Eröffnung des XXIV. Greifswalder Ukrainicums – Greifswald Ukrainian Summer School „Ukraine‘s Forced Choice” mit Oksana, Syroyid LL. M. (Kyiw)

It’s 2.000 km from Berlin to Shchastya. This is precisely how far the line of collision between Russia and Western civilization has moved over the past decades. Russia will always try to „cut a window into Europe“. Such „windows“ are the Black (and later Mediterranean) Sea and the Baltic Sea, which Russia must control in order to qualify for the role of a „great power.“ After the illegal annexation of Crimea, it is necessary for Russia to establish political control over Ukraine. To secure the south-eastern flank and move further to the Baltic through Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland. And from there it’s not too far to Berlin ... That’s why there is no „conflict in the East of Ukraine“. There is a permanent conflict between Russia and Western civilization. The question is only where the West will be able to hold the brink of this conflict - in Shchastya or in Berlin? There are just two strong levers of deterrence against Russia: a consensus within the Western world and an independent and prosperous Ukraine.

Oksana Syroyid is a Ukrainian politician and jurist. She was elected to the Verkhovna Rada in the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary elections. In December 2014, she became the first woman to serve as the deputy speaker of the Ukrainian Parliament. As a member of parliament, she worked on draft laws on judicial reform, reform of police and prosecution, local selfgovernance reform and reform of the decision-making process in the Cabinet of Ministers. Oksana Syroyid works on defense and security issues. She is a professor at Kyiv School of Economics teaching the following
courses: Law, Politics and Governance, Legislative Drafting. She is also the director of the Ukrainian Legal Foundation.

Moderation: Professor Dr. Roman Dubasevych