Viktor Medvedchuk
Photographer: Alexei Druzhinin / TASS / Getty Images
Photographer: Alexei Druzhinin / TASS / Getty Images
Kremlin-friendly political forces are advancing in Ukraine and its leader says it is time to win more.
The advance may surprise those who saw protesters help realign the country (a frequent battlefield between Russia and the West since communism collapsed) to Europe just six years ago. The revolution prompted President Vladimir Putin to annex Crimea to its neighbor and to foment war on the border of the two former allies advancing today.
But with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy increasingly caught up in a wear and tear against the murky political system that was elected to banish him, there is a window to take advantage of growing disillusionment. The popularity of the Opposition Platform – For Life party, which supports stronger ties with Russia, is the highest it has been since protesters overthrew Viktor Yanukovych, backed by the Kremlin in 2014, as it consolidates support of pro-Russian voters.
Russian Revival
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 confidence in Zelenskiy or his party,” said Viktor Medvedchuk, chairman of the Opposition Platform – For Life. Putin, who is the godfather of Medvedchuk’s daughter, has supported him for years as his reference man in Ukraine.
“I say openly that we should walk the same path with Russia, that we must do everything to restore relations,” the 66-year-old tycoon said in an interview. “People believe it more and more.”
Medvedchuk, who has been sanctioned by the US to help undermine Ukraine’s sovereignty, reduced to the Donbass conflict, which killed more than 13,000 people. Zelenskiy has failed to deliver on the peace promises that helped the then-political rookie achieve an electoral defeat in 2019, he said.
Read more: Ukraine’s leader is being broken by the system he promised to crush
Opposition platform: For Life responds to constitutional changes that give the separatist region more autonomy that could counter Ukraine’s goals of integrating with the European Union and NATO: a move that would probably be a professional suicide for Zelenskiy.
Despite increasing the number of surveys and the Medvedchuk’s party controls only about 10% of the seats in Parliament and has little chance of ever being included in a national government. This aspiration was made harder by the loss of Crimea, where residents were largely inclined to Russia.
“There is a possibility of increasing 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 of the Razumkov Center in Kiev .
‘Reasons’ for the election
The party may still be useful to the Kremlin. In fact, it has joined with oligarchs in parliament to oppose the reformist legislation needed to maintain a $ 5 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund.
Meanwhile, Medvedchuk enjoys frequent stays on TV channels officially owned by his friends and associates. He has often broadcast talking to Putin, whom he has met three times this year. Taking advantage of the pandemic, he was shown the Russian coronavirus vaccine, which Ukraine has no plans to acquire, while on holiday in the Crimea in August, before trials established the safety and effectiveness of the shot.
Russian influence through these channels has raised red flags in Ukraine. But Zelenskiy, a former television comedian whose programs aired on a controversial multimillion-dollar television network, has yet to follow the threats of a crackdown on media ownership.
For now, Medvedchuk is sunbathing in the growing popularity of his party, while acknowledging its limited reach.
“There are reasons for early elections, which will better reflect the interest of the people,” he said, conceding that it would be very difficult to provoke an instant vote.
– With the assistance of Irina Reznik and Stepan Kravchenko