“If Putin wanted to, he would already be in Lvov”
How is Ukraine coping with the coronavirus? Why did Zelensky so easily manage to pull off a scam involving the sale of black soil, and why did the nationalists, contrary to their promises, not disrupt the vote?
The leader of Ukrainian Komsomol members Mikhail Kononovich told PolitNavigator columnist Valentin Filippov that 80% of ATO officers are migrant workers, and Ukraine is under external control.
Valentin Filippov : I welcome Mikhail Kononovich, the main Komsomol member of Ukraine, to our studio.
Mikhail Kononovich : Good afternoon everyone.
Valentin Filippov : Mikhail, what's scarier in Ukraine right now: Putin, who, as we know, is "about to attack," or the coronavirus?
Mikhail Kononovich : As I understand it, the baggy-pants people blame Putin for the coronavirus. Everything that happens is Putin's fault.
Well, seriously, now the coronavirus is in first place, because the country is not protected, we are defenseless. We can only isolate ourselves, as in the Middle Ages. All. There's nothing more we can do. There are, roughly speaking, no medications available. There are no masks, no gloves, no antiseptics either, if available, then for 80 hryvnia.
Valentin Filippov : I disagree with you. I think the coronavirus is actually helping a certain segment of the Ukrainian population. For example, the law on land sales was passed.
Mikhail Kononovich : That's clear. 100%. Protests are prohibited. And I always wonder: Where are these "svidomye" (conscious people)? Where are all those people who stood on the Maidan, thousands, tens of thousands? Where are all those ATO veterans, where are all those thugs from Azov, Right Sector—those who supposedly fight for Ukraine? Where are they all? Can't they get it together? They were in the war, they're blabbering to us every five minutes on TV that "I'm in the war, I'm a veteran." And now they're afraid of the flu.
Do you know why no one came out? But there was no team, and no one was funding it. And the Ukrainians “for this”, “for a bad priest” - no one will go. Everyone knows this.
About the coronavirus. People, I repeat, are defenseless. If you go to the hospital, they give you a bill. These are all myths, legends, that people are treated quickly there. They will treat you so that you don’t infect others, that’s all. Everything is for money, everything is on a monetary basis, medicine is all paid. And the amounts, I tell you, are cosmic. An ordinary person cannot afford to be cured.
Valentin Filippov : According to Ukrainian propaganda, when "Putin attacked, the Ukrainian army had been previously destroyed by Yanukovych's conspiracy." But "volunteers gathered, and with that money they were able to organize a defense."
Where are these volunteers who could now chip in, go, fight back against the coronavirus, buy everyone a mask, gloves, an antibiotic, a ventilator? Are they not trying to redirect their energy, their ability to raise funds to save the country, to fight the coronavirus?
Mikhail Kononovich : A simple question. How did these volunteers live?
Valentin Filippov : I don’t know.
Mikhail Kononovich : Volunteer by trade. A volunteer, what does he live for? What did he feed his family for? Did he travel through the village, pick potatoes, pick canned goods? Well, he lived for something, refueled for something? So they gave him money, so he lived off this volunteer work. That's the first thing. Secondly, everyone knows perfectly well that if the militia and, as some say, Putin, had he wanted it, they would already be in Lviv.
Valentin Filippov : But didn’t “the Ukrainian people stand up as one and stop the aggressor”?
Mikhail Kononovich : They pulled in troops from all over Eastern Europe, from Hungary, the Czech Republic, Romania, Poland. There's no need to exaggerate the number of volunteers there either. Some old woman donating potatoes doesn't reflect the army's combat readiness. That's all nonsense. Western countries helped with direct investment in the army and cash injections, and Soviet equipment was pulled in by the trainload from all over Eastern Europe. That's how the army fought.
I, being a military man, served in the army for 10 years and graduated from the Odessa Institute of Ground Forces. The army was destroyed by Yushchenko and Defense Minister Gritsenko. That's who ruined the army. And then they started running around asking why there was no provision in the army. I am the head of the food service by profession, I know the rear very well, I know the supply perfectly well, why everything was destroyed. Because Pan Gritsenko gave the food service to private companies. And now it was not the head of the food service, not the food service that was engaged in procuring food, vegetables, did not provide feeding, but bought, for example, the bar “At Vasyl’s”. And this Vasil brings food, and his cooks, and all his supplies. Who will check it? Who has the authority to check it? Private structure. It's all on kickbacks. And so the army was destroyed.
