Sir, – Recent opinion polling in Ukraine shows a very large increase in those favouring immediate peace negotiations with Russia. Unfortunately, with elections suspended in that country, there is no outlet for this change in the public mood. Meanwhile, on the battlefront, the Russian army continues to make slow but steady gains in the Donbas region. Short of Nato employing ground troops, there is little prospect of Ukraine being able to reverse the tide of war. The best that can be hoped for would be a messy stalemate but there is also the not insignificant risk of an all-out Russian victory. The prospect of Donald Trump winning in the US presidential election hovers over the whole situation.
It is now time to stop this obscene conflict and in a way which guarantees the legitimate security interests of Ukraine and Russia. Yet the Irish Government continues to support the hardline no negotiation policy of Brussels and the Biden administration in Washington. The present hostilities will only end when both parties agree to settle their dispute at the conference table. The sooner that occurs the better. The present Irish stance is not only immoral, but also totally at variance with the historic role of Ireland as a promoter of international peace.
Ukraine, by its heroic resistance has ensured its own survival as a sovereign independent State, much as the Finns did in their conflict with the Soviet Union during the second World War. It may have to make territorial concessions but the current price in terms of lives lost and wholescale destruction is not worth the cost of maintaining a just but doomed policy. The only people gaining from a continuation of the war are those engaged in the armaments industry. The final outcome will have to be similar to the Minsk accords but with much stronger compliance mechanisms.
Ireland has a huge stake in securing a peace deal in Ukraine. We currently provide shelter to tens of thousands of Ukrainian refugees in the Republic of Ireland. If peace is restored and reconstruction commenced, it should be possible to return the bulk of these refugees to their homeland, once their lives are no longer in danger. That would be fully in accordance with our international obligations.
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The current situation in this State in regard to refugees and asylum seekers is unsustainable and securing peace in Ukraine would be of major benefit to us. It is time to put our own country’s interests first and return to our traditional foreign policy. Time to give peace a chance! – Yours, etc,
Dr RAY BASSETT,
(Former Irish diplomat),
Castleknock,
Dublin 15.