Secretary of the NSDC of Ukraine Oleksiy Danilov met with Ambassador of Sweden to Ukraine Tobias Thyberg

On Tuesday, December 8, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Oleksiy Danilov held a meeting with Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Kingdom of Sweden to Ukraine Tobias Thyberg.

On the eve of Sweden’s chairmanship in the OSCE on January 1, 2021, the parties discussed the security situation, in particular, in the East of Ukraine.

In particular, regarding the "Minsk Agreements", the Secretary of the Council stated that Ukraine’s position remains unchanged: Russia must withdraw troops from the temporarily occupied territories and return control of the Ukrainian-Russian border to Ukraine.

According to Mr. Danilov, compromises in the negotiation process are possible, but not to the detriment of our national interests. The Ukrainian side, he said, will never cross the red line. “We strive to end the war by joint efforts with our international partners”, - he said.

The NSDC Secretary drew attention to the emergence of another source of tension in the north of our country due to the post-election situation in Belarus.

Mr. Danilov expressed his gratitude to Sweden for its consistent stance in supporting Ukraine’s European and Euro-Atlantic aspirations, as well as for the comprehensive assistance and continued support of our state in its struggle for the restoration of territorial integrity and sovereignty.

The Secretary of the Council emphasized that Ukraine has consistently made efforts to meet the criteria to be met by candidate countries for accession to the European Union and NATO, which is in line with the priorities of the National Security Strategy of Ukraine recently adopted by the Head of State. “We want to join the European community and live in a civilized world”, - he said.

In his turn, Mr. Ambassador noted that the position of Sweden, which will take over the OSCE chairmanship from Albania on January 1 next year for 2021, is to “protect the European security order, which is based on three principles: borders cannot be violated, conflicts must be resolved by peaceful means, each country has the right to choose its own path, and this fully applies to Ukraine”, - Mr. Thyberg stressed adding that his country “will do everything to protect the independence and integrity of the OSCE institutions”.

Mr. Ambassador stated that Ukraine would be one of the priorities of Sweden’s chairmanship in the OSCE.