On October 9, the Intermarium Institute organized an event of the roundtable format, which by design should become regular and resemble a discussion club in terms of content - a platform where experts from various fields could discuss current topics, events in Ukraine and the world, share opinions, useful information, consult, discuss, model the course of certain socio-political, economic processes. AP "POLITCONSULTANT.org" became a partner of the event.

The first roundtable was attended by: Mykola Volhov – political consultant, Deniz Berktay – Turkish expert on Eastern European issues, and experts of the Intermarium Institute: Volodymyr Volia and Yuriy Gavrylechko. The roundtable was moderated by Valentin Haidai, director of the Intermarium Institute.

Experts discussed the modern vision of the concept of the Intermarium. The speaker on this topic was Volodymyr Volia, after which the audience asked the speaker questions and discussed the discussed topic.

In particular, Volodymyr Volia noted in his speech:

The concept of Intermarium needs an audit, rethinking and modernization.

Any state is an organization, and therefore, in order to realize its interests, it determines the goals and objectives of its activities in accordance with its available resources and the available external environment (geopolitical landscape). After the fall of the empires, the restoration of Polish statehood 100 years ago, the ruling elite of Poland directed its efforts to the realization of two interests: the protection of statehood from Moscow (Russia, the Soviet Union) and economic development. Of course, both directions were to be implemented with Warsaw's leadership role. And the concepts of Intermarium and Prometheus, created by the Polish elite, were aimed at this. In the interwar period, Warsaw was unable to create either security or economic alliances, and in 1939 the state was torn apart by Hitler and Stalin.

In the most recent period of history, Poland realized its interests already within the framework of the new geopolitical landscape: the security of the state against threats from Moscow was ensured thanks to participation in NATO, and economic development was ensured thanks to membership in the EU. In fact, the old concept of the Intermarium has lost its relevance both for Poland and for Eastern Europe.

However, Russia's new imperial revanchism, which it carries out aggressively, including the use of military means and by waging a full-scale war, makes the concept of the Intermarium extremely relevant for Ukraine. As was the case with Warsaw 100 years ago, now Kyiv faces the pressing task of ensuring security from encroachments by Moscow. Therefore, the Intremarium concept is destined to become one of the most important instruments of Ukraine's foreign policy in the war and post-war period. But it should already be a rethought, modernized concept, at the center of which is the vision and interests of Kyiv.

Political consultant Mykola Volgov, commenting on the Intermarium concept, made the following points:

The bankrupt project of a "global" world should be replaced by a world of civilizations and regions. Therefore, the geopolitical project Intermarium at least deserves attention as one of the frameworks of Ukrainian state existence in the post-war era. And the first debatable question that must be answered for the sake of forming a perspective vision of Kyiv is the definition of the configuration of this entity.

1. The classic approach "from the Baltic to the Adriatic". In my opinion, it does not take into account modern realities. That is, the currently existing political map of Eastern Europe. And which will change in the future. First of all, in the issues of deconstruction of the Russian Federation and the formation of independent states on the Don and the Kuban. Therefore, the future of Intermarium should cover these territories as well.
2. The Great Intermarium "from the Baltic to the Caspian". This project will not be viable because of the civilizational differences between the Eastern and Western participants. Especially taking into account the rapid expansion of Turkey into the Turkic-speaking area of ​​Turan. Which she considers her field of interests.
3. Intermarium0 "Triangle of the Baltic, Adriatic, North-Eastern Black Sea". Such an alliance of civilizationally close states can be formed, first of all, as a defense union. Who will become for the Western World an orderly with a pacifier shirt next to the ward with patients of Russian imperial revanchism. And also control transit from East to West along this corridor. And to develop the historical path "from the Varangians to the Greeks" as part of the infrastructure corridor connecting Northern Eurasia with the Global South.

So, for Ukraine, the Intermarium is 2.0. means defense, transit and mutual influence of the "soft power" of the participants, which does not harm the national security of each of the subjects of the alliance.

