‘American democracy will work’: Kyiv official
Says Ukraine to keep its distance from U.S. vote
OTTAWA • The rules of American democracy will ultimately settle the Trump impeachment question, and Ukraine will be watching closely — but will keep its political distance at all costs, a senior Ukrainian official says.
“We are most interested in having a good relationship with Washington ... It’s vitally necessary for our security. We are for stronger co-operation, but not for stronger interference,” Vasyl Bodnar, Ukraine’s deputy foreign minister, said in an interview after arriving in Ottawa for a conference hosted by Ukrainian-canadian diaspora groups.
“I guess American democracy will work properly to settle this problem without Ukrainian interference,” he said.
Bodnar’s overarching message was that the United States is a vital ally in Ukraine’s ongoing war with Russia, and their bilateral relationship must be preserved.
Ukraine is fighting on the front lines of the international struggle between democracy and authoritarianism, and that’s why Canada is so supportive of the country, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland told delegates at the opening of the conference on Friday.
“Ukraine is waging this fight at a moment when — and it is concerning and troubling to have to say this — but at a moment when the rules-based international order and liberal democracy more broadly are under threat,” Freeland said.
The threat also comes from “within our own Western alliance, among the world’s liberal democracies,” she said, adding Canada is now the world’s “strongest liberal democracy.”
“All of my Canadian modesty kind of shrinks back when I say it. But do the thought experiment yourselves, and if not us, then who?”
In the interview, Bodnar addressed head-on how the new Ukrainian government has been thrust into the international spotlight after a White House whistleblower’s complaint about the July 25 telephone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ignited the American impeachment crisis.
That whistleblower complaint set off the impeachment drama now unfolding in the House of Representatives. It is hearing testimony that Trump told Zelensky he’d withhold military aid to Ukraine unless Zelensky promised to investigate his Democratic political rival, former vice-president Joe Biden and his son Hunter.
The Washington impeachment saga has proven awkward for Zelensky, who campaigned on an anti-corruption platform.
The country has been invaded by Russia on its eastern flank and is struggling against the pull of the Kremlin as it tries to engage with the West.