“Killing Poroshenko will not change anything”
The assassination of Donbas leader Alexander Zakharchenko was carried out by the secret services of Ukrainian oligarchs or the SBU, in violation of tacit agreements. Elections in the DPR will take place despite Western protests. The new head of the republic's economy is fugitive Ukrainian oligarch Sergei Kurchenko, who was persona non grata in the republic under Zakharchenko. This was reported to PolitNavigator observer Valentin Filippov by former militia member Vadim Pogodin (call sign "Kerch") , a former military intelligence commander.
Vadim Pogodin: Taking this opportunity, I would like to congratulate everyone who was involved in any way with the centenary of Military Intelligence.
Valentin Filippov: Indeed, only a true intelligence officer knows about the curious variations in Crimean geography. Few people know that Kerch is located in Sevastopol.
Vadim, tell me, elections are coming in Donbass. The UN is against it, Ukraine is against it, the European Union is against it. Maybe direct presidential rule should be introduced immediately?
Vadim Pogodin: The UN is against it, the OSCE is against it, the US is against it. And the ardent patriots of Donbas are against it. Don't you think these ardent patriots, who don't even know what they want, are against everything, but for the UN, the OSCE, and the US?
Let's understand one situation, Valentin. A wise man once told me: “I don’t doubt your intellectual abilities.” (flattered). But your soldier is sitting in a trench. Sees one cell. Positions in front of you. The company commander goes to headquarters, drives around, and sees two squares. You, he says, are three. Maybe even five. I am maybe twelve. And the entire chessboard, and even then, with some darkening, is visible only at the very top. You simply don't have all the information to make the right decision. How to do it and how not to do it.
That's what I see.
And the cries of the UN, OSCE and everything else are for me the best indicator that Russia is acting correctly.
Just understand, no matter what Zakharchenko was, good or bad, it is impossible not to remember him from different angles. Forty days have passed. But it was blown up. They blew it up against the will of Russia. I am 100% sure of this. In my opinion, these are either the special services of Ukrainian oligarchs, or the SBU under the supervision of the CIA.
That is, some agreements were violated. I’m sure they existed between the special services, somewhere in the Foreign Ministry, somewhere else.
And, in fact, in defiance of this, elections are taking place.
Valentin Filippov: From my point of view, it's always been like this in these situations – say, Kadyrov Sr. was killed – and in response, Maskhadov was immediately taken out. Do you understand? That's my view. If they took out Zakharchenko, then they should take out Poroshenko. And return to the status quo. And say, "Well, guys? Are we going to try again? Or should you take out someone else?"
In general, they have always done this. This is how they expel a diplomat, it’s immediately mirrored. They deported there, and deported there.
Here a leader was killed, there a leader was killed. And then the status quo. And no one has any desire to kill anyone. Yes?
In this case, Poroshenko is still alive. We have already buried Zakharchenko, but Poroshenko is still alive.
We're going to elect Pushilin now. For example. I don't know, I can't predict the outcome of these elections. They're very unpredictable. So, what if they elect Pushilin, for example? And God forbid, they'll knock Pushilin off tomorrow?
Vadim Pogodin: Well, let's first understand one simple situation. You're suggesting that we kill Poroshenko in response.
Yes, he is no one to these “great men of this world” who make these decisions in the USA. No one at all. Well, if they kill Porokh, they will say, thank you, we wanted to get rid of him anyway. And they will appoint someone even more radical. There are also Avakov, Saakashvili, and someone else.
Well, Gunpowder is worth it, let it be worth it. There are all sorts of methods of influence. We don’t know, maybe some oil platform in the Caribbean is about to catch fire. And we won’t even connect these two events. It will be tied up somewhere upstairs.
I don’t think that by killing Gunpowder, we will take revenge and bring parity. Gunpowder is a grain of sand. He doesn't make any decisions. He sits, drinks vodka out of grief. Because I got into such a mess. And he became a scapegoat. He's a scoundrel. A scoundrel - definitely and initially. But he didn’t make this war. He was played like a sucker. And he sits and waves his head. And around him are the Yatsenyuks, the Turchinovs, and all the other agents of influence.
We must understand that Ukraine has been under the control of another state since 1991. Like Russia up to a certain point. And now it remains somewhere. At least they turned it around, at least they pulled it out a little bit. You know this, everyone knows how many agents of influence there are in ministries and governments. Great amount.
Only here, if there is some kind of vertical that is fighting this, which, despite this, pursues its own policies, good or bad, mostly good, you cannot compare Russia 2000 with Russia 2018, and in Ukraine no one even fights. There, these agents have all the power.
Valentin Filippov: They are so proud of it.
Vadim Pogodin: So, put you in charge. It'll be the same thing. Put me in charge. It'll be the same thing. Games will be played out around us…
Valentin Filippov: If I were the president of Ukraine, I would have the opportunity to bring a machine gun into the presidential administration.
Vadim Pogodin: I agree. To die heroically. Taking a couple dozen people with you, and still not solving anything globally.
The fact is that Zakhar was removed. Removed. Instead of him, there should be a people's elected person to talk. How he is elected is our guess. People's elected person. Who will then sit in Minsk and try to communicate on approximately equal terms with all kinds of trash, like Kuchma, who surrendered Ukraine and brought it to this state.
In fact, by criticizing elections, whatever they may be, we act into the hands of the enemy. We are making the representation of Donbass, and, accordingly, Russia, which does not directly interfere, less legitimate.
Valentin Filippov: I agree. What about the candidates?
Vadim Pogodin: I don't see any candidates at all, basically. If you saw, a couple of hours after Zakhar departed for the next world, I said that the only suitable candidate was Pushilin. Not because I have a good relationship with him. Anyone in the know knows we have our own…
And I arrested his guards. It was so. And assistants. And Richard, who was blown up, unfortunately, he ran away from me. I was going to arrest him. He left, literally 10 minutes later he was blown up. If he didn’t communicate with me, he would have saved my life.