Commenting on the concept of the Intermarium, Turkish expert Deniz Berktay emphasized the partnership between Ukraine and Turkey as key players in the Baltic-Black Sea region:

Turkey and Ukraine are mutually connected by many factors. From Ukraine's point of view, Turkey is the second strongest state in the region and is located on the straits and thus connects Ukraine with the seas of the world. In addition, Turkey is located on the routes that connect Ukraine with the Middle East.

A very important aspect in bilateral relations between these two countries is that neither Ukraine nor Turkey have territorial claims against each other. It should be added that these two peoples have not had bad relations in the last few centuries. Yes, in the distant past there were many clashes between the Turkic tribes and ordinary Ukrainians and later between the Cossacks and the Ottomans, but these clashes now do not occupy any place in the memory of the Turks. On the other hand, Ukrainians are very tolerant people. These circumstances provide a good foundation for building strong relationships.

As for multilateral alliances, I think that in order to form strategic relations, it is not always necessary to be in the same block. Both countries may have different relations with different third countries. The most important thing here is not to act against each other's interests. According to this logic, Ukraine can have alliance relations with various countries of the world.

Yuriy Gavrylechko, an expert of the Intermarium Institute, noted:

When we talk about geopolitical projects, and the Intermarium is just such a project, it is worth reminding that over the past 500 years, Ukraine, unfortunately, has not been able to create and present its own geopolitical project to the world. Therefore, all these years it was part of projects created by others. The Intermarium, among these projects, is one of the most unpretentious in terms of loyalty and resource intensity and provides many opportunities for self-realization of Ukraine in it and does not require giving up national identity. Having the ability to exist within the framework of the Intersea (Intermarium) project without losing this identity makes it unique among others and the most attractive for consideration in the perspective of building in the future or in the option of the Little Intersea or the Great Intersea.

I would like to note that the Little Intersea is more of a state-building option that can exist in a sufficiently wide range of hierarchical relationships: from hybrid, monarchical-republican options, like the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth 3.0 or the Grand Duchy of Lithuania 2.0, to a confederation modeled on the Swiss option . In turn, the Great Intersea is primarily a business and security option, perhaps somewhat similar to the more orderly Hanseatic League.

In general, supranational associations, relatively stable over time, are usually built based on 5 main factors: internal coercion, external threat, religious community, business interest, family-cultural-linguistic kinship of elites. In the near and medium-term perspective, I believe, Ukraine can try to integrate or become one of the founders of the very modern project of the Great Intermarium, where the basis will be two factors out of five, namely security (external threat from the Russian Federation) and business (joint earnings on transit and foreign economic activity). And in this Great Intermarium there will be a place for the participation of those countries that would never have entered the Small Intermarium because they have or are currently creating (had in the past) their own geopolitical projects. For example, this is Turkey, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, etc.

Summarizing the first meeting of the discussion club, the director of the Intermarium Institute, Valentyn Haidai, noted that the concept of the Intermarium is still not crystallized and needs to be discussed, clarified, and debated. Even in the expert environment, which is at least tangentially interested in this topic, the understanding of the space of the Intermarium, as well as its very idea, is still outdated. Even experts, politicians, and public figures falsely identify the Intermarium with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, a union in its classical sense, which can include only Ukraine, Poland, Belarus, and possibly the Baltic states. But the idea of ​​the Intermarium of the 21st century is not about that. This is a much wider space, namely the Mediterranean, not so much a banal union, which in itself is somewhat utopian, but a space of common interests, common threats, and common opportunities. That is why the team of the Intermarium Institute is currently preparing a collective monograph-research, which will investigate in detail the origins of the idea of ​​the Intermarium, its development and implementation over the past centuries, the state of this concept now, and the prospects and options for the development of the idea, as, insanely, a Ukrainian-centric project.

That is why we need similar formats of round tables, conferences, just an exchange of opinions in an expert environment, because in collective discussions and discussions, you can polish the "raw" idea of ​​the Intermarium and give it distinct geopolitical features.