Ukrainian interest: Litmus Security Council, missile swap and Azarov's intentions

The meeting of the UN Security Council session on setting up an MH17 international criminal tribunal saw a projected outcome. Petro Poroshenko offered the Western countries a logical exchange of military deterrents. Mykola Azarov has decided to rescue Ukraine.

A year passed since the downing over Donbas of the Boeing-777 passenger jet with 298 passengers and crew members on board. The unprecedented crime demanded a special investigation, and Dutch law enforcement agencies are willing to release a report on the causes of death of an airliner. Meanwhile, the states that are interested in punishing the murderers offered the UN Security Council to set up a special tribunal to investigate into the atrocious crime.

The voting at the meeting of the Security Council was predictable. Right ahead of the vote, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that creating a tribunal was not timely, while Russia’s representative to the UN, Vitaly Churkin, withstood the political line of his state with particular cynicism. The Russian veto provoked outrage in a civilized world, hardly adding the Kremlin any sympathies. Even for the random people, not familiar with the problem, it should appear weird that a state bans the search for justice in the case where the crime did not occur in its territory and no Russian citizens were killed.

REUTERS

However, Russia’s position seems to be influenced not so much by the foreign policy, but rather by the internal political factors. On the international stage, Putin has long used the ideology of the country’s impunity, but within his own country he has been building up an atmosphere of a besieged fortress, trying to maximize popular consolidation around himself, the one to be loved. Regular sociological studies show that the level of popular support for the Russian president does not fall below 85%. However, the popularity is one of the mandatory attributes of all dictators. New sanctions imposed by the US against certain Russian and Ukrainian companies and citizens is another convincing evidence that Washington had adopted the principle of "No one is forgotten, nothing is forgotten".

Poroshenko reminded the West of its old promises / Photo from UNIAN

Petro Poroshenko refreshed the memory of the international community by stressing that Ukraine has the right to rely on at least 1,240 anti-tank Javelin missiles - one for each nuclear warhead Ukraine had given away under the Budapest agreement. It is obvious that such an exchange will not be carried out automatically, but Poroshenko correctly draws the West’s attention to the need of the Ukrainian Army in modern types of weaponry.

Azarov has taken to "rescue" Ukraine / Photo from UNIAN

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s fugitive ex-prime minister Mykola Azarov has decided to return to a spotlight by telling the Russian media about his intention to establish a Committee for the Salvation of Ukraine. It is not clear yet, how the politician who spent a record time in the prime minister's chair will save the country, but he has quite a “noble” support group - Ihor Markov, Oleh Tsaryov and Volodymyr Oliynyk. It is interesting to note that Viktor Yanukovych is not mentioned among these supporters. The disgraced ex-president now has other worries - his lawyers have been discussing with Ukrainian law enforcement the format in which Yanukovych is to testify in a trial against him.

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