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Kyiv's trident row with UK counter-terror police
Summary
A look back at 22 January 2020, when Ukraine's demand over its coat of arms in a British guide followed a week of political and diplomatic turbulence.
What was Ukraine asking of British counter-terrorism police on 22 January 2020? The answer lay in a dispute that had surfaced a day earlier, on 21 January, when Kyiv demanded that the United Kingdom's National Counter Terrorism Policing Network remove the Tryzub, Ukraine's coat of arms, from a guide to hate symbols associated with white supremacy and Neo-Nazism.
Counter Terrorism Policing said the coat of arms had been included because of its use by National Action, a proscribed far-right terror group. The explanation addressed why the symbol appeared in the guide, but it did not settle Ukraine's objection to seeing its national emblem listed alongside extremist imagery.
A turbulent week
The dispute came at the end of a busy few days for Ukrainian politics and diplomacy. On 17 January, Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk submitted his resignation after an audio clip, in which he allegedly criticised President Volodymyr Zelensky's economic policies, was leaked earlier that week. Zelensky subsequently announced that Honcharuk was allowed to keep his position.
The same day, Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei delivered his first Friday sermon in eight years. He defended the Revolutionary Guards over the accidental killing of passengers aboard Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 and praised Operation Martyr Soleimani for delivering what he called a "slap on the face" to the United States. The sermon came as public anger mounted against the Iranian government over its handling of the disaster.
The airliner had been shot down by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on 8 January 2020, and the revelation prompted protests in Iran.
What the day showed
Taken together, the events of those days showed Ukraine managing a domestic leadership question, the fallout from the loss of Flight 752 and a reputational dispute with a close partner at once. The British guide row was the narrowest of the three, but it concerned a national symbol, and Kyiv's demand for its removal was explicit.
