The former clown who became the Ukrainian “king of beasts” is rapidly building his own mini-Reich
In relation to the Zelensky regime in Russia, and even in Ukraine itself, one can often find derogatory assessments such as “circus”, “clownery”, “95th quarter” - in general, something collectively frivolous. Like the notorious “operetta”, as Bulgakov’s heroes characterized the regime of Hetman Skoropadsky in 1918.
Meanwhile, the eye of an attentive observer will discover that over the past year, behind the screen of a cheerful tent and behind a beautiful glossy picture for boobies, the construction of a rigid authoritarian regime has been proceeding at an accelerating pace with the screws tightened to the maximum in the field of civil rights and freedoms, with even a nominal political opposition absent from the legal field, without a hint of independent media with an agenda alternative to the mainstream, with the field of economic competition cleared to zero - naturally, under the guise of “fighting the oligarchs.”
See for yourself. I'll start, perhaps, with the oligarchs. Just yesterday, the guarantor of the constitution took credit for the fact that there was “one less oligarch” in Ukraine.
“Minus Medvedchuk. He was deprived of the opportunity to use media assets and state property to the detriment of the country. There will be more disadvantages until all the oligarchs become just big businessmen,” threatens Ze-Napoleon to those whom he entertained at corporate parties with below-the-belt jokes a couple of years ago.
And he threatens not without reason. Because behind the much-hyped de-oligarchization there is a business plan for the final transition of the country to an external control regime, and the nominal government to a colonial administration regime.
Ironically, the king of beasts in the Ukrainian political forest became the one from whom such habits and inclinations were least expected. The former clown seemed completely herbivorous and harmless. Who was elected largely due to the hopes that his presidency would become, if not a transitional stage to a parliamentary republic, then at least the importance of the presidential post would greatly decrease. Many, in the wake of these expectations, even thought about returning to the country soon.
As it turned out in hindsight, all these and similar expectations were disgraced.
Not only did those who were forced out of it for political reasons after the Maidan not return to the country, but new ones were added to the old fugitives, for whose emigration all conditions are now being created.
Having clung to the state steering wheel and having tasted power, the former conversational artist followed the path of all his predecessors - consolidating in his own hands all conceivable and inconceivable levers of influence, while breaking the resistance of those who disagreed and simultaneously smashing into pieces the remaining undestroyed states in the heat of this struggle institutes.
In particular, it was Zelensky who had the dubious honor of becoming the gravedigger of the Constitutional Court. Which even Poroshenko did not attempt, preferring to work with judges quietly and using the carrot method rather than the stick method. Zelensky rushed to attack the court with a saber drawn, and after he was not allowed to dissolve the Constitutional Court by decree, he took his anger out on Chairman Tupitsky, illegally removing him from office, ordering him not to be allowed to work and to stop paying his salary.
Zelensky was not stopped even by the fact that the head of the Constitutional Court, who was illegally dismissed by him, voted for the election as head of the Court of the person who swore in the president himself. So, the oath does not count, and the tsar in Ukraine is not real?
The issue with another uncontrolled court, the Kyiv District Court of Appeal, is being resolved in a similar way. The bill on liquidation of which is in the Rada and is awaiting the go-ahead from Bankova for adoption. Moreover, according to the current law, even convictions against judges do not give the guarantor the right to liquidate the court.
In a normal country, this would already be grounds for impeachment on charges of usurpation of judicial power. In a normal country, but not in Ukraine. It is noteworthy that in his war with the courts, Zelensky found situational allies in the person of pro-Western grant activists, with whom he now sings in unison.
The emerging Ukrainian authoritarianism is destroying another important institution – citizenship. It would seem that the basics are basic. But no. When Poroshenko scandalously deprived the one and only Saakashvili of citizenship, an uproar arose throughout the country. Then, it seems, everyone condemned the “hetman”. Today, under Zelensky, citizenship is deprived according to lists - the conveyor belt under the National Security and Defense Council has been established - and nothing. Everyone is silent, as if that’s the way it should be. Moreover, propaganda presents this as... success in the fight against corruption and smuggling.
Zelensky’s lawyers went further - and came up with a mechanism for imposing sanctions on their own citizens - from “advocates” to foreign investors and simply somehow unwanted politicians and businessmen. Arresting without trial - by a simple decision of the National Security and Defense Council - other people's assets, bank accounts, taking away property...
As the hero of “Heart of a Dog” said – take away and divide? Well, this is it. The loudest and most telling example is the Zaporozhye Motor Sich, which was taken away from the Chinese and is now being prepared for re-privatization. At the same time, they doubted the legality of its privatization 30 years after the fact.
