This paper focuses on the study of the activity of German consular institutions on the territory of Soviet Ukraine during 1922–1938. German consular representatives operating in Ukrainian cities were ...career diplomats, who had higher education, a perfect command of foreign languages, and deep knowledge in the fields of history, geography, statistics, political economy, and international law. While operating in Ukraine, German consuls were taking their official duties seriously: normalization of bilateral trade and economic relations, the establishment of cultural ties, as well as protection and assistance to German citizens living within the consular district. One of the important aspects of consular activity was the performance of the “honorary spy” functions.
The purpose of the research paper is to highlight the history of repatriation missions and consular institutions of Poland, Albania, Germany, Italy, Turkey, Japan and Spain in Odesa during 1922-1938, ...analysis of the main areas of activity within the consular district and the consular staff’s characteristics.
The scientific novelty. The general picture of the foreign diplomatic presence in Odesa, represented by the repatriation missions of Turkey, Albania and Poland, as well as five consulates, has been reconstructed. Their personnel composition and key areas of activity are shown.
Conclusions. With the creation of Soviet Ukraine, Odesa continued to remain a strategically important city for both European and Asian countries, which, having restored diplomatic and consular relations with the USSR, opened their consulates here. During the 1920s and 1930s, the repatriation missions of Poland, Albania, and Turkey operated in the city first (during 1922-1925), and later the consular offices of three European countries – Germany, Italy, Spain, and two Asian countries – Turkey and Japan. The foreign consular institutions’ diplomatic staff consisted exclusively of representatives of the countries they represented and were career diplomats. In turn, among the representatives of the administrative and technical staff were citizens of these countries and Soviet Ukraine, and the service staff consisted with local residents.
Since its establishment, foreign consular representatives have contributed to the development of trade, economic, cultural and scientific relations of their countries with the UkrSSR. Important spheres of consulates’ activity were protection of the citizens’ interests of their countries, organization of material assistance for them and promotion of their departure to their homeland. In the process of gathering information about the socio-political situation in the USSR, the consuls recorded the unfolding of the Holodomor, pointing out its culprits, noted the negative consequences of collectivization and industrialization, etc.
But, despite the constantly emphasized friendship in relations between the USSR and the countries listed above, their consulates and employees found themselves under the Soviet special services close supervision, which considered any consulates representatives’ actions as espionage. In order to be fully effective, the special services recruited representatives from both consulate employees and persons who were in contact with the consul. And after the consulates were closed, they began the process of “cleaning” them. In 1937-1938, the USSR’s relations with Italy, Germany, Turkey, Japan, and Spain became strained, which led to the closure of the consular network in Odesa.
У статті розкривається роль представників іноземних консульств, які працювали на той час в УСРР (Харків, Київ, Одеса), щодо висвітлення Голодомору 1932-1933 рр. Найбільш змістовними, у даному ...випадку, є звіти німецьких, польських та італійських консулів.
У своїх звітах вони повідомляли про політичний та економічний стан в УСРР, жорстку політику «розкуркулення» та примусової колективізації, репресії на селі, нелюдські умови, в яких опинилося населення, про різноманітні прояви протестів серед селянства проти впровадження «совєтами» нової сільськогосподарської політики, канібалізм, результати політики хлібозаготівель тощо.
The Republic of Kosovo is a kind of “node” of problems not only in the Balkans, but in Europe in general. The recognition of Kosovo’s independence laid the groundwork for the destabilization of ...European security. Today, Kosovo is recognized mainly by the democratic states of the world. These are the countries that currently support Ukraine. In the non-support camp are Serbia, Russia and its few allies such as Belarus, as well as China with its satellites. Although the Kosovo problem is not so clear. Among the countries that do not recognize Kosovo are a number of states (Spain, Romania, Greece, Slovakia), which are wary of the fact that the “Kosovo precedent” may contribute to separatist movements and create problems for them.
