Former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko appeared on the streets of Kiev, Ukraine, on Feb. 25 for an interview with CNN, armed with an automatic rifle.
The former president said Putin would never be able to occupy Ukraine: "No matter how many soldiers he kills, how many missiles he has, how many nuclear weapons he has, we Ukrainians are free people with a better European future." ”
In the face of reporters, Poroshenko said of Putin: "He is crazy, he just came here to kill Ukrainians, he is too evil."
In an interview, Poroshenko said Ukraine needs Western assistance, including sanctions, driving Russia out of SWIFT and blocking Russian planes and ships from entering EU and NATO ports.
Poroshenko also called on the United States and Britain to provide Ukraine with more defensive weapons: "It is important for us, we feel that we are not alone, you are with us." ”
One
Seven years have passed since the 2014 ukraine crisis. During these seven years, Ukraine lost Crimea, the Donbass fell into war, and Ukraine became a complete rival with Russia.
As a former Ukrainian president, Poroshenko could not escape all this. Together with other oligarchs, he changed the direction of Ukraine's rule and the fate of the country.
On May 25, 2014, Ukraine held its presidential election as scheduled despite threats to its territorial integrity and civil war.
Peter Poroshenko emerged from 21 candidates and was elected with 54.7 percent support for Ukraine's fifth presidency since independence for a five-year term.
On the day poroshenko was elected, analysts believed he won the election because his moderate stance won with the support of a majority of Ukraine's electorate, and his election reflected the people's expectations for peace and stability in a volatile situation.
At that time, the Ukrainian people generally hoped that the situation would gradually ease, accelerate the pace of integration into Europe, and gradually achieve socio-economic prosperity, national reconciliation and the integrity of the country's territory, and Poroshenko was also a presidential candidate acceptable to russia and Europe and the United States.
Poroshenko was born on September 26, 1965 in Odessa, Ukraine. When he was a child, he did not show the same talent for reading, and after relying on his relationship to enter Kiev State University, his mind was not focused on studying academics, but was keen on doing business to make money.
During college, he sold DVDs, started cram schools, and later started a confectionery business and earned his first pot of gold.
In 1995, at the age of 30, Poroshenko founded the Roshon Confectionery Group Company, which mainly produces chocolate exported to Russia. After several years of hard work, he became the largest confectionery producer in Ukraine and was known as the "chocolate king" of Ukraine.
It has to be said that Poroshenko has a super high talent for business. After completing the original accumulation of capital, he invested in agriculture, automobile industry, shipbuilding and media industry, opened "Our Radio Station" and 5 TV channel, and founded the Ukrainian Industrial Investment JSC Group, which became bigger and bigger.
In 2006, he was ranked 15th on The List of The 30 Most Influential People in Ukraine with a net worth of $505 million, and in June 2014, he was named 6th in the List of The Richest Ukrainians by Forbes with $1.3 billion in assets.
With money, poroshenko began to get involved in politics in order to maximize his profits. In 1998, Poroshenko joined the Ukrainian Social Democratic Party, led by former President Kuchma, and was successfully elected to the Ukrainian Parliament.
In 2002, he defected to the "Our Ukraine" party, which sided with the Social Democratic Party, and became Yushchenko's confidant.
During Yushchenko's administration, Poroshenko was appointed secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine and later foreign minister.
In 2010, Poroshenko and then-Prime Minister Tymoshenko disagreed over privatization and resigned to join Yanukovych.
After Yanukovych became president of Ukraine, Poroshenko transformed himself into Yanukovych's foreign minister.
Yanukovych reused Poroshenko because he wanted to use his influence in the Ukrainian business community to deepen relations with the West and integrate economically into the Western camp.
But after Ukraine terminated economic talks with the European Union in 2013, there were massive protests against Yanukovych on the streets of Kiev.
Poroshenko knew he could no longer stay on Yanukovych's boat. His choice was simple: when Yanukovych himself was in trouble, he quickly changed his political position and became a staunch opponent of Yanukovych.
Looking at Poroshenko's experience, it is not difficult to find that he is a political figure with the potential of a "chameleon", and all his choices are only for profit.
But such a person has many supporters in Ukraine, and his insistence on integration into Europe has also been appreciated by the United States and other Western countries.
Then-US President Barack Obama called Poroshenko one of the few political figures acceptable to all parties in Ukraine, and Ukraine's financial oligarchs believed that Poroshenko was the spokesman they were looking for.
Two
When Poroshenko came to power, Ukraine's currency was depreciating, its fiscal deficit and debt problems were severe, and its economy was in a very bad state. On the energy issue, it is also stuck in the neck of Russia.
In addition, Donetsk and Luhansk also broke out armed conflicts between separatism and Ukrainian politics, and it can be said that Poroshenko took over a complete mess.
After Poroshenko came to power, he advocated the implementation of a parliamentary presidential system, the expansion of parliamentary functions, and the election of parliamentary political parties in proportion to the parliamentarians' caucuses, so as to enhance the transparency of government work and establish a mechanism for supervising public opinion in government work.
