Last week, the young president of Ukraine, Vladimir Zelensky, promised to build the world's first "country in a smartphone".
Vladimir Zelensky, President of Ukraine: "You can think that I'm a naive dreamer but we really want to make a "country in a smartphone".
And put people on drones.
Vladimir Zelensky, President of Ukraine: "Unfortunately, in the absence of transportation logistics, we should move toward drones".
This week, Ukrainian reality returned Zelensky to earth every day. Let's trace it day by day.
Monday. The supreme commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine tried on a military ballistic vest and army helmet in Lugansk Oblast in a quiet area near the line of contact with the LPR. There was a photo shoot along with a wish that the conditions for the servicemen would be better. There were no decisions, no declarations of intent, and no orders. Also, no order to cease fire was given, although, judging by the promises made during the election, an order to cease fire would be logical. No, everything remained the way it was under Poroshenko. In fact, there's nothing new. A blue shirt in the trenches is the only new thing, which is discussed. Poroshenko liked to be dressed completely in camouflage.
On Tuesday, young President Zelensky received a mission of the IMF in Kiev. Ukraine is up to its ears in debt. And they continue to impose loans on it just to pay the interest. Not long ago, the oligarch Kolomoisky advised to simply not repay the huge debts and to demand that the West write them off as payment for its hostile attitude toward Russia.
Igor Kolomoisky: "This is your game, your geopolitics. You don't care about Ukraine. You want to hurt Russia, and Ukraine is just an excuse".
Zelensky has gone a different way for now. At the meeting with the IMF mission, he confirmed that he will still pay all the debts. It resembled the TV series Servant of the People, in which his character, President Vasily Goloborodko, called upon people to chip in and repay Ukraine's debts like this. As of now, before new loans are issued, the total debt of Ukraine is $80 billion. In the TV series, it was even bigger.
“To say that it's a lot of money means to say nothing. I'll ask you a question: How should we deal with all of it? We can't just shrug it off. We can't say that the one who borrowed that money should repay it. For the sake of our future, for the sake of our children, our grandchildren, future generations, so that we'd never be second class citizens living in a Third World country which is doomed to always be in a perpetual state of a developing country, we should repay the debts. And this is our mission.”
He managed to do it in the TV series. After spreading the word, the required amount was collected in two weeks in Ukraine. But that only happens in the movies. President Zelensky seems to still be in the movies, but at the same time, he isn't. He might have wanted to be in the movies, but things just aren't working out. The IMF mission left Kiev to think things over. No one heard about any new decisions coming from President Zelensky. So far, everything happens by the inertia of Poroshenko.
On Wednesday, there was a force majeure. There was a night accident with casualties at a coal mine in Lvov Oblast and a meeting with the miners at the scene. It resembles the plot of the TV series Servant of the People. Even the accident took place at the same mine as in the TV series. It's the Lesnaya mine near Lvov. But here is the meeting with the real miners, and these aren't the same guys you see in the movies. The black on their faces is coal, not makeup. They say that slaves lived better.
"Slaves lived better. They gave them food and clothes. And we aren't even paid wages".
"There are 30 mines in Ukraine. In the USSR, there were 100. Can't you do anything?"
Zelensky has no solutions. They promised only compensation to the families of the miners — 100,000 hryvnias — 240,000 rubles ($3,700) for each victim. Zelensky personally promised to buy an apartment for one family. As to other things, they promised to hold a meeting on miners and coal in the Security Council of Ukraine. It's scheduled for Friday.
On Thursday morning, there was news about a crash of a Ukrainian military helicopter. Four officers were killed, including the commander of an air unit of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Colonel Igor Mazepa. Zelensky ordered that the catastrophe be investigated and demands that they continue to conduct exercises while avoiding casualties.
On the same day, there was a meeting with a US senator and Zelensky's empty statement that Ukraine is conducting two wars — with Russia and corruption. There were two more meetings with foreign delegations. Zelensky received the foreign ministers of Germany and France in a black shirt with rolled up sleeves, trying to show how informal he is, someone who despises formal conventions, as if he gets right down to business, literally rolling up his sleeves. Apart from that, there was nothing new at the meetings.
On Friday, Zelensky went to the gym, where a photo shoot took place. There was also a meeting on corruption in the country. No decisions were made. There was also a hastily convened meeting of the National Security and Defense Council on miners, coal, and energy industry in general. No decisions were made. They promised to do it in two weeks.
On the same day, on Friday, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Parubiy accused Zelensky of provoking a crisis in the country.
"Ukraine, unfortunately, is in a crisis which is connected with the president's activities".
Starting Friday, Russian surnames ending in "oy" should end in "y" in Ukrainian. It's Trubetsky instead of Trubetskoy. It's Donsky instead of Donskoy. There also should be a short sign before the letter K. They made an exception for Leo Tolstoy. It's Leo Tolstoy. No comments from Zelensky.
On Saturday, the Russian government's ban on supplies of oil, fuel, and other energy resources to Ukraine will take effect. This is done in response to the expansion of Ukrainian sanctions against our country. This is Poroshenko's legacy.
In the first two weeks, Zelensky didn't take any steps toward Russia. On the contrary, he confirmed his predecessor's line. Time is going by and working against the young leader of Ukraine, only increasing the number of unsolved problems. The promised relocation of the administration of President Zelensky to the new building is postponed and even seems to be forgotten about.
