The recent statement of Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski about a possible referendum on the future of Crimea became the subject of discussion and criticism among political experts. Political scientist Volodymyr Fesenko considers this position to be wrong, but urges not to raise a wave of hate around Sikorsky, pointing out his commitment to Ukraine.
About "Sikorsky's statement" regarding Crimea
When I heard today, and then read the information about the "statement" of Sikorski (Poland's Minister of Foreign Affairs) about the transfer of Crimea to the UN mandate, and then the holding of a referendum in Crimea 20 years later, I was very surprised. The fact is that the mass media reported that Sikorsky made such a "statement" at the Yalta European Strategy (YES) conference. I was at this conference, which took place on September 13-14, I heard Sikorsky's speech there, but I did not hear this statement. Of course, I did not attend all the events of this conference, I could have missed something. But why did this "statement" appear only today? As I found out from colleagues who were also at the Yalta European Strategy conference, Sikorsky's words, which are now being circulated as his "statement", were heard during an informal night-time discussion in the "night cup" format late on September 13. Most likely, this was Sikorsky's unofficial opinion ("a flight of fancy") about how the Crimean problem could be solved in a compromise way. But Sikorsky did not make any official statements on this topic at the YES conference. And that is why I believe that it is not entirely correct to talk about "Sikorsky's statement".
Why did this "statement" begin to be mentioned, replicated and criticized only now, almost a week after it appeared? Any significant statements of the participants of the YES conference (from President Zelensky to Mike Pompeo or Jake Sullivan and many others) were quoted almost immediately, at least the next day. And then there is a pause of six days. According to the laws of operational journalism, this seems strange. I would venture to assume that the whole row around "Sikorsky's statement" started as a result of the information that appeared in the Polish mass media about the emotionally tense meeting between the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland Radoslav Sikorsky. Ours responded to the informational and political "leaks" of the Poles with their own "leaks".
The very idea of Sikorsky was absolutely rightly criticized. I will remind you exactly what the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland proposed. According to various Ukrainian publications, Sikorskyi said that Kyiv and Moscow will not be able to agree on peace without the demilitarization of Crimea. He proposed to hand over Crimea "under a UN mandate with a mission to prepare an honest referendum after checking who are legal residents and so on... And we could postpone it for 20 years." The opinion, to put it mildly, is very controversial. First, it is unrealistic. We can almost certainly say that Putin will not agree to such a "compromise". It was not for this reason that he captured and annexed Crimea, so that he would then transfer it to the control of the UN. But the idea of a referendum is the most wrong, even in 20 years. During this time, the Russification of Crimea in all senses will only intensify, a change of generations will occur (and Russia has been ideologically formatting the residents of Crimea for 10 years), so the result of such a referendum will be known in advance. It is even surprising that such intelligent Western politicians as Radoslav Sikorskyi still fantasize about the ideas of "democratic compromises" to solve the problem of those territories of Ukraine that were occupied and annexed by Russia.
I believe that Sikorsky must respond to all this "information noise" about his "statement" and explain his position in order to remove another purely artificial conflict problem in the already difficult relations between Poland and Ukraine today.
However, I will also draw attention to another problem, from our side. In my opinion, it would be absolutely wrong to start a critical information campaign against Radoslav Sikorskyi in Ukraine. He is probably the most pro-Ukrainian minister in the current Polish government and one of the most consistent supporters of Ukraine among European politicians. It is necessary to fight against enemies, not against friends, even if they make certain erroneous statements. It is necessary to overcome misunderstandings with friends and explain our position to them convincingly, but in a friendly manner.