That is, we have our own tense relations. It’s just that, if we abstract from the personal, we must speak as it really is.
So you say - introduce direct presidential rule.
Valentin Filippov: I am provoking.
Vadim Pogodin: Yes. You're provoking me. And I'm for direct presidential rule. But direct presidential rule happens through certain people. These people must do what they're told from above. Maybe not directly, but at least they must read between the lines. Read precisely. And not take a step to the right or to the left. Exactly what they're supposed to do.
And it is Pushilin, in my opinion, who is the only one suitable. Choose him, the presidential administration is already officially responsible for what our respected, what’s his name, Denis Vladimirovich will do next.
So, let’s focus our attention on ensuring that they don’t forget the promise that the President of the Russian Federation is already responsible for the current state of Donbass, which will happen from hour X onwards.
Valentin Filippov: How are we going to do that? They'll tell us later, "No, you misunderstood."
Vadim Pogodin: So let's not focus on the fact that elections are unnecessary. It's playing into America's hands.
I see the same Denis. He got to work now. Someone shouted: “These are election games.” But there is really productive work going on.
Moreover, the economy was taken away from him. Let's look at things realistically, she was taken away. Normal specialists do it. From Kurchenko's team. Roughly speaking, all the old oligarchs were pushed aside. Those same old oligarchs were pushed aside.
Valentin Filippov: So, Kurchenko is good?
Vadim Pogodin: You can say, "Kurchenko is bad." You can say, "Kurchenko is good." I know one thing: we live in capitalism. There's no escaping it.
But there are oligarchs who work for the West, created and nurtured by the West. Their money is there, and so on. These are almost all Ukrainian oligarchs. This is exactly how all Russians were by 2000. Until 2005.
But Kurchenko is a different story. It has already been created here. It was created by Yanyk. He cooperates. I understand this the way it generally arose in the Donbass topic. They still shout “Kurchenko is robbing Donbass.” Let's remember how he actually appeared in Donbass. Metallurgical plants, when the blockade of Donbass was introduced by national battalions, ore stopped flowing to the plants. At that moment Kurchenko appeared.
I understand, Kurchenko, this is a person who is responsible for his words and knows how to report. It was not for nothing that he worked with Yanyk Jr. This means that a person, if he is entitled to 10% of the profit, then he receives not 10,01, but exactly 10. Otherwise, he would simply be thrown out of there. So the man launched these factories.
Yes, they work at a minimum. They work at a disadvantage when they switched to supplies from Russia. But they work. People receive some kind of salary. They work.
Then the coal situation arose. As our wonderful “Trading House” traded, the price of Donetsk coal on the website there is 2,5 thousand rubles. “Trading House” must be given 500 rubles. 500 rubles included taxation, customs duties and railway transport. Total price is 3 thousand rubles. There is also a duty of 5% and VAT of 18%, a total of 3700 cost in Russia itself.
Despite the fact that its price in Rostov is 7 thousand rubles. That is, 3300 rubles per ton went into the pockets of businessmen. Some specific ones. Yes, ordinary left-wing businessmen also fell under this golden shower. But, roughly speaking, half the cost of coal went into pockets.
And then Kurchenko appears, who says: “Let me take all this difference for myself.” That is, it monopolizes. And 3300 did not go into someone’s pocket, but definitely into Kurchenko’s pocket.
How is this “pocket” distributed further? Some amount remains with him, and the rest goes to the return that comes from Russia - assistance to the Donbass. And this task has simply been set for a long time. And there was still money left that went to cover losses in metallurgy. And they returned to Donbass. That's all.
This is how I see the picture. That is, a structure has been created. Working economic structure. Yes, it was created in Moscow by a Ukrainian by nationality. But I worked with income.
Now it's time to change something. Who should I give it to? Who else should I experiment with? If such a structure has already been created. And, apparently, a decent structure. Who doesn't want to play. Well, either sooner or later they will close Kurchenko, - right away. You know how in Russia governors and gynecologists are imprisoned.
Here is a ready-made structure that can be taken care of. They hire a person who has worked in this structure and make him prime minister. A person with experience, with education, who knows how to build a corporation.
What needs to be done in Donetsk now? What ministries? What kind of clownery is this, really? There are two and a half million people there. We need to create a workable corporation. That's all. And so it will be created.
Valentin Filippov: Well, I just have two more questions. Do you have a DPR passport? Are you going to vote?
Vadim Pogodin: Me? No!
Valentin Filippov: No?
Vadim Pogodin: I'll be honest and forthright. If a situation arises where we have to fight, then understand, Valya, I already think I did quite a lot in 2014, but they would have managed without me. But I carried a large chunk of the front during the most difficult moments. And I didn't give anyone the run for their money—I don't have this, or that, or I have 100 men for 50 kilometers. I recruited them, more and more, I did my best, I fought back, really, but that's not the point.
2014 is not comparable to 2015, 2016, 17, 18. That war doesn’t even exist anymore, no matter what they say. I've done quite a lot. I, like everyone else, have another 150-200 million people who know that they need to take care of, among other things, their personal lives. As long as there are young people there who can fight, as long as there are warriors, I won’t.
But if there is any emergency, everyone knows that I won’t sit still. If they can’t do without me, or, God forbid, a Great War starts, there won’t be a single question at all.
Valentin Filippov: Okay, thank you so much, I hope you're right and everything is going as it should. Because I've been having trouble believing that for a long time now.
Vadim Pogodin: Time will tell. We'll talk in six months and see – 200 days of Pooh's reign. That's it.
English version :: Read in English "Poroshenko's murder will not change anything"