Matviychuk: Ukraine cannot postpone democratic transformation until after the war

The relevant statement was made by Oleksandra Matviychuk, the Head of the Center for Civil Liberties, who received the Nobel Peace Prize 2022, in an interview with Ukrinform.

Commenting on the biggest threats for Ukraine on the path towards transforming into a truly democratic state, Matviychuk noted “a huge shift in the people’s mind”, as they are beginning to realize how important it is to have the effectively functioning public institutions and “what a blessing it is, when the state represents you”.

According to Matviychuk, just like justice, we cannot postpone reforming until after the war. The world is changing a lot, and if Ukraine wants to jump into this civilizational space of developed countries, it has to carry out democratic transformation even amid the war.

“And, the last threat, it is not typically Ukrainian, it is typical for all societies during the war. Because when you encounter savages, when you encounter barbarians who say that they do not care about international law and the decisions of international organizations, that is, they have not yet matured in terms of civilization and commit war crimes as a method of warfare, and simply destroy cities, churches, residential houses, they rape, cut, kill, – there is a big threat to start reflecting this and start paying back in the same way. And we, especially now, have to constantly remind ourselves that we have no right to win the war with Russia and turn ourselves into Russia, to become similar savages,” Matviychuk noted.

In her opinion, Putin started this war in 2014 precisely to stop Ukraine on the path of democratic transformation.

“As difficult as it may be, we must remember that we are fighting for our freedom to have a democratic choice, for the freedom to prepare a society where law matters,” Matviychuk stressed.

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