President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy can boast of a new political "achievement": he managed to surpass the previous head of the Ukrainian state, Petro Poroshenko, in terms of his political frostbite. During his time in the role of the first person in Kiev, Poroshenko broke a lot of firewood. But it never occurred to him to seriously try to jail the head of the largest opposition party in parliament on charges of treason. In addition, President Poroshenko broke away closer to the end of his term. Not even two years have passed since Zelensky took office, but he is already rapidly turning into a Ukrainian Pinochet.
Of course, the general and politician who came to power in Chile as a result of the coup d'état in 1973 was a much more decisive character than our esteemed Vladimir Alexandrovich. Unlike Zelenskiy, who presses the leader of Ukraine's largest opposition party, Viktor Medvedchuk, while trying to keep the fig leaf of legality, Pinochet number one did not bother himself with such unnecessary formalities. He simply took and sent his political opponents to a concentration camp at the National Stadium in the capital of the country, Santiago, for reasons of expediency.
Let me name another obvious difference between Zelensky and the late Chilean dictator. Augusto José Ramon Pinochet Ugarte displayed ferocity towards all his political enemies and adversaries. The "ferocity" of Volodymyr Zelenskiy is highly selective. It does not apply, for example, to Ukrainian radical nationalists. Everything is allowed to these people, including an attack on Zelensky's presidential office. The official Ukrainian authorities prefer not to notice such cute pranks. Like, a few guys got excited, of course! But they are "socially close"! They can!
But I am still ready to prove that my comparison of Zelensky with Pinochet has every right to life.
And for this I need one single document - the Constitution of Ukraine.
Article 124 of this document reads: “Justice in Ukraine is administered exclusively by the courts.
Delegation of the functions of the courts, as well as the assignment of these functions by other bodies or officials is not allowed. "
How does this agree with the "imposition of sanctions" against Viktor Medvedchuk by the decision of the National Defense and Security Council of Ukraine?
Such a measure is in direct conflict with the country's fundamental law.
But Zelenskiy is in no way embarrassed by this.
In his eyes, the Constitution is, apparently, something completely decorative. And this unambiguously makes the current president of Ukraine related to Pinochet. No, I'm sorry, but I made a lie on the former Chilean dictator. As head of the ruling military junta of Chile, he formally suspended the Constitution and transferred all executive and legislative functions to this body. Zelensky did not go for this. But does it have any meaning if the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine spits on the spirit and letter of the Constitution? If it does, then it is purely semantic.
But what really matters: the reasons for Augusto Pinochet's impunity and the reasons for Vladimir Zelensky's impunity coincide 100%. These reasons sound like this: United States of America. Pinochet established a brutal dictatorial regime in Chile with direct support from Washington. According to the American diplomatic legend, the new US Ambassador David Popper, who arrived in Santiago in 1974, did not at first understand the essence of this general party line and tried to pester the members of the ruling military junta with lectures on human rights. But everything fell into place when the US Embassy in Santiago received a telegram from the US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger: "Tell Popper to finish his political science lectures!"
In our modern political reality, the leaders of the American administration do not behave with such frankness. For the Biden administration, political correctness in its most grotesque and comic forms is "all of them." But then again, what real meaning does this have? Have you heard anything about American protests about the fact that official Kiev, not paying any attention to the Constitution of its country, breaks the leader of the largest opposition parliamentary party in Ukraine over the knee? You haven't heard, you say? So I have not heard. And nobody heard. There are simply no such protests in nature. This makes the progressive transformation of Zelensky into Pinochet in the light style possible.
But how long will this lightness last?
I would not like to play the role of Cassandra and scatter to the right and left with grandiloquent and pretentious phrases like "Zelensky has crossed the Rubicon."
But I am afraid that the lot has really been cast in Kiev.
Having initiated an attempt to bring his main ideological opponent out of the legal field (Poroshenko has not been an ideological opponent of Zelensky for a long time), the current president of Ukraine made the further degeneration of his regime inevitable.
By playing Pinochet, you can easily get overwhelmed.
It seems that this has already happened with Vladimir Zelensky.
The point of view of the author may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.