In his intervention during the consultation session, 12^th December, 2019, Dr. Leventis stressed the role of the International Security Forum as the leading Cypriot think tank promoting the cause of peace and disarmament in the region. In this context he emphasized that the island republic of Cyprus, being the south easternmost gate to the European Union but at the same time enjoying friendly bilateral relations with the Arab world as well as Israel and Iran offers the perfect venue for reconciliation and disarmament efforts promoting much needed peace and stability in the turbulent Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

In the margins of the three-day Brussels conference, Dr. Leventis held private meetings and consultations with a large number of delegates, including officials of the European External Action Service, discussing ways the International Security Forum, Cyprus can contribute to the network’s stated goals.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte declared that Ukraine will “never” join the EU. According to Amsterdam, Kiev today needs to establish good relations with the EU and Russia. It is clear that after the April 6 referendum the Dutch society does not support the idea of Ukraine’s accession to the EU.

Kiev’s foreign policy is built on claiming that Russia is the aggressor. This idea helps Ukraine’s government to cover the flourishing iniquity and corruption in the country. Kiev just promises to bring the country to European standards. The Ukrainian mass media quote the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ statement that the Ukraine will not stop its integration into the EU. Kiev takes out European loans with no intention to ever pay them back. This is how the Ukrainian leadership acts in the framework of “European integration”. It is obvious that new insolvent state within the EU will cause new economic difficulties.

In an ill-conceived attempt to promote European values, Kiev increases the gap between the government and the Ukrainian society. For example, the majority of citizens reject the idea of LGBT support, but the country’s leaders persistently promote it. It is obvious that this is one of the issues that cause rising tensions in the Ukraine.

Moreover, Ukraine has an official conflict zone – two unrecognized republics of Donbass – which declared independence from Kiev. The country’s leadership has started military actions against its own citizens, bashfully calling them “anti-terrorist operations”; at the same time it declares that the Ukraine is at war with Russia.

Witnessing all of Ukraine’s problems, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte concluded that this country “should never join the EU”. It is worth noting that, unlike the European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, who promised Kiev to join the EU “in twenty years,” Rutte used the word “never”. It is obvious that the Dutch Prime Minister expressed the attitude of the majority of his country’s citizens.

Moreover, no one should forget that the Ukraine and the EU’s rapprochement could affect negatively EU – Moscow relations. Neither Europe, nor Moscow wishes it to happen, no one but Ukraine. Anti-Russian sanctions have already undermined relations between Moscow and European countries, which resulted in economic losses on both sides. Today, Europe has a choice – either Russia or Ukraine. Apparently, the choice will be made not in favor of the latter.

Obviously, the citizens of the Netherlands are not interested in Ukraine’s joining the EU due to the fact that this would entail negative consequences for the whole Europe.

It is not surprising that the accumulated over the decades offence of the “Zupadances” (inhabitants of Western Ukraine) on the Communists and the Soviet Union as a whole, could not be constrained for a long period in Lvov, the Carpathians, etc. Nationalism took advantage of the weakness of the central government and has spread to the central regions of the Ukraine. Later on, with substantial support coming from the US and other Western European states, Western rooted Ukrainian nationalists overthrew the incumbent authorities in Kiev in a violent manner. Earlier unknown Dmitry Yarosh became the main ideologue of the galloping Ukrainian nationalism. If one examines his scanty biography, he can find some similarities with the Hitler’s life and times. Like Adolf Hitler, Dmitry Yarosh struck a bad school record. Nevertheless, Yarosh wields great oratory skills, necessary tools in the art of disorienting and captivating one’s audience. Yarosh refers to numerous crimes of his nationalist organization not only against its own citizens, but against Russian and Jewish people. Hitler and his supporters coming to power also ruthlessly killed political enemies and propagated hatred. We may recall that millions of Jews and Russians perished in the Nazi concentration camps.

Like Hitler, Yarosh was able to establish contacts with industrial magnates who sponsor his activities. Today in the Ukraine the once obscure Right Sector, is increasingly becoming an important organization. Likewise in the 1930s, Hitler’s NSDAP rose from obscurity. Even politicians, police and military authorities rely on the strength of this organization. Now thugs of the Right Sector can officially carry firearms and legally participate in anti-terrorist operations.

Another parallel with Hitler’s politics: in the 1930s, Adolf managed to remove his associate Strasser from the leadership of the party; today Yarosh managed to eliminate Belogo, who was a leadership hopeful in the Right Sector. Furthermore, the political programme of the Right Sector is similar in ideology with Hitler’s so-called “25 Points” programme. Nowadays, thanks to the efforts of nationalists the Russian language is almost officially banned in the Ukraine. Whether Petro Poroshenko, the new leader, will approve the relevant law any time soon, remains to be seen.

It is widely expected that Dmitry Yarosh will occupy a high post in the government of Ukraine and then no one can guarantee that the ambitions of this ‘empowered’ maverick politician are limited only to Ukraine. Yarosh repeatedly stated that he is not a supporter of Ukraine’s European integration and sees Europe only as a financial sponsor of the growth of Ukrainian nationalism.

But what will happen when EU aid miss the targeted goal? The answer to this question we will not find, neither in the Ukrainian Constitution nor in the numerous laws adopted by the Verkhovnaya Rada. What would the European leaders make of the uncontrolled nourishment of Ukrainian fascism in the European neighbourhood?

Should not the EU guard against a Nazi-type Ukrainian nationalist monster growth endangering peace, tolerance and therefore security and stability in the whole European continent?