Establish a sound judicial system that restricts state intervention in private and public life; introduces the Eastern Peace Plan to give more power to the eastern region; and increases funding for education to provide quality medical assistance to the whole population.
In terms of economy, Poroshenko believes that agriculture is the foundation of Ukraine's economic development, advocates the establishment of an innovative economy, strives to diversify natural gas imports, reduces dependence on Russia's energy, enters the world market through a free trade area with the European Union, and draws on the advanced economic development experience of the Baltic States and combines the actual conditions of their own countries to develop the economy.
Poroshenko also reiterated that it will continue to take anti-corruption measures to strictly control areas with high incidence of corruption and prevent the further spread of corruption.
In terms of relations with Russia, Poroshenko expressed his willingness to find a mutually acceptable way to conduct dialogue and maximize relations with Russia.
If this platform of governance can really be realized, Poroshenko will undoubtedly become the "lord of ZTE" in Ukraine, and will inevitably be loved by the Ukrainian people and respected by the international community.
But easier said than done, is Poroshenko really capable of completing his plan of governance?
When Poroshenko came to power, Ukraine's economy was already in ruins. In 2013, Ukraine's fiscal deficit was already 8.5% of GDP, and the amount of external debt reached a record $146 billion, accounting for more than 80% of GDP.
The government's treasury is empty and heavily indebted, and political and economic reforms will need to be carried out under the harsh conditions of the European Union and the International Monetary Fund in order to receive the 355 million euros of financial assistance promised by the EU to Ukraine.
Russia has been doing whatever it takes to prevent Ukraine from "leaving Russia and joining the Union", so Ukraine wants to maintain a balance between Western countries and Russia, which is a great challenge to Poroshenko's ability to govern.
The day after Poroshenko was sworn in, France said that the EU did not agree with Poroshenko's statement that ukraine's signing of a associated country agreement with the EU was the first step in its becoming a full member of the EU, and opposed Ukraine's accession to the EU.
Poroshenko is a staunch pro-European faction, advocating joining the European Union and NATO in order to secure economic investment from Western Europe and securityly backed by NATO against Russia. Therefore, he is willing to let Ukraine act as a "bridgehead" for NATO and completely embrace the West.
But poroshenko's good wishes, and his promises to the Ukrainian people, he almost never fulfilled.
In the four years of his reign, Ukraine's national strength has not increased, the people's living standards have not been improved, and he himself has been mired in corruption, and the Ukrainian people have gradually lost confidence in him.
Poroshenko's promise to lead Ukraine into NATO has always been a blank check for the Ukrainian people, and there is no way to cash it.
After the Ukraine crisis, Poroshenko has always wanted to find a strong support, frequently showing goodwill to NATO, but NATO's attitude is very firm and has always refused to join.
During Poroshenko's five years in office, he insisted on oligarchy and focused his economic work on a small number of oligarchs, and Ukraine's economy deteriorated under his rule, with GDP falling from $180 billion in 2013 to $110 billion in 2018, and GDP per capita falling from $4,039 in 2013 to $2,639 in 2017.
The entire country shrank by 30%, and the entire national income shrank by 1/3. This has obviously had a great impact on the lives of the Ukrainian people and has caused serious dissatisfaction among the middle and lower levels.
During Poroshenko's presidency, armed conflicts in the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine caused a large number of Ukrainian casualties, and the people complained about it.
Ukraine sits between Russia and European countries, but President Petro Poroshenko, greedy for small profits, has chosen to fully embrace the West.
This is intolerable for Russia. Therefore, Russia broke off economic cooperation with Ukraine, incorporated Crimea into Russia's territory, and supported pro-Russian armed forces in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of eastern Ukraine, causing long-term turmoil in Ukraine, and Poroshenko was mainly responsible.
At a time when Ukraine's economy is constantly declining, Poroshenko ignores the interests of the state and the nation, desperately tries to make money, embezzles state-owned assets, accepts bribes in international procurement, and enriches his own pockets, and the Ukrainian people have long hated him to the bone.
Three
In April 2018, Poroshenko lost the election, and the presidency ushered in a new owner, the actor-turned-Zelenskiy.
In Ukraine's presidential election, Zelenskiy released a plan to combat corruption, which was clearly tailored to Poroshenko.
Zelenskiy's spokesman has said that when Yanukovych was overthrown, Ukraine's central bank still had $1.8 billion worth of gold.
But after Poroshenko was in power for a few years, Ukraine's central bank declared that only $120 million was left in its gold reserves, and there was no way to explain the "disappearance" of gold reserves.
According to a senior Official of the Central Bank of Ukraine, who did not want to be named, many of the gold bars stored in the basement of the Central Bank of Ukraine were only lead bars painted gold, which means that the Central Bank of Ukraine has less than $120 million in gold reserves.
