Is Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky’s fragile house of cards on the verge of toppling? The man has been hailed by a transnational ruling progressive establishment as Eastern Europe’s “defender of democracy” even as he has refused to call new elections so long as the nearly three-year-old war with Russia continues. But now the other shoe has dropped, and Zelensky finds himself mired deep in a damaging corruption scandal that centers around his closest collaborators.
“Ukraine’s anti-corruption bureau said on [Nov. 10] that it was conducting a large-scale investigation into the country’s energy sector, alleging kickbacks in transactions involving the state nuclear power operator, Energoatom,” UK newspaper The Guardian reports. “The bureau, which operates independently of the government, alleged that several senior figures were involved.”
One of those leading lights is Timur Mindich, a businessman and longtime Zelensky intimate.
Mindich “is a close associate of President Volodymyr Zelensky with interests in multiple industries,” The Kyiv Independent reports. “Mindich, a co-owner of the president’s Kvartal 95 production company, has allegedly profited from his ties with Zelensky and dramatically increased his clout in recent years, according to journalist investigations.”
Zelensky “transferred his stake [in Kvartal 95] to partners after being elected president in 2019,” the paper notes.
‘Close’ to Zelensky
The allegations against Mindich are substantial. Those involved in the scandal are accused of skimming some $100 million from Ukraine’s energy sector. Such charges are bound to prove excruciatingly embarrassing, if not worse, to a wartime president who justifies prolonging his stay in office by pleading the need for national stability as the conflict rages.
The alleged mass theft is said to have occurred at the heart of any attempt to preserve national stability, defense of the country’s basic infrastructure.
“The scandal erupted as Ukrainians suffer blackouts caused by Russian bombing. The state said it had spent tens of millions of euros to protect energy infrastructure from drones and missiles,” progressive ruling establishment publication Politico Europe correctly observed.
Terms such as “close associate” and “close ally” to Zelensky are peppered throughout the media outlet’s account. “Oleksiy Chernyshov, former deputy prime minister of Ukraine and a close ally of Zelensky, was identified in [National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine, or NABU] recordings under the codename ‘Che Guevara.’ NABU charged him with illicit enrichment, alleging he received about $1.2 million and nearly €100,000 [$116,273] through the money-laundering network.”
Another prominent name involved “is current Justice Minister German Galushchenko, who was suspended from his post [on Nov. 12]. He was energy minister until July before Zelensky reshuffled his government,” Politico Europe details.
Other internationalist sources are expressing their discomfort as well.
They Call It Democracy?
“The corruption investigation rocking Kyiv this week is part two of the Ukrainian anti-corruption scandal that erupted in July, triggering the biggest protests in a decade and strident international pushback,” The German Marshall Fund of the United States glumly related in a Nov. 13 article it titled “How Zelensky Can Get Ahead of It.”
The Marshall Fund is a stridently globalist think tank that has regularly decried the rise of “populism,” “nativism” and “anti-immigrant” “xenophobia” in Western nations over the years. George Soros’s Open Society Foundations is listed as a major donor to the organization, in the pricey “$100,000-$999,999” category. Your taxpayer dollars have also helped support the group via the United States Agency for International Development.
The key point: These are Zelensky’s friends – his supporters from abroad.
GMF acknowledges that Part Two of Ukraine’s corruption scandal is likely to make Part One, which caused massive internal unrest in the country, appear even more sinister in retrospect.
“Zelensky’s move in July to gut the independence of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) appears to have been a response to their closing in on Chernyshov and Mindich,” the article states. “This week, the agencies charged Chernyshov with illicit enrichment. But Mindich was apparently tipped off, enabling him to flee the country hours before NABU and SAPO came for him.”
It’s not a good look for the sacred bearers of that magical “D” word ruling elites like to wield as a weapon against populist nationalists throughout the West.
“Zelensky must show that he is serious about restoring credibility and protecting the democracy under the rule of law for which Ukrainians are sacrificing every day,” the article continues. Yes, having the protectors of democracy pilfering $100 million from the power lines being targeted by Russian military strikes does tend to affect one’s “credibility.”
The GMF authors offer more than a hint of frustration with Zelensky’s role in the scandal.
“The trust between the Ukrainian government and its international partners was fundamentally shaken by the July crackdown on the country’s independent anti-corruption agencies, and now it is facing another critical test – but one that Kyiv can still pass. Restoring this trust will take no less than immediate and comprehensive measures from the very top of Ukraine’s political leadership,” they write.
The authors clearly see the trap ahead of them. The internationalist money machine propping Zelensky up as a dashing battlefield champion of democracy is facing the incredibly awkward sight of increased massive public demonstrations against an interminable war regime deemed to be inherently dirty as it unfairly prolongs its hold on government.
