Lublin Triangle Guarantor of Security for X-Captive Nations

The historic alliance known as the Lublin Triangle with its Lublin Brigade, first cited here on July 23, 2020, and rarely written about elsewhere, is being fleshed out by Ukraine, Poland and Lithuania with mutually beneficial, premeditated substance, dynamic principles, reciprocal support, political vision and understanding of current threats by russia.

Indeed, motivated by russia’s 11-month war against Ukraine that began nine years ago and has lasted since 1169 when the muscovite ruler Andrey Bogoliubskiy sacked Kyiv, the presidents of the three neighboring former captive nations of russian subjugation have formalized and strengthened their relations and entered a new strategic phase of their foreign affairs – albeit 78 years too late.

For the nations that declared their independence from russia and escaped its centuries-long bondage such a regional alliance is a godsend and perhaps their only means of self-preservation and sovereignty. Not surprising then is the observation by Polish Prime Minister Morawiecki, who recently said “If Germany does not agree to the supply of Leopard 2, we will create a smaller coalition of states that are ready to share tanks with Ukraine.” With NATO straddling the fence regarding high-powered military equipment for Ukraine, such a smaller coalition, a regional “NATO,” comes at the right moment. Fortunately, Germany yielded to its neighbors’ pressure but the issue demonstrated the political power of a small coalition of states that understands the dangers of russia and are willing to stand up to it.

On August 2, 2020, I had cited an interview with Pavlo Klimkin, when he was minister of foreign affairs of Ukraine, who advocated the creation of such a necessary and 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 71st 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, despite the passing of a few years but with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine destroying the country and killing its people, Klimkin’s theme as well as the Lublin Triangle fit today’s dangerous global agenda, especially the one faced by the former captive nations that exist russia’s shadow.

Presidents of Poland, Andrzej Duda, Lithuania, Gitanas Nauseda, Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, held a meeting in Lviv, on January 11, where they signed a joint statement of the presidents of the Lublin Triangle.

“The Presidents of Poland, Andrzej Duda, Lithuania, Gitanas Nauseda, Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. A joint statement of the presidents of the Lublin Triangle has been signed in Lviv today,” the Office of the President of Poland said on Twitter.

The joint declaration signed by the presidents of Ukraine, Lithuania, and Poland following the second summit of the Lublin Triangle supports holding the Global Peace Formula Summit, creating a special international tribunal to prosecute russia, giving Ukraine EU and NATO membership prospects, and continuing security assistance to Ukrainians. The task and goal of helping Ukraine in its war with russia was placed high on the list of the agreement’s mission.

“The Joint Declaration is the result of the negotiations. It reflects the key political, humanitarian and other conclusions of today's meeting,” Zelenskyy said.

According to the Zelenskyy’s Office, the Joint Declaration confirms the centuries-old historical ties between Ukraine, Lithuania, and Poland, as well as defines the priority areas of cooperation of the Lublin Triangle, in particular in the framework of the strategic course of our country to acquire full membership in the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

The document reaffirms the intention of Lithuania and Poland to continue providing powerful military, technical, defense, humanitarian and other support to Ukraine.

The Joint Declaration highlights support for convening the Global Peace Formula Summit to consolidate international support for the peace plan presented by President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The support for the establishment of a special international tribunal to prosecute the Russian Federation for the crime of aggression against Ukraine is confirmed.

The document praises the expansion of the Black Sea Grain Initiative to other seaports of Ukraine and the importance of continuing the Grain from Ukraine program to strengthen global food security.

“The signing of the Joint Declaration at the level of the Presidents of Ukraine, Lithuania, and Poland enshrines the support of the Lithuanian and Polish parties for the prospect of Ukraine's membership in the EU and NATO as soon as the conditions allow,” the President’s Office informed.

The Polish President emphasized that since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of russia, his country has provided humanitarian aid and weapons to Ukraine to repel the Russian invasion.

“We know very well what russian occupation is, because for many years we have not had our own statehood because of Russia. We were under russian occupation several times, so we will continue to support Ukraine and provide the necessary assistance in the future. We will continue to supply weapons to Ukraine,” Duda said.

He noted that russia intends to continue the war and will systematically take measures to destroy Ukraine - destroy infrastructure and cities. Therefore, russia must be stopped.

“In order for the Armed Forces to effectively defend Ukraine, they need modern weapons. And these weapons must be transferred to Ukraine,” Duda noted.

In his turn, Gitanas Nausėda stressed that this war must end with the victory of Ukraine and the aggressor must be held accountable.

“We are doing everything possible to support Ukraine, particularly in the military sphere,” the President of Lithuania said.

Nausėda pointed that Lithuania provides military and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine in various formats, in particular by transferring generators and organizing projects in support of Ukraine on its territory. Among other things, he mentioned the work of the specially opened Ukrainian Center in Vilnius.

Nausėda has also confirmed that his country and Poland supported Ukraine on the way to the EU candidate status and expressed confidence that the EU would soon have an opportunity to discuss the launch of negotiations on the full-fledged membership of Ukraine at the level of the European Council.

