia’s increased involvement in the conflict.

Against this background, Ukrainian president Petro Porosenko dissolved the Parliament in Kiev and called for early elections on October 26.

Porosenko hopes that by that time the situation in eastern Ukraine will be stable enough so that pro-European policies and the campaign against the pro-Russians can be legitimized.

In four months of conflict, over 2,200 people have died, thousands have been wounded and hundreds of thousands have fled their homes.