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At the on-going international scientific conference “Central and Eastern Europe at the Time of the Battle of Blue Waters” on May 24 at Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas, Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Audronius Ažubalis stressed Lithuania’s strong and centuries-long support for Ukraine’s goal to remain part of Europe.

“Lithuania both historically and, also today, remains among the closest partners of Ukraine. Our task is once again, just as at the time of the Battle of Blue Waters, to help our partners to resist the lure of authoritarianism and to protect the reputable name of a historical European nation. But only to help, because the primary responsibility, weapons and shields are in the hands of a sovereign Ukraine today,” Ažubalis said.

According to him, the Battle of Blue Waters and other events of that era determined milestones in Central and Eastern European history and influenced Ukraine’s geopolitical orientation.

“After Grand Duke Algirdas won Ukraine in a victorious battle, Ukraine gained Europe, Christianity and freedom to continue to foster Ukrainian identity,” Ažubalis said.

He added that certain parallels could be drawn between the events of today and the past. “When we speak about the Battle of Blue Waters, we speak about fluctuations in the consolidation of Ukraine’s civilization and about the time when the country found itself at the threshold of Europe’s cultural evolution. This may be very disappointing, but it somehow resembles the threshold at which Ukraine is precariously teetering today,” the Minister noted.

He stressed that Ukraine’s alienation from the values of Europe today would mean “a step back for the whole of Europe”.

“Namely Ukraine’s strategic role is to partly determine whether other Central and Eastern European countries, including Belarus which cannot curb its non-democratic practices, will also step on the path  of “affinity” or “exclusion,” Ažubalis said.

He believes that the “Lithuanian” period in Ukrainian history was “not only historical respite, but also an inspiration to never be crushed under the yoke of tyranny of some strangers and to give witness to the whole world of their European nature and choice.”

Ažubalis also noted that next year Lithuania’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union would pay particular attention to historical memory.

“On this occasion, the Ministry has started to implement the strategy of coordination of historical memory projects already today and is getting ready to present Lithuanian history to diplomats and societies of the old continent. I hope that the initiative of the Seimas (Parliament) to declare 2013 as the Year of the 1863 Uprising will give impetus to open an international dialogue on these issues,” the Minister said.

The three-day conference on the Battle of Blue Waters is co-organized by the Vytautas Magnus University in cooperation with the Lithuanian Institute of History and Jagiellonian University of Kraków. The event is financed by the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

At the historical Battle of Blue Waters in the 14th century, the armies of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania under the command of Grand Duke Algirdas defeated the Golden Horde. The battle was the first great defeat of the Mongol khanate in Eastern Europe, which strengthened the influence of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the lands of former Kievan Rus. The Grand Duchy of Lithuania became the largest country in Europe at that time.