American Ambassador Will Be Ukraine’s Real President

The preliminary voting results in the election of the “president” of Ukraine have been published. Oligarch Petro Poroshenko won, having beaten all opponents by a large margin. Yulia Tymoshenko, the most influential opposition leader for many years, was unable to pose a serious challenge to him.

The infamous candidate Oleh Lyashko, who could in no way be counted among the heavyweights of the Ukrainian political arena, unexpectedly made it into the troika of “prizewinners.” The remaining participants in the presidential race did not receive any substantial support from voters.

In an exclusive interview, KM.RU political analyst Anatoliy Vasserman commented on the preliminary voting results.

There’s No Reason to Expect an Independent Policy from Poroshenko

This election is illegal, and starting Feb. 22, all the activity of Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada is legally void. President Yanukovych was dismissed on grounds that do not exist in the law, and therefore retains authority. The Verkhovna Rada has not sent its decisions to him for approval, thereby showing that they are legally void.

Yes, to a large extent Yanukovych carried out the wishes of Donetsk’s clan of oligarchs, but to some extent he pursued an independent policy too and didn’t just tend to his own earnings. As far as I can tell, Poroshenko’s business interests do not require implementing fanatical maneuvers in Ukraine, and by himself would be almost harmless for Ukraine.

But there’s no reason to expect an independent policy from Poroshenko. He will concern himself with carrying out the wishes of the more hard-headed oligarchs, to the extent that it doesn’t contradict the Americans’ instructions. If we for a moment try to imagine that this election has at least some kind of legal basis, the following can be noted.

The United States is legitimizing yet another of its assistants in the business of looting the European Union by turning Ukraine into an obstacle to the EU’s interaction with the Russian Federation.

Yulia Tymoshenko’s Failure Has a Simple Explanation: They’re Tired of Her

Whatever the actual results of the voting, it is clear that Poroshenko would be declared the president simply because the Americans decided as much, and going forward he will do what the Americans instruct him to do. And they will instruct him to impede interaction between the European Union and the Russian Federation by all means possible, including [by means of] a war in which Russia will be forced to intervene to protect the Russian majority of Ukraine’s citizens. I don’t even rule out the blowing up of the oil and gas pipelines through which energy resources from Russia are supplied to the EU.

If Poroshenko doesn’t want to get his hands dirty himself, they will demand that he not stand in the way of Yarosh and other outright thugs.

As for the candidates’ specific results, like those of Lyashko, for example, the figures are odd. For example, I don’t think that in Ukraine any appreciable number of people can be found who are capable of pronouncing his name without spitting. Lyashko has long been persistently doing everything he can to make himself as repulsive as possible.

Yulia Tymoshenko’s failure has a simple explanation. She has been in the public eye too long, been too active and caused scandals. In the end, they’re tired of her, but I don’t think she would admit it. Moreover, in the final days of her campaign, her people (Turchinov, Yatsenyuk and Avakov) sought to provoke violent conflicts, and I don’t exclude the possibility that there will still be maneuvers to try to overturn the election results.

In short, as far as I can tell, the U.S. ambassador will be Ukraine’s real president, and it will be necessary to speak with him.