Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga Photo: Alina Smutko/ Reuters
In February, the Russian authorities and the occupation administration of Crimea plan to organise a teleconference between studios in Simferopol, the UK, France and the US on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the Yalta Conference. The event is to be held in an attempt to promote Russian narratives about a new division of the world.
Against this backdrop, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga called on the international community to prevent the Kremlin’s plan from being implemented. In his post on the X platform on 4 February, he emphasised:
“80 years ago, post-war orders and spheres of influence were forged in Yalta. Today, Putin wants a new Yalta, new borders and spheres of influence. For the sake of a secure world, the aggressor’s illegitimate demands must be rejected. Instead, he must be forced to a just peace.”
Head of the Centre for Russian Studies Volodymyr Ohryzko noted that the Kremlin is trying to use the Yalta conference to justify its imperial ambitions and legitimise the occupation. According to him, Russia’s goal is to impose a division of the world into spheres of influence and to question Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic choice.
The Yalta Conference of 1945 was a key event of the Second World War, when Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin defined the future architecture of the post-war world. Today, Russia is trying to use this historic date for its own geopolitical purposes.
