We all know the story. A Ukrainian media company set up by a comedian named Volodymyr Zelensky produces a wildly popular TV series titled Servant of the People about a high school teacher who is elected President of Ukraine after his rant against corruption - secretly recorded by one of his students - goes viral on social media.
Three years into the show, the lead actor, creator and producer sets up a real-life political party called “Servant of the People”, runs for president and wins the election. Because that’s how things happen in the Ukraine.
A Ukrainian network called 1+1 owned by billionaire Ihor Kolomoisky aired the show that made Zelensky president. The series debuted in October 2015, and ran until 28 March 2019, three days before the first round of the election.
Three months earlier, Kolomoisky allowed his actor friend to announce his candidacy on prime time. Zelensky’s announcement was made on New Year’s Eve of 2018, in the middle of president Petro Poroshenko’s New Year's Eve address. A 1+1 technical glitch, of course.
On the day before the first round of the presidential election, 1+1 viewers could watch Zelensky shows all day long. The icing on the cake was a documentary about the actor president Ronald Reagan voiced by Zelensky. Whether the movie magic worked is anybody’s guess. What we do know is that Zelensky came in as number one in the election, while Petro Poroshenko came in second. With the remaining thirty-seven candidates out of the race, Zelensky would run against Poroshenko in the final round.
Kolomoisky’s puppet show was so obvious that a Reuters reporter asked Zelensky whether he would help Kolomoisky regain his bank, PrivatBank, if he won the election. The bank was bailed out by the IMF after Victoria Nuland’s regime change operation in 2014, to the tune of $ 6 billion. Two years later it was nationalized, after authorities discovered that Kolomoisky was not so much trickling down as he was laundering, i.e. investing lavishly in shell companies owned by himself and his accomplices in Florida via his bank’s overseas branches in Latvia and Cyprus. Kolomoisky also funded the world’s largest Jewish cultural center in his hometown Dnipropetrovsk, as well as several battalions of volunteer fighters in Ukraine’s war against its own citizens in the Donbass.
Zelensky didn’t do much presidential campaigning, but he did give an interview to RBC-Ukraine, a Russian news outlet, three days before the second round of the election. These are some excerpts from the interview.
- Should the government be allowed to interfere in cultural life?
- In cultural life, no. Unless artists turn into politicians. But, in principle, the media should be as free as possible. The only thing is, I really wish that the press would be independent economically, commercially, so it couldn’t be paid for writing articles, publishing, airing TV programs and such. We are thinking about it. We are thinking about a bill to bring television into the free market. Our own market is weak, there is no market for advertising. But I would like to seek Western investment as much as possible, to invest in the freedom of speech.
- If you become president, will the current ban on Russian social networks remain, or will you remove them?
- What do you think the ban has achieved? We have begun to circumvent it. You know this very well. Ukrainians have found a way around it. I myself don't use it. To be honest, I haven't used it before either. My opinion about this situation - I call it «parking in Kyiv.» Once they took my car away from me, and now they fine me. I parked in the wrong place, and I was fined. You give me a space for parking, and then punish me severely when I don’t comply with the law. It’s exactly the same story here. You give people a social media platform - that's where the Ukrainians are, where we communicate, where we share our views - and then you «slam» them for it.
- But there is also Facebook, Twitter, YouTube.
- You know, this situation means that something is not enough for people, since they find ways around the ban. And if, on the same Odnoklassniki [a social network service used mainly in Russia and former Soviet Republics] people are engaging in politics, or some kind of aggression, if they have their own bots that influence Ukrainians with disinformation, or they spread anti-Ukraine slogans, then that’s a crime, and that’s another matter.
What is our history, what is our problem? We don't explain anything to society. Nothing. We don’t explain why this or that is bad. Let’s explain and tell people: «People, do you think that this should be accepted after what is printed there and after the information policy has been introduced? Should it be accepted?» The whole society will say, «Thank you for asking me.» And not only will they agree with the ban, no one will find workarounds. But first you need to rally society in any decision, explain why, offer a solution, and then close it down, just like that. But that's my personal opinion.
- You talk about things that separate and unite. Now there are avenues named after Stepan Bandera. What do you think about that?
- There are undeniable heroes. Some Ukrainians regard Stepan Bandera as a hero. That’s normal and cool. He is one of the people who defended the freedom of Ukraine. But I believe that when we have so many streets, and bridges, and we call them the same name - this is not entirely correct. By the way, it's not about Stepan Bandera. I can say the same about Taras Grigoryevich Shevchenko. I have a lot of respect for his amazing work. But we must remember the heroes of today, the heroes of art, the heroes of literature, just the heroes of Ukraine. Why don't we call them by their names - the heroes who unite Ukraine today? There is such tension in society that we should do everything possible to unite Ukraine. Why not name a street after Andriy Shevchenko? To me, he is a hero, I really think so.
Some Ukrainians regard Stepan Bandera as a hero. That’s normal and cool.
- How will you know the public opinion? By a referendum?
- Why a referendum? The referendum is, in principle, just a feeling that you are constantly taking part in the public debate. This doesn’t mean we need a whole procedure for this. We are not talking about global strategic things now. How, for example, did we create the Servant of the People program, the program of our party? It was also by referendum. We can call it something else - a conversation with society. And you immediately have a whole palette, and you see how people react, from which corners of Ukraine, what they look at. Any law today can be presented online to real people. Guys, here you have one, two, three, four, five, six, seven alternatives. Pick your choice.
