UWC President at ABN Conference in Toronto: Russian empire must come to an end

Ukrainian World Congress President Paul Grod addressed the Anti-Imperial Bloc of Nations (ABN) conference in Toronto on May 23, calling for a decisive and final end to the Russian empire.

The conference, held under the title “Responding to Rupture: Russia, Global Power Shifts, and Democratic Strategy,” was the first ABN gathering in Toronto since 1986, bringing together delegates from Canada, the United States, Ukraine, and captive nations from around the world.

In his address, Grod said that Russia must not be managed or contained, but ended.

“The Russian empire – must come to an end! Not be managed. Not be contained. Not be waited out. It must be ended,” he said.

Grod traced Russia’s pattern of imperial aggression through 1999, 2008, 2014, and 2022, warning that “empires can never be appeased – they must be destroyed.” He noted that Ukraine has demonstrated to the world that Russian imperialism can and must be defeated.

The UWC President outlined three pillars of the shared mission: sustained military, economic, and political support for Ukraine as the front line of all captive nations; sanctions targeting Russia’s war economy combined with the transfer of frozen Russian sovereign assets to Ukraine for reconstruction; and full accountability for war crimes, with perpetrators facing justice at the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

Grod also addressed the ideological core of the conflict, saying “Russian chauvinism is the engine of Russian imperialism”.

“It is an ideology of supremacy and contempt for human dignity. It belongs in the same moral category as Nazi ideology.” 

He urged Western governments to name Russian imperialism for what it is, rather than treating the invasion as a mere border dispute.

Grod also paid tribute to Stefan Romaniw, UWC First Vice President, who travelled from Melbourne to Kaunas for the founding ABN Congress in 2024 and passed away on his journey home.

Grod closed by reaffirming the UWC’s commitment to the ABN framework, pledging to work alongside captive nations “until the Russian empire, that has cost us so much, is no more.”