Lublin Triangle – Cornerstone of Regional Peace & Security

The value of collective security against an identifiable threat or enemy cannot be underestimated. However, not much has been written in the American mainstream media about the Lublin Triangle, which is reason enough to write about this vital alliance of former captive nations of Russian aggression. An updated Anti-Bolshevik Bloc of Nations.

It’s a topic that I have broached on numerous occasions, grasping words, sentences and speeches articulated by Ukrainian and East European leaders and molding them into a realistic contemporary concept.

I wrote about this from a variety of angles including building such a bloc among non-governmental organizations of their respective countries affiliated at the United Nations. At the time I suggested that their civil society representatives and the appropriate member-states’ permanent missions form such a coalition along the lines of the much-discussed UN Sustainable Development Goals. The 17 principles and 140-plus subtexts discuss more than just environmental issues. Human rights, which are violated by Moscow within its borders and in the so-called “near abroad,” are included in the goals.

I had also cited an interview with Pavlo Klimkin, when he was minister of foreign affairs of Ukraine, who advocated the creation of such a far-reaching bloc. Outraged by the Russian invasion of his homeland, Klimkin suggested soon after President Petro Poroshenko’s visit to Canada and the United States the creation of a Coalition of Freedom to defend democracy and Western values in a troubled world.

“It is about security for everyone,” Klimkin had said during an exclusive Fox News interview on the eve of the 71^st UN General Assembly in 2016. “If someone in this interchangeable and intertwined world cannot feel secure, how can US citizens here feel secure?”

Klimkin explained that Ukraine is confronting – and still is – a threat any nation can face, adding “we need a network of security.” His Coalition of Freedom would consist of “countries which are committed to freedom, to democratic values, where we are not talking about spheres of influence, but the values and real interests of democratic countries.” Indeed, his theme fits today’s dangerous global agenda, especially that faced by the former captive nations.

Most of the free world is obviously caught between the rock and the hard place as it ponders how to support the Eastern European countries that have liberated themselves from Moscow’s prison of nations while not aggravating Moscow. Many of the x-captive nations have been accepted into the European Union and NATO except for one very noticeable exception – Ukraine. That’s where Moscow has drawn its immovable red line in the sand, proclaiming to all that regardless of what Kyiv and the free world think about Ukraine’s independence and sovereignty, that national real estate belongs to Russia.

The x-captive nations that have endured and survived Russian subjugation and recognize Moscow as the real threat to global and regional peace and security are cognizant of the fact that their newfound independence can be overrun by Russian tanks at any moment. Therefore they are grateful to participate in any security bloc, especially one that consists of its own kind.

Thus the Lublin Triangle which consists of Ukraine, Lithuania and Poland: triangle – the strongest shape in nature.

With an eye to defense and security, the three countries created a special brigade that would the defend their independence and interests from any belligerent action by Russia meant to reestablish its domination of Ukraine, the Baltic States, the remainder of Eastern Europe and beyond. Three x-captive nations, Ukraine, Lithuania and Poland, have transformed this worthy idea into practice with the mobilization of the “Hetman Konstantyn Ostrohskiy” Lithuanian-Polish-Ukrainian Brigade (LITPOLUKR) – https://litpolukrbrig.wp.mil.pl/en/. Recent history, not only ancient, has shown that Russia invading the captive nations is not as farfetched a notion as some may claim because in the past more than seven years Moscow proved its overt mission is to rebuild the Russian empire and establish tight control of the nations in its region.

On July 28, 2020, this dream came true. In the Polish city of Lublin, where the tripartite brigade is stationed, the foreign ministers of Poland, Lithuania and Ukraine met and signed a document acknowledging the importance of such a nascent formation. The three countries officials’ acknowledged the ongoing Russian war against Ukraine and the military occupation of Crimea.

This document is by far the most important political document concluded in the post-World War II era since the creation of NATO. It recognizes the ongoing threat that Russia poses to global and regional peace, security and development. It also declares that three captive nations – Ukraine, Lithuania and Poland – acknowledge their common histories and fate and the need to stand shoulder to shoulder in their defense against Moscow’s belligerence.

The Lublin Triangle, if properly developed, expanded with additional x-captive nations, and supported by the free world, has the potential of becoming an historic alliance that will bring peace to the region and world by curbing Russia’s aggression and imperialism.

On July 7 of this year, the foreign ministers of Ukraine, Lithuania and Poland expanded their mission by signing a Declaration of Joint European Heritage and Common Values on the occasion of 230th anniversary of the Constitution of May 3, 1791 and Mutual Pledge of October 20, 1791, in which they underscored their common European democratic heritage and declared “that our common European historical legacy still binds our nations together in the united Europe and causes us to feel a sense of mutual bond and solidarity.”

The spirit and language of the declaration signals not only their belief in their historical democratic foundation but also their understanding that threats to their existence and accordingly European democratic principles still exist.

“At the same time, we believe that strengthening our cooperation requires even more intensive contacts between our societies, including youth, entrepreneurs, journalists, scientists and other opinion-making elites of our countries. We will strive for our countries to adopt appropriate solutions to facilitate such cooperation,” the three national officials stated.

“We strongly believe that Ukraine, as a European state, has the right to full membership in the structures of the European Union and in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and as Lithuania and Poland, we declare our intention to provide all possible support for the implementation of this goal, including supporting Ukraine's reform agenda and cooperation with the Three Seas Initiative, which functions within the EU.”

Acknowledging the national tribulation in Belarus, the signatories said they await a change of venue in Minsk that would allow the nation to integrate into European structures, which they pledged they’d help support.

Noting the perilous state of affairs in Europe, which is in the throes of a latest war launched by Russia against Ukraine, the signers emphasized that in order to preserve peace in Europe it is necessary for the international community to enforce and strengthen international law and denounce those countries and regimes that commit illegal annexations and occupation of sovereign territories of others.

“Therefore we condemn the Russian aggression against Ukraine, ongoing since 2014, which led to temporary occupation by Russia of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, and certain Ukrainian territories in the Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts, as well as restrictions on the freedom of navigation in the Black Sea area adjacent to temporarily occupied Crimea,” they wrote.

Proclaiming their support for the latest Crimean Platform, the cosigners said “We declare that we do not recognize and will not recognize the annexation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol by the Russian Federation, which constitutes a flagrant violation of the United Nations Charter and the usages established among civilized peoples. We also condemn the Russian Federation's tactic of diplomatic blackmail and threats of using force as an instrument of foreign policy and for shaping relations with its neighbors.”

The document was signed by Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania Gabrielius Landsbergis and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland Zbigniew Rau.

This powerful and comprehensive declaration of the Lublin Triangle addresses the members’ common vision of the past, their shared democratic values, today’s problem of autocracy in potential member Belarus, and the lasting threat exhibited by Moscow.

The constructive spirit of this effort, alliance and document should be actively endorsed by countries on both sides of the Atlantic.

Interestingly, Ukraine, the United States, Poland and Lithuania will hold a large military exercise in the western part of Ukraine later in July, the Ukrainian military said, which will constitute the second round of war games involving Kyiv and foreign partners in a month. The drill, dubbed Three Swords-2021, which appear in the logo of the Lublin Brigade will involve more 1,200 servicemen and more than 200 combat vehicles and will last July 17-30 at Yavoriv training ground in Lviv region. “Three Swords-2021 create favorable conditions for the development and effective coordination of units of partner states, in order to improve the quality and increase the level of combat capabilities,” the military said in a statement.

If the West doesn’t support the x-captive nations, they have the right to do so themselves.