"To put Kiev on a gas needle again": how in Ukraine criticized the visit of presidential candidate Yuriy Boyko to Moscow

President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko criticized the trip of representatives of the party “Opposition Platform - For Life” Yuriy Boyko and Viktor Medvedchuk to Russia.

“You saw yesterday news and videos from the Kremlin. Ran to Putin, - Poroshenko was indignant. - They are discussing the economy. They are discussing how to plant Ukraine again on the Russian “gas needle”.

According to the Ukrainian president, his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin has allegedly already made a bid for certain political forces, trying to change the political course of Ukraine.

“They are already discussing unions, which will be created after the presidential election, after the parliamentary elections. And they themselves claim that they will unite. Who are they coming up against? Against Ukraine. Against each of us, ”said Poroshenko.

Earlier, the Security Service of Ukraine promised “within the limits of their competence, in a short time, to give a legal assessment to the visit of Ukrainian citizens Yuriy Boyko and Viktor Medvedchuk” to Russia. The Ukrainian secret service published the corresponding statement on its Facebook page.

“Now, any contacts with Russia are perceived in Ukraine as anti-state,” said political scientist Alexander Asafov. - But Russia is ready to talk with anyone who is ready for this conversation. As for Boyko’s aspirations, he is more friendly to Russia than any other Ukrainian politician. ”

• Coat of arms at the entrance to the building of the Security Service of Ukraine in Kiev
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“We have not violated a single law”

On the eve, two Ukrainian politicians - entrepreneur and leader of the Ukrainian Choice movement, chairman of the political council of the Ukrainian party Opposition Platform - For Life, Viktor Medvedchuk, and presidential candidate from the Opposition Platform - For Life, Yuriy Boyko - held a meeting with the Prime Minister in Gorki, Moscow Region Minister of Russia Dmitry Medvedev and head of Gazprom Alexei Miller.

The meeting discussed the future of Russian-Ukrainian relations, the economic ties between the two countries and the problems of supplying Ukraine with blue fuel.

In particular, Boyko said that the Russian side expressed its readiness to reduce the cost of gas by 25%. In addition, he focused on the damage to the Ukrainian economy from breaking ties with Russia.

“When I travel around the regions, I see how hard the loss of the Russian market has had on the Ukrainian industry. Dozens of factories stopped, hundreds of thousands of jobs were destroyed ... This created enormous problems for the domestic economy. Therefore, the Russian market must be returned, especially since today we are buying goods from the Russian Federation for $ 3 billion more than we are selling there, ”Boyko said

Later, the presidential candidate responded to criticism addressed to him, as well as to the attention paid to his trip to Russia by the SBU.

“We have not violated a single law. We defended the interests of Ukraine and its citizens. And I’m not afraid that we may be charged with any kind of wrongdoing, ”the report said by the press service of Boyko.

According to the opinion poll, published on March 19 by the sociological group “Rating”, Yuriy Boyko now ranks fourth in the presidential race. 10.2% of Ukrainians who decide on their choice are going to vote for him. In third place is the current president Petro Poroshenko with 17.4% support. In the second position - Yulia Tymoshenko with 18.8%. The rating is headed by comedian Vladimir Zelensky. 24.9% of Ukrainians are ready to vote for him.

According to the results of the same poll, the block “The Opposition Platform - For Life”, Boyko and Medvedchuk, can form the fourth largest number of deputies in the elections to the Verkhovna Rada at the end of October 2019. The same 10.2% of voters are ready to support this political force. But according to research conducted by the Institute for Analysis and Forecasting, as well as by the Socioprognoz analytical group, the Opposition Platform - For Life can gain 14.6% in the elections to the Rada and come third - after the Zelensky's Servant Nation and Batkivschiny ”Tymoshenko, but ahead of the“ Poroshenko Bloc ”dominant in the current composition of the Verkhovna Rada.

After the visit of Yuriy Boyko and Viktor Medvedchuk to Russia, the Ukrainian media disagreed on how the talks in Gorki would affect Boiko’s electoral support and the Opposition Platform - For Life.