- Is Vladimir Putin your enemy?
- Of course.
- Will you sign the bill on amnesty for the militants of the so-called DNR/LNR?
- No.
- Should the Donbass have a special status?
- I think not. I believe that this is a long story, and we will have to work to get out of this conflict for a long time. Here, perhaps, information warfare will help us. I really hope to bring these people [in eastern Ukraine] back to the understanding that Ukraine needs them just as much as they need Ukraine, and that they are also Ukrainians. But a lot of humanitarian steps will need to be taken. A lot of everything.
You understand that a fence has been put up. Like our politicians have told us, we have built a wall. But not with bricks, it was built even worse. There seems to be no wall, but there’s a wall of scary information. These people are in those territories [in Donbass] that do not receive pensions... And the fact that we do not talk to them is the worst thing. One of our ideas is a separate large European media portal that broadcasts in Russian, which is shown all over Europe, which tells the truth and reports about the events in Ukraine that they want to hear. Release this, extend a helping hand to them, and say: we are waiting for you, look, you are a hostage right now. Here's what we need to say. These are our hostages.
- You understand that most of the people who voted for you in the first round and who are ready to vote for you in the second round, may not be voting for you, but voting against the current [Poroshenko] government. And when you start asking questions to your voters on key strategic issues - NATO, the EU, language, and so on - they will probably be divided 50-50. Now your campaign is built on the fact that you do not promise anything. You promise to make decisions together with the people, but in the end, half of your voters will be disappointed by your decisions. Are you ready to be hated?
- Well, it's very annoying. I believe that a person should be hated only for his actions.
- That said, the Ukrainian people have a long tradition of hating authorities.
- Yes, but it seems to me that a person should only be hated for his actions. If you don’t succeed in something, then you either improve, or you are incapable of improving. I'm not ready for the word «hate» yet. I have never done anything in my life to make someone hate me. There is, of course, an information attack, there is a percentage of people who are against me. They just have their own opinion. They may be against me, they may consider me unworthy, unprofessional or have some issues. But if a person hates me today, this is a very strange position. Because they normally hate when something is taken away from them, or from their country.
The Ukrainian people have a long tradition of hating authorities.
What is hate? Hate is a terrible feeling. Hatred and the next stage of revenge is another category of relationships, it’s not just antipathy. A lot of people don't like me, because today, for example, they are fans of Poroshenko. Just a fan of a person, well, what can I do? They were told things, they were zombified that I was such and such, a loser, a drug addict. But this is the same as saying to people in Donetsk that Ukraine is terrible, that we hate you because you are from Donetsk, and we want to take away your language. This is another side of the same information war. But we understand that this is not true. How can I just hate you? Aren’t you just a normal person? I still believe that this is a normal person, but a person who was influenced by something. I am not ready to say that this person is completely lost. Therefore, hatred is only for deeds and crimes.
- Let’s do a blitz survey. As far as we understand, you are in favor of maximum deregulation. You have a fairly liberal program. There are questions that worry many liberals, those who want a democratic society. As briefly as possible: yes or no, are you for or against legalization of weapons?
- No. I am against gun legalization. It’s impossible to answer it briefly, so I will explain why. The legalization of weapons today in Ukraine, in a country where there is a war, is wrong, because you and I know perfectly well how many weapons ...
- A short barrel for self-defense, that's what we're talking about.
- It doesn’t matter. I am against gun legalization.
- Soft drugs, medical marijuana?
- Medical marijuana, I think it's OK in small quantities, sold in drops. Incidentally, I got input on this from Evgeny Olegovich Komarovsky.
- Are you for legalization?
- For legalizing droplets. Yes.
- Prostitution?
- That sounds tough.
- Sex for money.
- Sex for money? Honestly, guys, I think we have the opportunity, and I will now answer all the previous questions. We should make a Las Vegas. Society would not mind, and taxes would be paid. We should give an opportunity to some city, some territory and open it all there.
- Krivoy Rog?
- Krivoy Rog is a city of industrial workers. Not everybody would understand it. But I think that, in principle, we need a separate city where all this is possible.
- Gambling too?
- Yes, take it all and move it there, give it an opportunity. Please hang out there. This is not a closed area. It’s possible by this very thing to develop some city nobody visits, and do it all there. Please do.
We should make a Las Vegas. Society would not mind, and taxes would be paid.
- Abortions?
- I think that a person has the right to choose to get an abortion. I think it shouldn’t be banned. Why so preoccupied about what to ban?
- Because in Eastern and Central Europe laws are often adopted that cause public outcry. In Poland, for example, there were huge protests when they wanted to ban abortion.
- To be honest, we need to meddle less with individual freedom. Do you know what freedom of speech is in England? Do you know how it’s regulated there? They can joke, or talk seriously, about anything, whenever they want. Nobody will try to stop them.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy: It is beneficial for us to dissolve the Rada, but we will think and act according to the law [Владимир Зеленский: Нам выгодно распустить Раду, но будем думать и поступать по закону] by Vladislav Krasinsky, Sergey Shcherbina
Thursday 18 April 2019
odious little puppet