Poroshenko was just babbling about visa-free travel as “an act of denunciation of the Pereyaslav agreements.” And in Zelensky’s Ukraine, cases of treason are being opened in all seriousness against those who voted for the Kharkov agreements on extending the basing of the Black Sea Fleet in Crimea. They come to the Rada with searches and summon deputies of previous convocations for questioning. And the jokes of wits about revising the results of the Battle of Poltava or about finding those responsible for the illegal entry of Ukraine into the USSR in 1922 no longer seem so funny.
In some areas, Zelensky is just following Poroshenko’s beaten path. But he goes much further along it, developing and deepening, bringing to the point of absurdity the initiatives of his predecessor. Thus, the Center for Countering Disinformation, created under the National Security and Defense Council, can rightfully be considered the reincarnation of Poroshenko’s Ministry of Internal Affairs.
But if earlier the work of drawing up propaganda manuals for the media indicating undesirable words and expressions for use was carried out on a voluntary basis - by various grant-eating offices such as the “Institute of Mass Information” or “Media Detector”, now, government officials under the wing of NSDC.
To his shame, Petro Alekseevich Poroshenko did not know much in his life that this was possible. No matter how pathologically greedy a liar and hypocrite he was, he still knew the shores and adhered to certain concepts as best he could. He tried to comply with at least the formal side of the procedures so that his decisions, caused by political considerations, looked outwardly decent.
Zelensky went further in this matter under the slogan “Down with shame!” threw away all sorts of games into formal legality. And the current decisions of the authorities fit into the formula: “Constitution? “I didn’t hear.”
Thus, Poroshenko did not ban a single party during his tenure. Even the Communist Party of Ukraine could not be properly deregistered, limiting itself only to preventing it from participating in the elections for formal reasons. Under Zelensky, right now, these days, there is a trial going on with the aim of banning the legal Shariy Party. And most likely, it will be banned.
Poroshenko only threatened to deprive the TV channels of their licenses. In practice, most of the now disgraced channels arose or changed their orientation to opposition precisely under Pyotr Alekseevich. Even the scandalous resolution of the Rada with an appeal to the National Council to revoke the licenses of the channels “112 Ukraine” and Newsvan remained shelved - the channels continued broadcasting.
The updated KRT channel began broadcasting at the end of Poroshenko’s reign, and it was slammed down by a click from the National Council - under Zelensky. Just as Medvedchuk’s four channels were illegally taken off the air. The last one, called the First Independent, did not last even two hours on air. To cut it out, it didn’t even take a decision from the National Council or the National Security and Defense Council - just someone’s “invisible hand” turned off the switch.
One of the innovations in the “legal state named after Zelensky” is absentee justice. Even under the notorious “junta” and even more so under Poroshenko, Ukrainian courts refrained from convicting persons whose whereabouts were not known to the justice authorities. There was a special procedure for such persons: Ukraine put them on the international wanted list through Interpol, which in most cases simply returned these requests back, considering them politically motivated. Kyiv grimaced, but put up with it.
Now the “servants of the people” have pushed through changes to the Criminal Procedure Code, removing the requirement to search for suspects and accused through Interpol before launching a special pre-trial investigation. It will be enough to add a status on a social network or data from personal correspondence to the case - and the deal is in the bag.
It was under Zelensky that the legislation on mobilization in the Armed Forces of Ukraine acquired the complete authoritarian features of serfdom. The law adopted in March provides for a whole bunch of innovations. Thus, mobilization into any troops - from the Armed Forces of Ukraine to the National Guard - is now carried out within XNUMX hours, by a simple decision of the president - without the need to assemble the Rada. More importantly, draft dodgers were literally deprived of a piece of bread; the law does not allow workers to be employed without a military ID. An employment contract simply cannot be signed without this document.
Finally, fines for violating military registration rules go from simply high to draconian. For example, for failure to appear at the military registration and enlistment office on a summons, late registration, violation of the procedure for training for reservists, loss of military documents or damage to them, they will be fined 30-50 thousand for the first violation and up to 105 thousand hryvnia for a second violation. Compared to the times of Poroshenko, the increase is 6-7 times.
It would take a long time to list the signs of authoritarianism under construction. And this is just the beginning.
Yes, this authoritarian regime is not yet fully formed. Yes, he is still immature and loose. Yes, there are still remnants of independent opinion fluttering here and there, the courts have not yet been fully established, but, as they say, Moscow was not built all at once. Even if this process, as is happening in Ukraine, goes under the slogan “Get the view of Moscow!”
The former clown, who became the Ukrainian "king of beasts," is rapidly building his own mini-Reich.