Former Attorney General
2 February 2022
Ukraine and its importance for Bolivia
Vassily Nebenzia, Russian Ambassador to the UN and an exponent of old school Russian diplomacy, had to leave the unfinished session of the United Nations Security Council itself, notably upset, where the United States had unexpectedly managed, by ten votes in favor, three abstentions, and two refusals, to put into discussion and public debate the reasons for the large displacement of troops and weapons by the second military power in the world, powerful Russia, to its border with its weak neighbor, Ukraine.
As the Russian Ambassador stood up from his country’s coveted permanent seat on the Council, US President Joe Biden himself issued a press release from Washington, announcing that they are «ready no matter what,» if «Russia chooses to move away from diplomacy and attack Ukraine.»
Are these events, of the highest relevance in world geopolitics and that involve territories literally on the other side of the world, also of interest, and should they concern Bolivia, and the role that its Foreign Ministry should play?
Possibly the a priori answer could be negative, since in said conflict it is the first and greatest world powers that face each other, using their best and most powerful diplomatic and military weapons to do so.
However, in the current world scenario, the advance of multilateralism has allowed the other countries of the so-called international community, and not only the great powers, to intervene with an impact in the management of the different crises of world politics. And in this framework, it was already up to Bolivia in the years 2017 and 2018, occupying a seat in the UN Security Council, and even directing and moderating in the exercise of the rotating Presidency of said body, the discussion, and management that in its moment the UN had to face in relation to the civil war in Syria, and that also compromised the geopolitical interests of the US, Russia and the other powers.
Being a free and sovereign nation not only means claiming non-interference in the internal affairs of your own country, but also getting involved, actively and responsibly, in the future of international politics, since this, inevitably, forges the world order that ends up dictating the real possibilities so that all of humanity, including us Bolivians, can live and achieve our desired development, without violence, war, or injustice.
It is in the interest of Bolivia, that in handling the crisis in Ukraine, the abuse and unilateral will of the nation with the strongest army does not prevail, but rather that the principle of territorial integrity of States, the full sovereignty of countries, that all the norms of International Law are observed and respected, and that the international organizations be effective in containing the military or economic force of States as a means of resolving their conflicts, and that there is no international setback towards the right to declare wars of aggression already prohibited by the Charter of the United Nations.
Bolivia is so interested in the preservation of these aspects that its great national interest, which is its centennial maritime claim, depends on the maintenance and development of the majesty of International Law and multilateralism; and that is why our Foreign Ministry, emulating the effective votes cast by Mexico and Brazil in the Security Council in which they now hold seats for Latin America, and which supported the discussion motion that only Russia and China refused, concur assertively to avoid at all costs that on the international scene a more powerful nation than another, whatever it is called, acts with abuse and arbitrariness against a weaker one, and it is in this direction, and no other, that all Bolivians hope that our international policy will be conducted.
Source: https://eldeber.com.bo/opinion/ucrania-y-su-interes-para-bolivia_265923