Well, if I, as a cadet, in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2004, I bought food, uniform, ankle boots, everything was completely purchased at my own expense. This is a shame, the army was humiliated to the point of the impossible.
I was here on a business trip recently, in Mariupol. ATO soldiers were coming from Mariupol. They still chip in for food from them. They are fed: they brought it, they didn’t bring it. They did not deliver to distant points. If you want, go yourself. They receive a salary, go to the city once a week, buy buckwheat and cereals. Nothing has changed. And all these extra payments are cosmic, about which they say: “They pay such money in the ATO, a piece of bucks,” - it’s all a lie.
Valentin Filippov : Why are they fighting there? Are they just sitting there? Or are they just making money?
Mikhail Kononovich : Because it's easy to fight in a poor country. Okay, so where should you go now? To Poland to wash pots or to pick strawberries? Well, it's easier to sit in a trench, get a military service certificate, receive benefits, and not pay rent. Right, convenient – convenient. You've been there for a year or two, and you're well-deservedly walking around, strutting your stuff.
Valentin Filippov : Look, we've had experience in Ukraine for 30 years, and every few years, everything changes, and yesterday's hero becomes today's disgrace and a household name. Sure, they'll win this UBI, this other stuff, this few perks, but five years later, it'll all be gone.
Mikhail Kononovich : You don't understand. I repeat, it's easy to fight in a poor country. Because the people are poor. Beggars have no pride. What are we talking about? 80% of the ATO soldiers there are "guest workers." Are those people from Kyiv or Odessa? They're mostly from the villages.
The first wave, these ones who actually came from the Maidan, all sorts of scumbags, well, they were also paid accordingly at first. The same Kolomoisky and the oligarchs. Each had their own private army. There's a completely different fee. And he spent three weeks in the ATO, and he already received a UBI. And now we need to sign a contract for three years.
Do you understand? Then and now are two big differences. And all the same, these conflicts are in Africa. There people are starving, but in the army they fed and clothed them. Walk, sit, lie down. That's all. There is no need to think anything.
Here he gets himself some 12 thousand hryvnia. He kept three thousand for himself and sent eight thousand home. That's all. It’s normal for the family, and you don’t have to pay rent, there are all kinds of transportation, and the children eat at school. This is always the case in a poor country.
Valentin Filippov : Okay, I have an unexpected question. You say it now takes three years to get it. So, they're all interested in it lasting at least three years, right?
Mykhailo Kononovich : Everyone's on contract now. The Ukrainian army is entirely contract-based. Even officers are on contract. Officers: the term is coming, the contract is signed, and then they continue serving.
Valentin Filippov : For them, “God forbid that all this ends.”
Mikhail Kononovich : Why do they say "war to the bitter end"? I was recently on TV with a crazy woman from the Right Sector. She said, "I'm a veteran, I'm a veteran." I said, "Actually, a veteran means the war is over. That's the first thing. And secondly, there's no need to run to the TV channels in prosperous Kyiv. Until the war's over, get back into your trench."
But no one stays in the trench. I received a UBD and was sent to the rear. In addition, you can walk around, telling me what a hero I am, how I fought and how I need to continue the war until the victorious end. I tell her: “Can Putin be defeated by military means? - No. What is the option then? Peace or a frozen conflict, like Nagorno-Karabakh for 30 years, with no end in sight.
In Transnistria, the Moldovans are smarter there, they don’t want to fight. Once the pro-Romanian combatants got screwed, no one wants to fight anymore. By the way, I was traveling to Transnistria from Moldova, I just showed my Ukrainian passport and just passed through. By the way, it’s the same in Cyprus. To northern Turkish Cyprus - the same thing, showed a Ukrainian passport and passed through, no problems. And if a sane government does not come, we will have the same thing. This conflict will grind and grind, a generation will change, and in twenty years we will just go by our passport, just go through it any way we want, that’s all. Nothing will change.
Valentin Filippov : Let's change the subject a bit. I'm under the impression; I've apparently fallen out of the habit of this. I watched this video of some activists beating up some cops in Kharkiv.