Another piece of news of this week is the disappearance of all of the computers and servers containing secret information of national importance from the situation room of the Ukrainian Security Council. Criminal proceedings have been initiated.
The bright decision of the week is the return of Mikhail Saakashvili to Ukraine, to whom Zelensky, by his decree, reinstated Ukrainian citizenship. Saakashvili, the international adventurer and fugitive ex-president of Georgia, will add something exotic to the political life of Ukraine. Anyway, that's what has happened so far. While a small group of fans cheers, laughter can be heard throughout the world.
"Do you know Saakashvili?"
He had a good start. His friend Pyotr Poroshenko made Mikhail Saakashvili the governor of Odessa. Life didn't improve under Saakashvili there. He used to tuck his pants into his socks before going up to the podium or even put his pants on backward. Everyone especially liked how Saakashvili got into the trunk of a passenger car at police drills conducted by American instructors and then spoke passionately about his love for the police.
Mikhail Saakashvili, ex-President of Georgia: "We all want to have the same rules, the same customs that most modern countries have. It'll be better in our country because I'm absolutely sure that people will like our police more than the American police".
Saakashvili developed a love for the Ukrainian police with difficulty. The on-camera altercation with Minister of Internal Affairs Avakov became fateful.
- What do you say in such cases? Blah-blah-blah? Is that what you say?
- What does that mean?
- Let me speak! "Blah-blah-blah?" Nobody has talked to me like that!
- Bastard, scumbag.
- Thief!
-Yes, thief.
- You'll go to prison. You'll go to prison.
- You've already ruined your country! Get the hell out of mine!
Avakov, I must say, is still the Minister of the Interior. And knowledgeable people say that Zelensky won't dismiss him. One way or another, having spoiled relations with Poroshenko, Saakashvili decided to arrange his own Maidan against the authorities. December 2017. Saakashvili himself manages to spend a night in a tent. After that, he decided to go to the nearest hotel to use the bathroom and take a shower. However, the hotel's security didn't let the drifter in. Then, the "world's best police" had that unforgettable chase on the rooftops of Kiev. We've already covered that hilarious story. Let's recall how that went down. A catlike climb up a rooftop followed a call for help and screams of "Poroshenko is a thief!" There were calls for a new revolution and a threat to throw himself off. There was a bottle of water in his hands. Apparently, he expected to have gotten away.
On social media, Saakashvili is compared to Fyodor, the memorable father from a book by Ilf and Petrov — the one who found himself on top of a cliff, holding a sausage stolen from Kisa, who was being attacked by eagles. But Tamar the Great didn't appear to him. Instead, there was the rumble of roofing sheets from the footsteps of the SBU special forces unit sent to capture the wounded beast. It's as if they had just hunted down a mammoth or played a game of rugby. But they still gently pulled Saakashvili down the stairs.
As a result, they deported him from the country and deprived him of his passport. Later, he made his way across the border, trying to storm the country. He broke in, caused a stir, and was deported yet again.
Now is his moment of triumph, and it seems that all of Ukraine is at his feet. Saakashvili has big plans for it. However, there have been some setbacks. Maria Gaidar, who renounced her Russian passport for the sake of a Ukrainian one, the one whom he made the Vice-Governor of Odessa, didn't welcome her benefactor with bread and salt in Kiev. Maybe, coming from Odessa just didn't work out. Or maybe, it's just caution in anticipation of some proposals coming from Zelensky.
But there's another well-known Russian lady who also moved to Ukraine who is also fed up with the local order—Maria Maksakova. Her husband, ex-deputy of the State Duma Voronenkov, was shot at a Kiev intersection. At first, Maksakova claimed that the murder was the work of her ex-spouse, but now it seems that her testimony has been retracted. Now, Maksakova claims that she was helpless then and spoke under pressure by the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine and Prosecutor General Lutsenko personally. Now Maksakova is ready to give the real name of the person who hired a hitman to kill her husband in Kiev.
The sensational story of Russian journalist Arkady Babchenko, who moved to Ukraine, is also being unraveled. Do you remember him lying in a pool of pig's blood? This week, it's been a year since that. It was a setup by the SBU, which aimed to blame Russia for everything. They claimed that there was a plan in Moscow to eliminate dozens of journalists. And the staged murder of Arkady Babchenko was supposed to reveal that wicked plan. Now, it turns out that the provocation was a setup by the SBU from beginning to end. And who was Moscow's supposed mastermind behind this series of murders of journalists in Ukraine? Pivovarnik, who turned out to be an ex-SBU agent operating in Russia. His communications with his handler in Kiev came to light. His handler persuaded him to give false testimony in Kiev and falsely accuse himself and Russia. This is the whole story. I reiterate that the whole story with Babchenko lying in the pool of pig blood is a complete lie from the SBU. They tried to deceive the whole world.
The journalist Pavel Sheremet, who also moved from Russia to Ukraine, was less fortunate. He was simply blown up in his own car. The case has yet to be solved.
Why do we recall all those people who went to Ukraine to pursue happiness? They tried to use each of them against Russia there. And that didn't make each one them particularly happy.
