Ukraine may initiate revision of Helsinki Agreement: Expert

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In order to prevent further fragmentation of countries in the aftermath of the Kosovo precedent, Europe needs to revise the Helsinki Agreement. International expert on the Balkan region, senior advisor at Hungarian government Laszlo Kemeny has made the statement at a press conference “Balkan Implications for Ukraine and Russia” that was held on March 12 in Kiev.

“For the first time since World War II, a United Nations decision was disregarded. The Security Council has lost its face,” REGNUM correspondent quotes Laszlo Kemeny to say. “Before Europe burns down and countries start to split up, we have to go back to the Helsinki Agreement. Heads of states need to sit down at the negotiation table again, in order to revise the process of granting sovereignty, especially since the 'Kosovo precedent' could stir up Europe so much that the desintegration process might become irreversible,” Kemeny stressed. According to the expert, it is Ukraine, that is a link between the west and the east, that can initiate revision of the Helsinki Agreement.

Ukrainian political analyst Dmitry Vydrin remarked: “It is the second similar precedent that will provoke a chain reaction. Many of those who are now just thinking about separatism will then realize that we are already dealing not with an incident but with a trend.” The expert believes that the next country that might be granted sovereignty is Iraqi Kurdistan. “Kurdistan has all premises for separation: there is a government, ministers, and even a foreign minister, a self-contained economy and a sympathy of the USA.”