Petro Poroshenko, the deposed former President of Ukraine who was ousted from office in a democratic election that saw voters embrace a comedian and shun the chance to re-elect him, has been quiet and still in the wilderness – almost non-existent in matters of politics and public discourse.
All that wasn’t until this week when he sparked an emotional rebuke from Russia over his surprise claims that probably within a year, Ukraine would re-take the break-away Eastern Republic of Crimea, which is now “officially” part of the Russian federation.
Reports in Ukraine suggest that Poroshenko harbours ambition to return to power in Ukraine. In his rare public speech, businessman Poroshenko has ruffled feathers in Russia with his shock declaration about the return of Crimea to Ukraine, sparking an explosive war of words.
The autonomous region of Crimea is such an emotive issue not only in the soured bilateral relations between Moscow and Kiev, but also between Russia and the West in general.
Poroshenko assumed office in 2014 after the unceremonious ousting from office of President Viktor Yanukovych, a publicly declared pro-Russian president who enjoyed enormous support from the Kremlin.
Yanukovych’s unsavoury ejection from office was viewed by the deposed president and Russia as a consequence of a well-funded and materially-supported Western-backed coup.
The consequences for Ukraine itself were dire. They continue to reverberate to this day beyond the borders of Ukraine.
Throughout his term of office from 2014 to 2019, Poroshenko had to deal with a major headache that is still Crimea, and he left office with the matter as it started – cessation by the more than 2.4 million Crimean people from Ukraine.
Soon after the so-called Ukraine Revolution that brought down Yanukovych, the Russian-speaking region of Crimea was home to mass displeasure of citizens who chose to rather go with their ousted president.
A referendum was then held to democratically determine the future of Crime. More than 90% of the people voted to break away from Ukraine and rejoin Russia, a territory well familiar with the Crimean people.
And then, following the unanimous vote to leave, off they went. Within the wink of an eye, a territory of nearly 2.5 million citizens was just up and gone!
Poroshenko tried to talk them back to the fold of Kiev, but to no avail. His later threats of violence against Crimea were met with more counter-threats. In the meantime, Crimea was rapidly re-united into Russia. The West regards and refers to the entire process as “annexation” by Russia.
Part of the Western economic sanctions against Russia is as a result of the dispute over Crimea. But Moscow has been unfazed by all the ensuing brouhaha. The President Vladimir Putin administration regards the referendum outcome as a legitimate choice of the people of Crimea as and an outcome of a democratic process – a free choice of the people without any coercion.
Poroshenko was defeated in the 2019 elections in Ukraine by Volodymyr Zelensky, a hugely popular comedian-turned-politician who became the country’s 6th and current president.
In the beginning, Poroshenko thought Zelensky, now aged 43, was merely joking when he declared his intention to run for the highest office in the land. But Ukrainians were extremely visibly unhappy with the Poroshenko years that they elected to put their trust and faith in a comedian than endorse a second term of office for a hugely unpopular figure regarded as a “major let-down” in national politics.
Although there was never true consensus among the enlightened community on why Poroshenko’s popularity took a tumble, opinions range from corruption, lack of development, the rise in nationalism and more importantly, dissatisfaction from overlooked Russian-speaking regions of Ukraine.
The motto of his presidency was known in three words as “military, language, faith”. His fierce anti-Moscow stance saw during his reign the relegation of the Russian language to near banning it, ignorant of the sociological combination between language, culture, tradition and identity.
A year before his defeat in election – in 2018, Poroshenko is credited with helping to create autocephalous Orthodox Church of Ukraine, “separating Ukrainian churches from the Moscow Patriarchate”.
People-to-people diplomacy between Russia and Ukraine all but disappeared, in spite of the next-door neighbours sharing so much in common over many centuries.
In scholarly assessment, the demise of Poroshenko, therefore, serves as empirical evidence of the consequences of disconnection between power and the ordinary masses, as well as the inevitable outcome of political disconnection across society.
Although Poroshenko has served in government at various positions of influence, including as Minister of Foreign Affairs (2009-2010) and Minister of Trade and Economic Development, he made his name as a widely recognised Ukrainian oligarch.
His popular nickname is “Chocolate King”, a name he got following his hugely successful confectionary company. He also owns a TV news channel known as 5 Kanal and his other business interests are in the areas of manufacturing, agriculture and financial sectors.
With so much success outside politics, the “Chocolate King” knows too well that money alone cannot buy a subway to the presidency. Hence he is resorting to some of the most preposterous views, according to his detractors, particularly in Moscow.
Responding to Poroshenko’s inexplicit undertaking to bring back Crimea into Ukraine Vladimir Dzhabarov, the first deputy chairman of the Federation Council’s committee on international relations dismissed the former Ukrainian president as a “notorious dreamer”.
He added: “He has proved this regularly when he was in office and after that. Apparently, he is preparing for a new presidential campaign.”
That makes sense. Only populist statements are likely to appeal to a large section of society. But populism has short legs in politics. Before long, the electorate demand to see tangible programmes of action, a list of achievable goals, etc.
Thus it seems like out of sheer desperation to return to the highest office in the land, Poroshenko would rather utter anything anti-Russian that might galvanise the people of Ukraine in similar fashion to 2014 when similar sentiments drove out of office a democratically-elected pro-Russian head of state. Methinks that’s a rather poor choice of a strategy to return to office. The people of Ukraine need and deserve to live in peace with their next-door neighbours.
Supported by Western allies who located far away in the comfort of their capital cities, any war that breaks out between Russia and Ukraine would cause untold human catastrophe long before help arrives for Kiev.
Ukrainians would have to be careful about supporting short-sighted war-mongers such as Poroshenko. Such men are good for nothing.
