Now, we'll discuss the news from Ukraine, which is now preparing for the election. The report published by the U.N. today says that there's an atmosphere of intimidation in the country. Poroshenko's regime doesn't hesitate to use violence against its opponents and journalists. Today, his former associate, Saakashvili, unexpectedly spoke about how the current president of Ukraine is doing business. And Poroshenko's assistants had to give explanations about their boss's addiction to alcohol.
Elena Erofeeva has the details of what they managed to explain.
- Good evening, Mr. President.
- Good evening.
He is no longer president. Of course, Gordon is aware of it. But after the reverent "Mr. President" Saakashvili would tell everything.
- Have you lost weight or is it just me?
Mikhail Saakashvili, former president of Georgia: "When I lost my citizenship, I lost weight rapidly".
He was expelled from Georgia and Ukraine; now he's delivering lectures in New York. The fugitive politician emphasized the importance of his own person with valuable memories of how he discussed Crimea with Poroshenko.
Mikhail Saakashvili: “He said the following to me: You know, Misha. We must get used to the idea that the Crimea won't be Ukrainian anymore just in case. But we'll change it for membership in the EU and NATO. Then I said to him "Petro ("Petka", in that moment) who told you that you will be accepted in the EU and NATO?"
Saakashvili said that the president's people offered him $2 million of compensation so that he would disappear forever from Kiev.
Mikhail Saakashvili: “In short, he's a huckster. He's not a statesman. Poroshenko is going to buy these elections, so it's very important for all of the parties to prepare for mass falsification and manipulation.”
That is why for April 1st, April Fools' Day, he bought a Warsaw-to-Kiev ticket. Foundling Mishka, as they call him in Odessa, is coming back.
Mr. Poroshenko is in trouble indeed. He walked while wagging his finger at somebody. But the shouting of the National Corps fighters chased him. The president ran quickly without shaking hands with anyone. This episode was cut out from the video-report on his official Facebook (запрещена в РФ) page.
Ukrainian journalists counted the cost of such trips to the budget. Only renting a single bus bringing applauding spectators is equal to the quarterly social security of one Ukrainian. There are usually 10-15 buses, so they pay 70,000 hryvnias merely to bring them. And they also need booklets and newspapers.
"Look carefully. Here's what we do with Poroshenko. We throw him in the garbage".
His election campaign is estimated to cost $200 million or 6 billion hryvnias. This amount is allocated by the U.S. to Ukraine as military aid. The money is spent on television advertisements, they show this video 50 times per day, renting billboards, and payoffs to voters.
Ekaterina Oderchenko, political consultant: "He needs about 12 million voters in order to win. Of course, they're not giving away money to 12 million people. But the budget allows for giving 1,000 hryvnias each to five million people."
Poroshenko explains such expenditures with good intentions — to help the underprivileged with a one-time sop.
Pyotr Poroshenko, President of Ukraine: "I'm going to bribe Ukrainians for the next five years. Nobody will stop Poroshenko".
Poroshenko has an unhealthy appearance: there are bags under his eyes and perspiration on his face. The press has long been discussing his addiction to alcohol.
Oleg Medvedev, representative of Pyotr Poroshenko's campaign office: "Poroshenko practically doesn't drink alcohol. He doesn't drink but rather takes a sip".
His staff orders dirty articles against his opponents in local newspapers. However, Tymoshenko and Zelenskiy bite each other without it. Yulia publicly compared the comedian with Cheburashka.
Yulia Timoshenko, presidential candidate: "In response to the claim that it isn't just to make such borsch of Cheburashka, this is perhaps creative, and in some way, it's some kind of experiment, but it's definitely not tasty".
Zelenskiy responded to her with the same. If he's at least a new dish — fresh and without giblets, then Timoshenko isn't very fresh now.
"Oh, something else comes, quietly, like barking from a neighboring village. "Borsch of Cheburashka." That's creative. But it's better than yesterday's borsch gone bad".
Deputies of the Verkhovna Rada also demonstrate their creativeness. They've been discussing the law on the Ukrainian language for several days. Speaker Parubiy speaks Ukrainian in the way that no one understands but zealously advocates for the purity of the state language.
Andrey Parubiy: Please, speak Ukrainian.
- The Ukrainian people should know that today we're discussing the issue of the Ukrainian language.
- I ask you again speak Ukrainian...
- I want you to say publicly as a speaker occupying your seat...
- Turn off the microphone, please.
In their desire to eradicate Russian, Ukrainian nationalists prohibit other foreign languages: Crimean Tatar, Hungarian, Romanian, and even English — on the path to Europe.
Yuriy Boyko, presidential candidate: "We can't allow the law on the protection of the Ukrainian language to become a punitive mechanism of a corrupt nature".
The U.N. published a devastating report on the human rights situation in Ukraine. It includes acts of violence by radicals, attacks on journalists, criminal persecution of those who are disliked by officials. They also touched upon the religious issue of how they take churches from the canonical church by force and transfer them to schismatics. In such an atmosphere of conscious hostility, Ukraine will never reach Europe.
Elena Erofeeva, Anna Kolk, Alena Titova for Vesti.