So, the chief correspondent of the UNIAN news agency in Moscow, Roman Tsimbalyuk, noted that "the comrades decided to step on the rake and ordered one-way tickets to Rostov." In turn, the publication Strana.ua notes that “for a maydanovsky voter, this meeting is like a red rag for a bull. But he would never vote for Boyko anyway. ”

“But for many voters in the southeast, for supporters of the conditional“ peace party ”, this is a strong message as to exactly which candidate can fulfill the promise to achieve reconciliation in the Donbas and end the war,” journalists say.

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"Add to the hostage exchange list"

Ukrainian parliamentarians expressed their negative attitude towards the trip of two oppositionists - after the appearance in the media of information about the visit of politicians to Russia, Verkhovna Rada deputy Borislav Bereza advised the SBU to summon Yuriy Boyko for questioning on suspicion of treason.

In Ukrainian networks, politicians and journalists criticized Boiko and Medvedchuk because of their trip to the Russian Federation. Some commentators even said that politicians should not return to Ukraine.

So, the journalist of "RBC-Ukraine" Vlad Krasinsky urged the SBU not to let politicians into the country or "immediately after returning to add them to the hostage exchange list."

In his Facebook, Verkhovna Rada deputy Vladimir Aryev expressed the opinion that law enforcement agencies should have gone to the offices of Medvedchuk and Boyko. And the public activist Gleb Kanaevsky declared that “no one would fly to Moscow today” if the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine “conscientiously performed its functions”.

Meanwhile, the editor-in-chief of Tsenzor.Net, Yury Butusov, believes that “Russia does not just show its candidates for elections in Ukraine.” According to him, Vladimir Putin allegedly "shows that he is building a new system of influence in Kiev itself."

And journalist Sergei Rudenko noted that a “full legalization of agents of the Kremlin” allegedly occurred in Ukraine.

In turn, the vice-speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, Irina Gerashchenko, tried to use the visit of Boyko and Medvedchuk to Russia for PR Poroshenko and his party.

“All secret becomes clear. The only team that will fight for peace through victory, not surrender, for joining NATO and the EU, is Poroshenko’s team, ”Gerashchenko wrote on Facebook.

In turn, as a source in the Batkivshchyna party noted in a conversation with RT, “in fact, the negotiations in Gorki were beneficial for Ukraine,” but the Ukrainian media and politicians are not ready to cover them objectively. Similarly, the points of view are held in the Popular Front.

“Yuriy Boyko’s trip to Russia was unexpected for the country's leadership. For five years, the population was told that Russia is an enemy, and one of the key participants in the presidential race is meeting with Medvedev. Ukrainian business and a part of the country's population want friendship with Russia, but for the current leadership this is impossible. Therefore, Boyko and Medvedchuk will now literally be persecuted, ”said a source in the Popular Front party.

“There is no particular hysteria”

Meanwhile, the RT source in the Radical Party believes that the reaction to Yury Boyko’s trip to Moscow was not as violent as the country's leadership expected.

“We heard the indignation of a dozen deputies and politicians, but there is no particular hysteria. Perhaps the population is not so bad about Russia. But immediately began to make excuses "Naftogaz". Now it turns out that Boyko did more and got a better gas price than Andrei Kobolev’s team (the head of Naftogaz - RT ) with all its multi-million premiums, ”he says.

Experts polled by RT adhere to a similar point of view. They note that the main opponents of Yuriy Boyko from the top five of the presidential rating, except for Petro Poroshenko, remain silent about the visit of Boyko and Medvedchuk to Moscow. And this can be regarded as evidence of the success of the strategy associated with negotiations with Moscow, analysts say.

“Presidential candidates are well aware that sooner or later they will have to sit at the negotiating table with Russia. Therefore, no one dares to make loud statements and accuse Boyko of meeting with Dmitry Medvedev, since at the same table in six months or a year one of them may turn out to be, ”underlines the RT source in the Self-Help Party.

Indeed, on its official Facebook page, the press service of the Ukrainian gas monopoly reported that the gas that Ukraine is currently buying in Europe, allegedly costs it less than direct deliveries from Russia, which were favored by two Ukrainian politicians.

“The statement of the representatives of Naftogaz can be considered a blatant lie,” said Alexander Frolov, deputy director of the National Energy Institute, in an interview with RT. - It is impossible, even buying 10 billion cubic meters of gas, which Ukraine needs in the form of imports, in third-party markets from intermediaries to receive the same average annual price as the price that is formed under direct contracts with gas suppliers. It’s impossible to work with intermediaries and get a decent price. ”