Will discuss Ukraine at the crossroads of geopolitical disputes
On Wednesday, March 26, at 6 p.m., a discussion will be held at the Faculty of Political Sciences and Diplomacy of VMU (Gedimino str. 44-203), dedicated to the discussion of events in Ukraine. The topic of the discussion is "Ukraine at the crossroads of world geopolitical disputes".
The event will be attended by VMU Vice-Rector for Science Prof. Juozas Augutis, prof. Gintautas Mažeikis, prof. Antanas Kulakauskas, Giedrius Cesnakas. The moderator of the discussion is the head of the VMU Political Science Department, Assoc. Dr. Andrzej Pukšto.
At the end of February of this year, after the Ukrainian protests in Kyiv's Independence Square, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych was ousted and a new interim government was appointed. Shortly after these events, Ukraine's Crimean peninsula was gradually occupied by pro-Russian troops, the Crimean parliament was dissolved and a new Crimean prime minister was appointed, and a referendum on Crimean autonomy and accession to Russia was held in mid-March. Although the referendum is considered illegal by most countries of the world, based on its results, Crimea's independence from Ukraine and its desire to join Russia were declared.
The United States and the European Union call the referendum unconstitutional and threaten sanctions, while Russia says it intends to keep its troops in Crimea "to protect Russian interests and citizens" until the political situation "normalizes."