Viktor Medvedchuk
Photographer: Alexei Druzhinin / TASS / Getty Images
Photographer: Alexei Druzhinin / TASS / Getty Images
Kremlin-friendly political forces are making progress in Ukraine, and their leader says it is time to make new gains.
The advance may surprise those who watched the protesters help realign the country – a frequent battleground between Russia and the West since communism collapsed – to Europe just six years ago. The revolution prompted President Vladimir Putin to annex Crimea from his neighbor and to encourage war on the border of the two former allies that are faltering today.
But with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy increasingly hampered by a remnant against the troubled political system he was elected to oust, there is a window to take advantage of growing disappointment. The popularity of the Opposition Platform – For Life, which has stronger ties to Russia, is the largest since protesters overthrew the Kremlin-backed Viktor Yanukovych in 2014 as it bolstered support among pro-Russian voters.
Russian renaissance
Support for pro-Kremlin political forces reaches a maximum of six years
Source: Razumkov Center; margin of error 2.3 percentage points
“There is no trust in Zelenskiy or his party,” said Viktor Medvedchuk, chairman of the opposition Platform – For Life. Putin, the godfather of Medvedchuk’s daughter, has supported him for years as his main man in Ukraine
“I say openly that we should follow the same path as Russia, that we must do everything to restore relations,” the 66-year-old tycoon said in an interview. “People are believing this more and more.”
Medvedchuk, who was it sanctioned by the US to help undermine Ukraine’s sovereignty, reduced to the Donbas conflict, which killed more than 13,000 people. Zelenskiy failed to live up to the promises of peace that helped the then-newcomer to a landslide election victory in 2019, he said.
Read more: Ukraine’s leader is broken by the system he promised to crush
Opposition platform For Life supports constitutional changes that give the separatist region more autonomy that could thwart Ukraine’s goals of integrating with The European Union and NATO – a move that would probably be a career suicide for Zelenskiy.
Despite the increased number of polls and a the declining popularity of the president, who once surpassed Putin’s in Russia, Medvedchuk’s party controls only about 10 percent of parliament seats and has little chance of ever being included in a national government. This aspiration was hampered by the loss of Crimea, where the inhabitants were largely oriented towards Russia.
“There is potential for further increases in support, but it is limited to 25% of voters – those with nostalgia for the Soviet Union and those who would like to live in Russia,” said Andriy Bychenko, head of the sociology department at the Razumkov Center. in Kiev.
The “reasons” for the elections
The party may still be useful to the Kremlin. Indeed, he joined the oligarchs in parliament to oppose the reformist legislation needed to maintain a $ 5 billion International Monetary Fund loan.
Meanwhile, Medvedchuk enjoys frequent television broadcasts officially owned by his friends and associates. He often talks to Putin, whom he has met three times this year. Taking advantage of the pandemic, he was shown to have received the Russian coronavirus vaccine, which Ukraine does not intend to buy, during his holiday in Crimea in August — before studies established the safety and effectiveness of the shooting.
Russian influence through such channels raised red flags in Ukraine. But Zelenskiy, a former television comedian whose broadcasts aired on the television station of a controversial billionaire, has yet to cope with threats of repression of media ownership.
For the time being, Medvedchuk is enjoying the growing popularity of his party, while acknowledging its limited scope.
“There are reasons for early elections, which would better reflect the interest of the people,” he said, acknowledging that an instant vote would be very difficult.
– With the assistance of Irina Reznik and Stepan Kravchenko