A blow to diplomacy: what should be Ukraine’s reaction to the shelling of the Consulate-General of Poland?
Ruslan Kermach Political analyst, Democratic Initiatives Foundation | In the middle of the night on March 29, 2017 unknown individuals shelled the premises of the Consulate-General of Poland in the Ukrainian city of Lutsk. According to information of law enforcers, the shell that damaged the roof of the consulate building was fired from a grenade launcher. In connection with this incident the work of all consular institutions of the Republic of Poland on the territory of Ukraine was temporarily suspended. Head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland Witold Waszczykowski noted that the consulates of Poland will renew their work when their safety in Ukraine is guaranteed. Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Pavlo Klimkin in his turn expressed “his concern about the provocation against the Consulate-General of Poland in Lutsk” and promised to do everything in his power to punish the guilty in this provocation. |
The sensational incident connected with the attack on diplomatic institution of Poland in Ukraine is the serious challenge not only for Ukrainian-Polish bilateral relations, but also for Ukraine’s entire law enforcement system. The international image and reputation of Ukraine as a state capable of effectively counteracting possible acts of terrorism on its territory will to a large degree depend on the effectiveness and results of responses to this challenge. Moreover, the stakes in this incident of the shelled consulate of Poland are fairly high seeing as the matter is not solely about security in Ukraine itself, but about the national security of a foreign state whose diplomatic institution turned out to be the target of provocative attack organized and executed by unknown individuals.
Under these circumstances, the traditional hasty communiques of Ukrainian officials regarding the “hand of Russia” behind this incident are clearly inadequate, because sometimes attempts to justify the inadequate competency of the work of Ukraine’s law enforcement structures or their unwillingness to bring the matter to its logical end could be hidden behind such wording. And although certain signals about the presence of Russian interests in this saga are already visible, it is after all important for the Ukrainian side to take to the maximum a cool and professional approach, as well as demonstrate its willingness to seriously consider all possible versions of who might stand behind this unlawful act committed last week in Lutsk corroborating its charges by facts and hard evidence. Effective work in this direction is also important in light of the planned hosting of the Eurovision international contest in Kyiv next month.
The current measures already taken by the Polish side aimed at temporary limitation of the work of its consular institutions all over Ukraine can explain the serious nature of Warsaw’s approach to the recent incident. On its part in the situation that has unfolded it is worthwhile for official Kyiv to take a no less serious approach to investigating the provocation against the foreign diplomatic institution in Ukraine. It is also desirable to engage to the maximum extent possible experts and law enforcers of the Polish side in the investigation in order to avoid accusations of bias or non-objectiveness in the investigation into this incident. Such a step might not only foster the quickest establishment of the truth and the guilty perpetrators of this act, but would also serve as the important objectives of reinforcing the level of trust between Ukraine and Poland in a complicated period of time for bilateral relations of these two countries.