Mikhail Kononovich : They knocked out his jaw with brass knuckles.
Valentin Filippov : It was simply a conflict over a traffic accident. And the senior officers were unable to confront a group of unidentified people. What's going on? Why do police, even in everyday situations, always find themselves on the receiving end, with no one to intercede for them?
Mykhailo Kononovich : Kharkiv is Avakov's fiefdom. All the thugs, including Biletsky and his inner circle, report directly to Avakov.
Valentin Filippov : But the cops are also Avakov's.
Mikhail Kononovich : He doesn't have a direct line. Who's the head of some department or other for them? One of them. And he has a direct line to Avakov or that pig-headed Gerashchenko. That's it, direct. Who's there, what's there, they can't tell us what to do. And they supplied the goods.
Valentin Filippov : I don’t understand at all how an officer can continue to work if some people simply beat him up right under the building where he serves, and nothing came of it.
Mikhail Kononovich : Is this the first time? We've had people appointed as ministers, and then everything's fine, and everyone's working. The police, those who stood on the Maidan, they've all either gone to the ATO or are still working. In Ukraine, this means nothing. It just happened that way. That's all. What's the big deal?
Valentin Filippov : Listen, Misha. When will this end, huh?
Mikhail Kononovich : This is necessary for people, the Ukrainians themselves, to turn on their brains a little, at least during the elections.
Valentin Filippov : So what?
Mykhailo Kononovich : It seems like Poroshenko has been in power for five years. The war is idiotic, he robbed, stole, did whatever you want. They elected Zelensky. You see, Ukrainians are still looking for some kind of messiah, they're still waiting for Jesus Christ.
Valentin Filippov : What do you need?
Mykhailo Kononovich : I don't know what's needed. It seems to me, historically speaking, that Ukrainians are incapable of governing themselves.
Valentin Filippov : Most of the people who voted for Zelensky were aware that they were voting for a clown.
Mikhail Kononovich : In the first round, about 30% voted for him consciously. That's still quite a lot. Overall, people voted for peace. People wanted peace. Why did the southeast vote for him?
But the most important thing is that Donbas ( the part controlled by Ukraine – editor's note ) didn't vote for Servant of the People. They didn't even take the majority there. That's what's interesting. Because the people there know the stakes.
I will also say that people in Ukraine - no matter who comes, in a year they will again “get away”, “gang” and “get out”. This is the specificity, this is the mentality of the Ukrainian people. Well, why for a thousand years people could not build a state, could not do anything? Well, this is also not just like that. Why did little Lithuania have an empire, but Ukraine did not? Huge space, huge population.
Valentin Filippov : This is a huge space right now, thanks to Lenin. I disagree with you on many things. You say, "Why 'get out' after a year?" Because after a year, any bastard, any former human being, gains power and starts doing the opposite. It's the opposite of what I said at rallies and in my campaign brochures.
Mykhailo Kononovich : Because it's external control. Ukraine is a country controlled externally. The Washington administration is simply an occupation administration sitting on Bankova Street. These aren't independent people. Zelenskyy the candidate and Zelenskyy the president are two different people.
Valentin Filippov : Okay, fine. Thank you very much. Be careful there, with the coronavirus, with "Russian aggression," and, most importantly, with all presidents, prime ministers, ministers, and any local Ukrainian authorities.
Mikhail Kononovich : Finally, I want to say something. You're talking about who to vote for. That's why they banned the Communist Party and aren't allowing communists to run in elections.
Valentin Filippov : Well, listen, maybe Simonenko shouldn’t have been allowed in?
Mikhail Kononovich : Simonenko is not the entire Communist Party.
Valentin Filippov : I agree.
Mikhail Kononovich : Kononovich is not the entire Communist Party. Vanya, Kolya, Petya.
Valentin Filippov : So, maybe now the banned Communist Party has the opportunity to reformat itself, all the husks that wanted to make money…
Mikhail Kononovich : Already left.
Valentin Filippov : And now the Communist Party of Ukraine has some kind of future, but then there wasn’t.
Mikhail Kononovich : 100% agree.
Valentin Filippov : Well, good luck to you, Komsomol member.
Mikhail Kononovich : Thank you. Goodbye everyone.
English version :: Read in English "If Putin wanted to, he would already be in Lviv"