15 years have passed since the declaration of independence of Kosovo. However, Belgrade and Pristina function from crisis to crisis. Recently, the usual crises have become somewhat more intense and have made the world talk about the possibility of another war in Europe. Today, the geopolitical consequences of Kosovo’s declaration of independence look quite pessimistic. The representatives of the EU and the USA, understanding the consequences of their actions, are trying to resolve this conflict at any cost in order to demonstrate to the whole world that the situation is under control. Currently exerting pressure specifically on the government of Pristina, these actors are trying to finally achieve full political normalization between Kosovo and Belgrade so that there are no further ethnic tensions in the region and a constant aggravation of the situation in the north of the self-proclaimed republic. Time will tell whether it will give significant results. However, it is possible to at least reduce the tension between Serbia and Kosovo by weakening the manipulative actions on the relations of these countries by Russia.
Funding. The work was supported by the European Commision under the Jean Monnet Module «The European Union’s Common Security and Defence Policy: challenges related to the War in Ukraine» (ESEDEP), № 101127823 — ESEDEP — ERASMUS-JMO-2023-HEI-TCH-RSCH.
Початок постбіполярного періоду фактично завершив період «холодної війни» та ідеологічного протистояння у світі. Однак, у реаліях життя це протистояння нікуди не ділося, лише дещо «замаскувалося». Ми ...й надалі спостерігаємо зростанням чисельності та частоти міжнародних конфліктів, посягання на території інших країн, протистояння національних інтересів провідних акторів міжнародної арени, що призводить до появи нових більш небезпечних викликів міжнародній безпеці.
Сьогодні гостро постають проблеми поширення ядерної зброї, міжнародний тероризм, політичний та релігійний екстремізм, неконтрольовані локальні конфлікти, які можуть призвести до руйнації основ світової стабільності. З метою протидії цим дестабілізуючим міжнародну арену небезпек та вдосконалення принципів і механізмів підтримки міжнародного порядку представники міжнародного співтовариства, серед яких безпосередньо Європейський Союз, вдалися до застосування інструменту санкцій, які стали ключовим елементом сучасних міжнародних відносин. Серед таких країн, до яких ЄС був вимушений застосувати санкції став Іран, який будучи потужним близькосхідним гравцем та експортером ідеології революційного ісламу, впливає не лише на дестабілізацію рівноваги на Близькому Сході, але й завдає значного удару по міжнародній безпековій системі. Постачання Іраном Росії своїх безпілотників, що завдали ударів по Україні сприяли ухваленню ЄС у жовтні 2022 р. нового пакету санкцій щодо Ірану. Тому, у даній статті автор розгляне ключові аспекти санкційної політики ЄС щодо цієї країни.
Today we hear more and more that until our country realizes fundamental European values, it will not be able to become a full member of the “European family”. But it should be emphasized that this ...process began long before Ukraine gained independence and the leading role in this was played by foreign consuls of Europe and America. The countries that created the modern world as it is, where the foundations of modern statehood, civil society, an efficient market economy, and a system of social justice were laid. Therefore, this article is dedicated to highlighting the role of these representatives in the implementation of European values in the south of Ukraine in the late XIX – early XX centuries. Being in the port cities of the region, which then opened wide horizons for commercial activity, and using all opportunities to maximize the protection of the interests of their state and citizens, foreign consuls, through the development of public-social life of the region, contributed to the implementation of priority values. There were many consuls who made a significant contribution to the development of urban territories, their improvement, the enrichment of the spiritual and intellectual life of the townspeople. Consulates of Greece, Norway, Sweden, Germany, Italy, Belgium, England, Denmark, Portugal, Brazil and Argentina deserve special attention. Awareness of the importance of education, spiritual status of the population and the development of the city as a whole made positive changes. At the end of XIX – beginning of XX century the South of Ukraine began to occupy leading positions in the foreign economic activity of the Russian Empire. Of course, it cannot be said that this was done solely through the work of foreign representatives, but they nevertheless managed to prove that the unity of values is the foundation on which the European Union stands today.
The purpose of the research paper is to uncover the role and significance of local administration bodies that were established on the territories under the control of the Provisional Military ...Administration (PMA) and the Reichskommissariat ‘Ukraine’ (RKU) in ensuring the Holocaust policy.