Poroshenko's sworn enemy Tymoshenko once asked: Poroshenko ruled Ukraine for 5 years, making Ukraine the "poorest country in Europe", while his private property has increased by more than 80 times.
At the inauguration, Zelenskiy promised the Ukrainian people that they would not fail to live up to their expectations and strive to make Ukrainians stop crying. Immediately afterward, the former president of Ukraine's National Bureau of Investigation, Petro Poroshenko, opened an investigation.
After some investigation, Poroshenko's main crimes were four: one was to send warships into the Kerch Strait, the second was to illegally occupy the $300 million that sold the "Rebarsk" shipyard, the third was to illegally occupy the state's "live" television station, and the fourth was suspected of money laundering and tax evasion.
Ukraine's State Bureau of Investigation immediately asked the court to seize Poroshenko's assets.
The survey shows that Poroshenko promised to give up his business assets when he became president in 2014, but in 2016, he was the de facto owner of 99 companies, and his company's market share in Europe increased by 22%.
In addition, Poroshenko was accused of "organizing the transfer of billions of dollars of foreign exchange directly from the Ukrainian Defense Industry Corporation to offshore accounts and other jurisdictions for its own benefit, undermining Ukraine's national security and defense capabilities".
Another allegation of corruption against Poroshenko is that in January 2016, the Central Bank of Ukraine repealed the Exchange Control Act, which stipulates that offshore payments by the Ukrainian Defense Industry Corporation can be made in advance, without any control or restriction on the amount.
After that, about $30 million of the Ukrainian Defense Industry Corporation was siphoned off offshore company accounts, of which $6.7 million was embezzled.
Four
On August 12, 2019, Poroshenko denied the allegations against himself when he was investigated by the National Bureau of Investigation. He said all this was a "Kremlin puppet" and a frame frame for political opponents.
When Poroshenko left the NBI, he was surrounded by supporters and journalists who had been waiting for him. At this time, a man threw five rotten eggs at him in a row, and although he did not hit them directly, the egg liquid that hit the reporters and policemen next to Poroshenko was still stained with Poroshenko's body.
Poroshenko, who was blue in the face, quickly got into the car and flew away.
Over the next few weeks, Poroshenko watched as his cronies were liquidated one by one. Both former Interior Minister Avakov and former Kiev mayor were investigated. Avakov is considered Poroshenko's first confidant, and poroshenko knows everything about it, the former minister of the interior.
The wall fell on the crowd, and Poroshenko knew that his good days were coming to an end.
But Poroshenko, who has the status of outgoing president and temporarily has criminal immunity, still organizes opposition in parliament against the new government.
In January 2022, Poroshenko's immunity lapsed, and the Kiev court in Ukraine decided on January 6 to confiscate all Of Poroshenko's property and decided to hear Poroshenko's case of treason and corruption on January 17.
On the same day, Poroshenko returned home after paying $35 million in bail to the court. As a result of the withholding of his passport, he was no longer able to seek refuge abroad. A few days ago, it was reported that 96 of the top 100 rich people in Ukraine have run away in recent days, and only 4 are still in Ukraine, including Poroshenko, whose passports have been withheld.
Although the current trial of Poroshenko's case has not yet been resolved, several of Poroshenko's mansions and his collection of valuable paintings have been confiscated by the court.
Putin has said he is willing to give poroshenko political asylum. But in the current situation, whether this promise can be fulfilled or not really needs to be a big question mark.
Five
Perhaps for this reason, Poroshenko took to the streets of Kiev with a gun a few days ago, denounced Putin as "crazy" and took the opportunity to show goodwill to the United States and Britain.
Poroshenko thanked the United States and Britain for providing defensive weapons to Ukraine, saying: "It is important for us, we feel that we are not alone, you are with us." ”
Poroshenko is now facing a bad situation, and if his charges are confirmed, he will face up to 15 years in prison.
But behind Poroshenko, there is the support of the United States and other Western countries. U.S. Congressman Murphy has publicly endorsed Poroshenko: "The United States is concerned about Ukraine's 'selective justice' and 'targeting political opponents'."
Some experts believe that Poroshenko is not only likely to be exempt from prison, but also likely to continue to engage in politics. Poroshenko's popular support has been rising in recent days, even surpassing incumbent President Zelenskiy.
In the past few days, Poroshenko's famous phrase , "The authorities are confused and weak, they are not confronting Putin, but trying to confront us" has been repeatedly mentioned in some parts of Ukraine, and Ukrainian analyst Parria believes that If Josselenski acts with a positive image of defending the country's territory and fighting against "traitors", his support will continue to increase.
Not only could he escape jail time, but he might even make a comeback.
For a politician, being thrown a few rotten eggs by the people is nothing at all, what is important is to have power in his hands. In particular, a political chameleon like Poroshenko will not care.
When poroshenko stepped down in 2018, he told his supporters he would make a comeback in 2022. Maybe he can really do it, let's wait and see.