“Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova are today at the forefront of freedom, and our soldiers are the shield of Europe,” -- Andriy Parubiy in his speech at the Atlantic Council
During the working visit to the United States of America, the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Andriy Parubiy, together with the Chairmen of the Georgian and Moldovan Parliaments Irakli Kobakhidze and Andrian Candu took part in the discussion on "At the Forefront of Liberty" at the Atlantic Council.
At the beginning of the meeting, Andriy Parubiy thanked for the invitation and remarked that in the Atlantic Council he had always found "the deepest understanding of those processes that are taking place both in Ukraine and in Eastern Europe".
“It has been unambiguously observed here that in Ukraine there is a hot stage of the war today. And because the whole Ukraine is in fact afire, when our boys and girls are killed every day, we do feel a special responsibility. Our visit here epitomizes a clear wording of the important message - there is no separate conflict between Russia and Georgia, and there is no separate conflict between Moldova and Russia. In Ukraine, not only for our country the guys die. We want to say that Putin has challenged the whole civilized and free world. He wants to change the world order which has, for a long time, for two generations, kept the entire Euro-Atlantic space from wars, to a large extent thanks to the United States’ efforts".
Andriy Parubiy then explained that the Russian aggression was not only tanks and tommy guns; there had been a number of its manifestations in the energy, information and cyber-security areas. According to him, the influence upon elections through cyber-attacks in a range of countries of the world did constitute an indisputable evidence of that.
“The nerve agent attack in the UK also makes up the global war Putin is waging against the free world. And the biggest part of the war is, however, an information element of those proxy hostilities,” stated the Chairman of the Ukrainian Parliament.
He stressed that "this war is for hearts and minds of people, tanks are coming later".
On behalf of the three speakers, Andriy Parubiy then highlighted that even though Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova were all the countries with partly occupied territories, they were in no way a grey area, they were the countries standing at the forefront of the free world, and their soldiers were the shield of Europe. But, as he then said, “If we do not stop the aggressor, it will go further”.
“That’s why we initiate creation of a common strategic center to counter the Russian hybrid aggression," said Andriy Parubiy in conclusion.