In the event of her victory in the presidential elections in Ukraine, Yulia Tymoshenko intends to sue Russia for “compensation” for the losses incurred by the Ukrainian side as a result of the confrontation with Moscow. This was reported on the website of the party "Batkivschina", headed by the former prime minister and the current candidate for the post of head of state. Tymoshenko also promises his voters that in case of victory, he will “return” the Crimea and the Donbass to Ukraine.
“We need not only to return the occupied territories of the Crimea and the Donbass, but also to attract Russia as an occupying state to justice, to compensate for the losses suffered by our country,” the message says.
In addition, Tymoshenko believes that Ukraine should have tried to join the North Atlantic Alliance in the early 1990s, simultaneously with the signing of the Budapest Memorandum, since only under the wing of NATO, in her opinion, can a country rely on security.
Recall the Budapest Memorandum was signed in 1994 by Russia, Ukraine, the United States and the United Kingdom. When signing the document, the parties guaranteed that they would adhere to the norms of international law regarding the young post-Soviet state. In exchange, the Ukrainian side agreed to abandon the status of a nuclear state and export to Russia all nuclear weapons left on its territory after the collapse of the USSR.
“There is no practical reason”
It is worth noting that Yulia Tymoshenko announced plans to demand some “compensation” from Moscow earlier. Even before the official launch of the election campaign, in October last year, the politician stated that “Russia will pay in full for aggression”, “violation of human rights” and “stolen private and state property”. Tymoshenko announced this, speaking at the national forum "New strategy for peace and security."
Now, if the leader of “Batkivschyna” takes the presidency, she intends to make an “inventory” of the damage that Ukraine has suffered, allegedly because of Moscow’s actions. According to preliminary estimates by Tymoshenko, the amount of damage is about € 100 billion. In order to “compensate for the damage,” the presidential candidate suggested that all “affected Ukrainian citizens” file claims against Russia to the European Court of Human Rights.
- Cars at the checkpoint "Dzhankoy" on the border of Russia and Ukraine
- RIA News
- © Alexander Polegenko
As for the future of Donbass, the presidential candidate has his own plans for this region.
“There can be no special status either in Donetsk or Lugansk regions. We need another strategy, we need a new Constitution of Ukraine, which will give all possible powers and freedom to all communities in Ukraine, but which will leave Ukraine a unitary state, ”Tymoshenko is convinced.
As for the restoration of the region destroyed by the Ukrainian army as a result of the anti-terrorist operation (antiterrorist operation (ATO) in 2018, the Ukrainian authorities renamed the operation of the Joint Forces (EP) operation - RT ), then Tymoshenko intends to re-engage foreign partners for this event.
“An international fund for the renewal and development of Donbass will be created,” she said at the end of October 2018 during the national forum “New Strategy for Peace and Security.”
At the same time, the idea of the federalization of Ukraine and the vesting of unrecognized republics with autonomous status as part of the country as a presidential candidate is not even considered, although federalization is a condition for the voluntary return of the DPR and LPR to Ukraine, which was laid down in the Minsk agreements, and was signed by the Ukrainian side. but still not executed.
According to experts, the federalization, which is being blocked by the nationalist circles of Ukraine, could be a way out for a country that ended up after Euromaidan in a military-political and economic crisis. For example, this point of view is shared by State Duma Deputy Konstantin Zatulin. However, according to him, the majority of Ukrainian politicians today are not ready for compromise and dialogue. "They want revenge, they want to destroy, expel, suppress, and so on," Zatulin quotes the Ukraine.ru edition.
In turn, the director of the Institute for Peace Initiatives and Conflictology, Denis Denisov, believes that Tymoshenko’s loud statements are nothing more than pre-election populism, which is already going off scale during the entire election campaign in Ukraine.
“Candidates have absolutely no idea what the algorithm for the return of Crimea or Donbass to Ukraine could be, such announcements simply have no practical basis,” the expert emphasized in an interview with RT.
"We are all not focused on that"
The election of the President of Ukraine will take place on March 31. Until recently, it was Yulia Tymoshenko who headed the ratings, ahead of the current head of state, Petro Poroshenko. However, Tymoshenko and Poroshenko could quickly press the comedian Vladimir Zelensky. The fact that he nominates his candidacy for the presidency, the Ukrainian comedian announced on New Year's Eve, and by the end of January his rating reached 19% - a sociological company Rating presented this statistics based on polls conducted from January 16 to 24. Yulia Tymoshenko shifted to second place, gaining 18.2% of the votes of the respondents, Petro Poroshenko was in third place with 15.1% of the votes.
