The activist who heads the Ukrainian organization Center for Civil Liberties, which won the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize, warns that ending the invasion will only be possible if the Kremlin feels that ‘the price of continuing the war is higher than the price of stopping it’
From: EL PAIS by ANDREA RIZZI – Saint-Vincent (Italy)
When Oleksandra Matviichuk, 42, accepted the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize as president of the award-winning Center for Civil Liberties, she said something very significant in her acceptance speech: faced with brutal aggression and the absence of justice, many human rights and peace activists were forced to defend their ideals with weapons in hand. Through her life, her work, and her words, as well as the award for the organization she leads, she sheds light on the defense of peace and human rights in a time of unbridled imperialism and growing impunity
Matviichuk gave this interview on Thursday in the Italian town of Saint-Vincent, on the sidelines of the Grand Continent Summit, a conference organized by the magazine of the same name to reflect on the future of Europe. During the conversation, the Ukrainian lawyer expressed her conviction that “Putin doesn’t want peace. He wants to achieve his goal. […] He wants to forcefully restore the Russian Empire.”
After the interview, she was preparing to travel to Syria, another country where Russia’s actions, through its support for Bashar al-Assad’s dictatorship, should be subject to judicial scrutiny.
Question. We are seeing intense diplomatic negotiations to stop the conflict in Ukraine. What do you think is necessary to achieve peace?
Answer. I work directly with people affected by this war. So let me assure you that people in Ukraine dream of peace. Because war is horrible. Unfortunately, Putin doesn’t want peace. Putin wants to achieve his goal. And when we look at the current situation, we see how Putin is trying to imitate peace negotiations to, first, gain time, and second, to decrease the level of support of Ukraine, to make his goal to occupy the whole country easier. And the main question in all these peace talks is whether we can make Putin stop. I don’t mean just an operational pause, withdrawing and resuming the act of aggression, but to getting a lasting peace.
Voice of Ukraine 