Nausėda touched upon the issue of security guarantees for Ukraine from NATO, which could be provided, in particular, at the next summit, to make Ukraine feel safer and feel the support of the Alliance.

“Today we must admit that the war continues and the territorial integrity of Ukraine is violated. First, it is necessary to restore the territorial integrity of Ukraine. However, Ukraine's membership in NATO cannot be taken off the agenda. We must agree on the algorithms and formulas to be used in order to move further in this aspect,” the President of Lithuania concluded.

Separately, Zelenskyy said, “Poland has decided to provide tanks for Ukraine - I am grateful for this. I thank President Duda, the Government of Poland, all our Polish friends. Lithuania provides anti-aircraft systems to our country - the weapons we need to protect ourselves from Iranian drones - to protect our energy sector. I thank Gitanas for another demonstration of unwavering and principled support for Ukraine, which began even before February 24 and will continue until our victory.

“Today, I heard this confidence once again from both Andrzej and Gitanas - we will go all the way together to restore security of Ukraine and the whole of Europe, to restore our territorial integrity, to restore peace. Russian aggression must fail - and it will.”

As for the russian war against Ukraine, Zelenskyy noted in an address to the nation that the three presidents “also talked about the situation on the battlefield. In particular, that Russian aggression will be depleted only when Russian ambitions have no other alternative except for the defeat. All Russian ambitions - on the front, in politics, in economy, in the legal sphere.”

Earlier, on December 6, 2022, three non-governmental organizations from Lithuania, Poland, and Ukraine, namely the Civic Resilience Initiative, Kosciuszko Institute and Detector Media, presented in Brussels during the EU – Ukraine Forum on Countering Disinformation a joint in-depth report highlighting the challenges emanating from russian disinformation and propaganda activities in the Lublin Triangle countries.

Underscoring the presence of russian propaganda and disinformation that threatens the existence of the three states, the NGO representatives made the following recommendations:

• Raising awareness, which is the cornerstone of resilience to russian malign information campaigns;

• Nominating a critical coordinating body responsible for strategic communication both in the country and abroad;

• Developing or strengthening a comprehensive real-time monitoring system;

• Engaging in practice and know-how sharing with other countries and partners that are highly exposed to russian disinformation;

• Encouraging international and multilateral political dialogue on uniting efforts to combat disinformation;

• Implying a transparent and measurable evaluation system to track the effectiveness of the efforts to build resilience to disinformation.

On November 26, 2022, a meeting of the prime ministers of the member states of the Lublin Triangle - Ukraine, Lithuania and Poland – was held in Kyiv, according to the results of which prime ministers, among other points:

Emphasized the significant role of the Lublin Triangle in consolidating international support for Ukraine in countering russia’s armed aggression;

Confirmed their readiness to continue active cooperation in restoring the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders;

Condemned systemic war crimes committed by Russia's forces in regions of Ukraine, including deliberate, indiscriminate, and disproportionate attacks against the civilian population and elements of the civilian infrastructure;

Condemned the forced deportation by the Russian occupiers of thousands of Ukrainian citizens, including children, from the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine to russia;

Such a pact existed among the captive nations during World War II in order to fight soviet russian aggression.

The Anti-Bolshevik Bloc of Nations (ABN) was a coordinating center for anti-Communist émigré political organizations from Soviet and other socialist countries. The ABN attributes its existence and its ideological foundations to an underground conference of representatives of non-Russian peoples that took place on November 21-22, 1943, near Zhytomyr, Ukraine, on the initiative of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists. The attendees adopted a platform of joint revolutionary struggle against Russian communism. The goal of the ABN was the dissolution of the Soviet Union into national states. Given an organizational structure in Munich in 1946, the ABN extended its scope of activity to include the Eastern European emigration.

The following organizations were members of the ABN from its inception or for varying periods of time: “Free Armenia” Committee, Bulgarian National Front, Belorussian Central Council, Cossack National Liberation Movement, Croatian National Liberation Movement, Czech Movement for Freedom (Za Svobodu), Czech National Committee, Estonian Liberation Movement, Union of the Estonian Fighters for Freedom, Georgian National Organization, Hungarian Liberation Movement, Hungarian Mindszenty Movement, Latvian Association for the Struggle against Communism, Lithuanian Rebirth Movement, Slovak Liberation Committee, National Turkestanian Unity Committee, United Hetman Organization, and the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (Bandera faction).

The establishment of the Lublin Triangle clearly demonstrates the three countries’ concern regarding the continuing threat to their independence and sovereignty posed by russia. Furthermore they are publicly committed to safeguarding their freedom against russian aggression and subjugation. Indeed, this is a step in the right direction – the direction of independence, sovereignty and self-determination of the former captive nations.

To be sure, if NATO and the free world are not prepared to actively undertake this task, then the endangered countries are willing and able to do so by themselves.