Scientific novelty is based on the original documentary sources analysis. It is determined that the employees of local administration bodies in the German occupation zones of Ukraine, even against their will, took an active part in various forms of preparation and technical support for actions to exterminate Jews, their persecution by the authorities, and looting of the property belonging to them.
Conclusions. In the territories under the control of the PMA and the RKU, local administration bodies were established, which, although not unified, were still typical institutions of occupation administration. Despite the unequal organizational structure, local administration bodies had to perform all the tasks assigned by the German authorities. In the practical activity of those authorities, there were no repressive and punitive functions, but it was their staff who had to provide the measures that were the basis of the Holocaust policy, which was consistently and all-out conducted by the Nazis in occupied Ukraine.
Performing the functions of the occupation administration, the employees of the local administration bodies of the PMA and the RKU took an active part in both the preparatory measures and the purely technical support of actions for the extermination of the Jews. With the assistance of the local administrative staff members, the German authorities managed to settle the matter of registration and identification of the Jewish population, establish an effective system of control over issuing personal documents, as well as search and selection of places for conducting the massacres. Without their active participation, the Nazis would not have been able to organize actions of extermination people so quickly, as well as to identify systematically those who managed to avoid death and were hiding from the persecution of the German occupiers. Also quite actively, some employees of local administration bodies participated in propagandistic provision and justification of massacres of the Jews in Ukraine.
Local authorities took part in the redistribution of property that belonged to the killed Jews. A great part of the former Jewish property, with the permission of the German authorities, was given to the local authorities, and the funds received after its sale were transferred to the bank accounts of the local authorities and used to finance their activities. At the same time, many employees of local administration bodies, using their official position, tried to obtain part of the property of people who had already been killed.
This research is called to explain the weak reaction of the Government of Ukraine to the implementation of the Association Agreement terms during 2015-2019, namely through the prism of the high level ...of corruption in the country. Since the proclamation of Ukraine's independence, one of the important directions of its foreign policy has been cooperation with the European Union. A new stage in the relations between the parties was the signing in 2014 of a highly important document of the Association Agreement, establishing a new level of cooperation between Ukraine and the EU. According to the document, Ukraine had committed itself to fulfill several important conditions that would contribute to further intensification of cooperation with the EU. These include the ones reforming the political, economic, social, and environmental spheres. Despite a number of actions taken, Ukraine is still slow to meet its obligations under the Agreement, especially in the spheres of education, training and youth, transportation, transport infrastructure, postal and courier services, public procurement, the environment, and civil protection. One of the reasons for this is the high level of in-country corruption.
The paper highlights the peculiarities of teaching the students of the specialty International Relations, Law and History professionally oriented disciplines when the attention is paid to the study ...of professional disciplines. After mastering the core materials of the discipline, the students should know all the components of these disciplines and be able to apply their knowledge in practice. We have confirmed by our research that for the modern student to be able to master all knowledge and skills, modern lecturers at their lectures and seminars should change the teaching methods, tending more to the use of interactive methods, which, compared to the traditional ones, are much more efficient for providing the educational process. Among the modern interactive teaching methods, such methods as Circle of Ideas, Aquarium, Microphone, and Role Play, Imitation deserve special attention, and their use promotes students' cognitive abilities, creative thinking, quick decision making, work in groups, thus stimulating the development of communication skills, and mainly the interest of the student in learning. In the conditions of a pandemic (2020-2021), as the experiment showed, it is also possible for teachers to use interactive methods in teaching professional disciplines for students of the above specialties.
The modern world community is concerned about the search for humane, non-forceful methods for solving hybrid conflicts that characterize the system of international relations of the 21st century. ...That is why the concept of preventive diplomacy has become popular and in demand. The conflict in the East of Ukraine has shown that this concept has some flaws in terms of its implementation in practice. Using the historical method, the key means of implementing preventive diplomacy are revealed. The article analyzes examples of the use of preventive diplomacy methods for solving conflicts in Europe by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. The authors used the method of comparative analysis to compare examples of implementation of the principles of preventive diplomacy by different international players. Attention is drawn to the fact that excessive caution of the OSCE and unwillingness to call Russia a participant in the conflict and even more, so an aggressor country led to skepticism about the organization itself in Ukraine.
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