Trump's lawyer Rudolph Giuliani on May 9 in an interview with The New York Times announced that he plans to come to Kiev to meet with Vladimir Zelensky. The former mayor of New York said that he intends to ask the new president of Ukraine not to succumb to pressure and to continue the investigation of high-profile cases, including those of the United States.
The figure of one of these investigations, recalled Juliani, is a businessman Hunter Biden - the son of Joe Biden, who during the years of Barack Obama was the vice-president and US special representative for Ukraine.
However, then Giuliani unexpectedly canceled a trip to Kiev. “What I heard this evening from two very reliable sources convinces me that the president (elected president of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky. - RT ) is surrounded by people who are enemies of the president (Trump), and also - at least in one case - corrupt officials” - He explained the reason for his decision on the television channel Fox News.
About the criminal case, which Giuliani, according to him, planned to discuss with Zelensky, in early April, told the American edition of The Hill. Journalists of the newspaper reported that the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine suspected Hunter Biden of illegally receiving large sums from Burisma Holdings, a company engaged in gas production in the country.
In the period from spring 2014 to autumn 2015, Biden allegedly transferred about $ 166 thousand monthly, according to The Hill. The publication reminded that at the same time Joe Biden was the special representative of the United States for Ukraine.
Moreover, according to journalists, the Vice President of the United States directly intervened in the course of the investigation, having achieved on March 29, 2016 that he was removed from his post as Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin. This retired Ukrainian official told the publication in a written interview that he was going to call for questioning Hunter Biden, but did not have time, since he was removed from his post.
It should be noted that Joe Biden does not hide his involvement in the dismissal of Shokin. In January 2018, speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, he stated this openly. According to Biden, in March 2016 he put the Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko and Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk an ultimatum: either Shokin resigns, or the United States will not provide Kiev with $ 1 billion in loan guarantees.
“At the end of their press conference, I told them:“ No, you won’t get a billion dollars. ” In response, I heard: “You do not have such powers. You are not the president. ” I said, "And you call him." And he added: “In six hours I must leave. If the prosecutor is not fired, then you will not see the money. ” And ... he was fired, ”Biden said.
He explained the requirement to strip Shakin of the post by saying that the Prosecutor General was allegedly involved in corruption schemes, and without his resignation it was impossible to guarantee the targeted use of a US loan.
Ukrainian factor
The failed visit of Giuliani is evidence that Trump intends to use the “Ukrainian factor” in American domestic policy, experts say.
Ruslan Bortnik, director of the Policy Analysis and Management Institute in an interview with RT, recalled that Joe Biden, about whom the lawyer of the American leader was going to talk with Zelensky, would run for president of the United States from the Democratic Party in the 2020 elections.
“The Commission of Special Prosecutor Robert Muller did not find anything against Trump, most likely there will not be an impeachment that the Democrats wanted so much. One of the few “trophies” of Trump's accusers was the former head of his election headquarters, Paul Manafort, who was imprisoned mainly for hiding lobbying activities in the interests of Ukraine under former President Viktor Yanukovych. Now Trump makes it clear that there may be compromising material in Kiev not only on his people, but also on the Democrats, ”says Bortnik.
The political scientist believes that Giuliani, in fact, was not going to come to Ukraine.
“The US president decided to play in public. Initially, his lawyer very loudly announced a trip to Kiev, and then just as loudly canceled it. If Giuliani really needed to talk about a criminal case or find out something about the progress of the investigation, he would have acted quietly, ”Bortnik believes.
Expert at the International Institute for Humanitarian and Political Studies, Vladimir Bruter, is also confident that Giuliani’s canceled trip is part of Trump's information campaign.
“Visits by American politicians or their representatives to Kiev are still premature. Zelensky is not yet president. Not even the date of his inauguration is clear. Now there is a period when it is clear that Poroshenko has already left, but it is not clear when Zelensky will come to power, ”he said in an interview with RT.
According to Bruter, visits by US officials, during which important issues will indeed be discussed, will begin only after the inauguration of the elected President of Ukraine.
- Former US Vice President Joe Biden in Ukraine
- Reuters
- © Valentyn Ogirenko
The expert did not rule out that Trump decided only to “scare the democrats” with the possibility of using the Ukrainian compromising evidence, but he would not resort to this method of pressure.
“Firstly, Biden has so many problems as a presidential candidate. Secondly, the use of Ukrainian invoice is quite dangerous, because in general it contradicts the line of the Trump administration in relation to Kiev, ”explained Bruter.
At the suggestion of the White House, the US is trying to convince US public opinion that Washington supports Kiev in order to restrain Moscow’s expansionist plans, the expert stressed.
“The legend that Ukraine is an independent state, which in agony is fighting with Russia, will not withstand criticism when it turns out that the Bidens were squeezing money out of there. At the same time, there is not much difference that Biden and the one with whom he conducted business in Ukraine is not in power now, because it is quite possible that other American representatives with other Ukrainian leaders may also behave, ”Bruter believes.
The riddles of the Zelensky team
The most intriguing moment in Giuliani’s statements about his failed visit to Kiev concerns certain “Trump and US enemies”, which the lawyer found in Zelensky’s entourage, experts say.
On Fox News, a lawyer gave only one last name - Verkhovna Rada Deputy Sergey Leschenko. During the election campaign of 2016, this Ukrainian politician promulgated the “black accounting” of the Party of Regions, on the basis of which Paul Manafort was convicted, Giuliani stressed. At the same time, the lawyer stated that the documents were falsified.
In response, Leshchenko, in his Facebook, said that Trump and his administration were the victims of deception by the current Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yury Lutsenko. Leshchenko assured that the documents relating to “black bookkeeping” were real, and Lutsenko allegedly “dragged Ukraine into another's war, making us a bargaining chip at the table between Trump and Biden, and he did it with one goal - to keep his position of Prosecutor General”, - wrote the deputy.
- Flags of Ukraine and the USA
- Reuters
- © Valentyn Ogirenko
According to Volodymyr Brutera, speaking of the “enemies of America” surrounded by Zelensky, Giuliani could have in mind not only Leshchenko and other Ukrainian politicians who supported Trump’s American opponents.
“There are people in the team of the new Ukrainian leader who believe that Ukraine should pursue an independent political line from America. For example, it is worth mentioning the former Minister of Finance Alexander Danilyuk. He believes that in the field of economic policy Ukraine should be sufficiently independent. It is possible that Giuliani meant it. True, in this case he is mistaken: Danyluk, of course, is not anti-American and, moreover, is not pro-Russian, ”the expert says.
But mistakes in evaluating the Zelensky team are unavoidable, because so far, in essence, there is none, says Bruter.
“One cannot even say about the new Ukrainian president that he is a man of Igor Kolomoisky. Of course, if it had not been for this oligarch, Zelensky would never have become a politician and would not have come to power. But now Kolomoisky is not part of his close circle. Zelensky's team is still a set of people with different views. Who is there whose friend or enemy today, I think, is a mystery for the most elected Ukrainian president, ”summed up Vladimir Bruter.