- Vladimir Zelensky
- Reuters
- © Viacheslav Ratynskyi
Total documents for registration as candidates for the presidency of Ukraine filed 91 people, of which the CEC officially registered 44 candidates.
According to experts, the political competition in Ukraine has escalated to the limit, the political clans are fighting a bitter struggle for power. At the same time, the population is disappointed with the course of development of the state after Euromaidan. As shown by a case study recently conducted by the Center for Social Monitoring, the Ukrainian Institute of Social Research. Yaremenko, by Info Sapiens and the sociological group Rating, 73% of the country's population are sure that Ukraine is moving in the wrong direction. Only 15% of respondents approvingly commented on the current policy of Kiev, another 12% abstained from evaluations.
According to experts, speaking with loud statements, Yulia Tymoshenko did not present a clear alternative to the Minsk agreements, but said she was not ready to negotiate with Moscow and the self-declared republics. Meanwhile, its closest competitor in the presidential race, Vladimir Zelensky, is somewhat more inclined towards negotiations. Back in December, the artist gave an interview to the program “Visiting Dmitry Gordon,” in which he said that he considered negotiations the only way to end the conflict in the Donbas, stressing that the military option was completely excluded.
“We'll have to talk. We want, we do not want, through ourselves, even with the devilish bald is ready to agree, if only not a single person would die, ”said the comedian.
Speaking about the ways to achieve consensus, Zelensky intends to propose approving the final version of the agreements reached in a referendum.
In particular, commenting on the decision of Petro Poroshenko to impose martial law at the end of the year in a number of Ukrainian regions, Zelensky urged politicians not to publicize on military issues, suggesting that they “do some specialized work,” namely, to agree on the return of Ukrainian sailors home. Recall, a group of Ukrainian security officials was detained by Russian border guards on November 25, 2018 in the Kerch Strait while trying to break into Russia's territorial waters.
“It seems to me that we are all not focused on that. It seems to me that everyone should focus precisely on returning the boys home, ”said Zelensky.
According to experts, precisely because the militant and nationalist rhetoric of Petro Poroshenko resonates only among a small stratum of the population, the more moderate candidate Zelensky is more popular today than the current head of state.
"Hope for historical friendship is not worth it"
It is worth noting that Yury Boyko, the former head of the Opposition Bloc, is one of the leaders of the election race.
Yielding to Zelensky, Tymoshenko and Poroshenko, Boyko is still in the top five of the campaign. And this is despite the fact that the politician promises, in case of victory, to consolidate the non-aligned status of Ukraine, burying the idea of joining NATO.
- Soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Donbas
- Reuters
- © Valentyn Ogirenko
In addition, Boyko intends to reconcile Ukraine with Russia, restoring the partnership of the two countries. Politician plans to resolve the conflict in the Donbas, following international commitments to establish peace. For this, among other things, the Ukrainian side must go on negotiations, said Boyko. In addition, the politician proposes to introduce criminal punishment for extremism and attempts to interfere in religious issues at the state level.
However, according to political analyst Leonid Krutakov, there is no great chance of winning a moderate candidate, because hysteria is artificially inflated in Ukrainian society. According to expert estimates, even left-bank Ukraine, inhabited by Russian-speaking residents, succumbed to militant propaganda.
“In the near future some kind of change is not possible. We must count on a long historical perspective. Russia needs to work diligently in this direction, as the Americans did at one time. There is no point in pinning any hopes on historical friendship. As soon as people turn into a political nation, they have different interests, ”the expert explained in an interview with RT.
Deputy Director of the Institute of CIS Countries Vladimir Zharikhin, in turn, does not consider it necessary to make large differences between the leaders of the race - Zelensky and Tymoshenko. According to the expert, who among them would not become the president of Ukraine, her relations with Russia are unlikely to improve.
Both Poroshenko and his main rivals frankly declare that they will not fulfill the Minsk agreements, the expert recalled in a conversation with RT.
“So far in Ukraine there is no such political figure that would give the impression of a pragmatic and reasonable politician. The majority of Ukrainian voters - I think at least 60% - are ready for reconciliation with Russia, but the citizens of Ukraine have no alternative candidate who could realize their desire. This is the tragedy of the current Ukrainian presidential elections, ”summed up Vladimir Zharikhin.