The president of Ukraine seems to have some problems. The transcript of his conversation with the U.S. president turned out to be resonant. Too resonant. It's classic, waves overlap each other and gradually intensifying reach their highest point, threatening catastrophe. That's how it works in physics, in nature. It turned out that the same goes for politics.
Some part of the conversation between Vladimir Zelensky and Donald Trump about Ukraine’s relations with the West seriously hurts the Europeans' feelings. Trump told Zelensky: “We do a lot for Ukraine. We spend a lot of effort and a lot of time... Much more than the European countries are doing and they should be helping you more than they are. Germany does almost nothing for you. All they do is talk and I think it’s something that you should really ask them about. When I was speaking to Angela Merkel she talks Ukraine, but she doesn’t do anything. A lot of the European countries are the same way so I think it’s something you want to look at but the United States has been very very good to Ukraine."
Zelensky’s answer could be rephrased in the following form: no kidding, Mr. Trump, we had so many hopes with them, and they are so-and-so, and only the U.S....
It is ugly, of course, behind the backs of partners who are helping Kiev as they can at not their best times. But it turns out, it is not enough for Kiev, they are pouting and complaining. Zelensky’s answer to Trump is bad also because servility sticks out a mile. "Yes you are absolutely right. Not only 100%, but actually 1000%."
It is followed by something which quite badly goes along with a concept of morality: “I can tell you the following; I did talk to Angela Merkel and I did meet with her. I also met and talked with Macron and I told them that they are not doing quite as much as they need to be doing on the issues with the sanctions. They are not enforcing the sanctions. They are not working as much as they should work for Ukraine. It turns out that even though logically, the European Union should be our biggest partner but technically the United States is a much bigger partner than the European Union."
If from now on, European leaders radically change their attitude towards Zelensky, and their states will correct the Ukrainian policy, then the young leader can only blame himself for his restraint and recklessness. And judging by a number of operational publications - it is possible.
Maja Kocijancic, Speaker of High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini, reacted rather toughly to Zelensky’s “complaint”. In particular, she said that over the past five years the European Union has provided "unprecedented support", amounting to €15 billion: "In these five years, we have put together for Ukraine the largest support package in the history of the European Union. “As a staunch supporter of Ukraine and its democratic path, and recognising the unprecedented challenges Ukraine faces and the unprecedented reform efforts since the 2014 revolution, the European Union together with the European Financial Institutions have mobilised more than €15 billion in grants and loans to support the reform process." According to Kocijancic, the money were allocated to implement state programs - judicial, anti-corruption systems, arrangement of border points.
The Deutsche Welle, citing government data, said that since 2014 Germany has provided Ukraine €544 million of official development cooperation, €110 million in humanitarian aid, a financial loan of €500 million, and some €25 million for stabilization measures, such as conflict monitoring in the Donbass. Germany, the third largest donor for Ukraine after the EU and the United States, the article says, making it clear that everything is far from as clear as one might think from the Ukrainian president's words.
At the same time, the Old World deemed it necessary to recall their indignation at how Kiev was missing out on opportunities for egregious reasons not inherent in normal civilized states, implying monstrous corruption, which slowed down the pace of a number of reforms, and simply failed others.
Obviously, realizing what kind of quagmire they could fall into, Kiev immediately rushed to improve the situation. Local media offered the audience an edited version of the conversation between Zelensky and Trump, in which the Ukrainian president’s remarks addressed to Europeans are mixed with thanking the same recipients for ... help and support in many matters. Then Zelensky himself expressed gratitude, noting that the discontent concerned only the Nord Stream, which could deprive Ukraine of transit revenues for transporting gas to Europe. “This is a big threat to us,” the president of Ukraine believes.
But it would be a bit of an exaggeration to say that Ukraine was able to improve the situation. As you know, word spoken is past recalling. To soften the effect - maybe. Therefore, analyzing the situation, leading Ukrainian political scientists noted that perhaps Vladimir Zelensky was right, but the attack against European leaders should have been clothed in a more diplomatic form. The place and time were chosen poorly, and if it is now possible to smooth out the unpleasant situation, then it is hoped that from now on the president will be more careful in choosing words and expressing thoughts.
The resonant story plays against Zelensky in the domestic political arena as well. The opposition, first of all, supporters of ex-president Petro Poroshenko will try to overblow the story. They have already demanded to provide a real version of the transcript of the conversation between Donald Trump and Vladimir Zelensky. And there's no doubt that any version will be used to put pressure on the president.
In general, Vladimir Zelensky set a trap for himself and fell right into it. And although the situation is not fatal, the consequences for the president can be unpleasant, to say the least.
