"Populist statements": why Tymoshenko suggested Zelensky to demand that the US write off debts to the IMF

Ukraine should apply to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to write off all external debts to the organization.

This was stated by the ex-premier of the country and the leader of the Batkivshchyna party Yulia Tymoshenko on the air of the 1 + 1 channel.

According to the politician, President Zelensky should raise this issue at an upcoming meeting with US Vice President Kamala Harris in Munich.

“The issue that the president should raise is the issue of writing off Ukraine's debts.

The history of the world knows a lot of examples when in such situations the debts of states were written off.

For example, at the beginning of the coronavirus epidemic, the IMF wrote off debts to 25 countries,” Tymoshenko said.

The same was done with states that fell “under aggression or in other difficult situations,” the former prime minister claims.

“Our external debt today is about 52 kopecks billion dollars.

This means that if we now have friends in the Western world, they are obliged by international law and by the Budapest Memorandum to write off $52 billion of state debts,” Tymoshenko said.

"Unfair" Fund

Recall that officials and politicians in Ukraine have repeatedly expressed dissatisfaction with the attitude of the IMF towards Kiev.

So, in June 2020, the head of the Servant of the People presidential faction in the Verkhovna Rada, David Arakhamia, said that the conditions put forward by the IMF for loans to Ukraine are extremely difficult and largely unacceptable.

“Then there is a new program of cooperation with the IMF, where there is a draft memorandum in which many things are stated in such a way that, most likely, they will not be accepted by either the Ukrainian society or the parliament.

Here you will have to conduct tough negotiations, and it is not a fact that they will lead to some kind of success, ”the deputy said then.

In turn, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in the summer of 2021 that the Fund was acting unfairly towards Ukraine, making the same demands to it as to other countries.

“I think it is impossible to compare the strategy of the IMF's behavior with Ukraine with other countries.

Our country simply cannot be put on a par with others.

Because we have complexity, because there is a war going on.

Because money is spent not on priorities in terms of the economy, but in terms of security.

First the military, first medicine, then everything else, ”the President of Ukraine said.

However, at the same time, Zelensky stressed that continued cooperation with the IMF is important for the country's economic stability and investment climate, since other financial support programs are tied to the fund's program.

“Therefore, we will definitely do everything that we promised,” Zelensky said.

It is worth noting that certain representatives of the political circles of Ukraine blame Yulia Tymoshenko for Kiev's complex relations with the IMF.

• © Sergii Kharchenko/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Thus, the former head of the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine, Tymofiy Mylovanov, claimed that when she was prime minister, Tymoshenko allegedly “threw” the fund, which became the starting point for a more biased attitude towards the Ukrainian side.

“There were times when we were given the first tranche without conditions.

When did it change?

When Yulia Vladimirovna Tymoshenko was prime minister: she promised one thing, the money came in - she “threw” the IMF, rolled back the reform she promised, and after that we are no longer trusted, ”Milovanov accused the former prime minister.

Request for help

Recall that on February 16, American media, citing representatives of the Biden administration, reported that US Vice President Kamala Harris would meet with Zelensky on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, where she would lead the Washington delegation.

In particular, The Hill, citing sources, reported that Harris would make a speech about the threat that Russia allegedly poses to Ukraine, as well as the consequences for the Russian Federation in the event of a “military invasion” of Ukrainian territory.

• ©AP Photo/Andrew Harnik

At the same time, American media sources did not mention whether Harris intends to discuss financial support for Kiev, which the President of Ukraine asked Joe Biden for.

Recall, according to CNN, during a telephone conversation with the US President on February 13, Zelensky turned to Joe Biden with a request for additional financial and military support.

Ukrainian political scientist Alexander Semchenko, commenting on the words of the leader of the "Batkivshchyna" to raise the issue of Kiev's debt to the IMF, called such a proposal populist and impracticable.

Separately, this is indicated by the mention of the Budapest Memorandum, which has nothing to do with debts to the IMF, the expert added.

“This memorandum was not even ratified by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, not to mention the parliaments of other countries.

Tymoshenko has been running around with him since the presidential election, saying that the memorandum is a real alternative to the Minsk agreements, and the Minsk agreements are a very harmful story that allegedly undermines the sovereignty of Ukraine.

According to her, the Budapest Memorandum is a panacea.

She considers Ukrainians stupid, hoping that these populist statements will help her increase her rating, ”the RT interlocutor emphasized.

Recall that the Budapest Memorandum stated that the parties would respect the independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine in exchange for the abandonment of the nuclear arsenal, which she inherited after the collapse of the USSR.

However, the document did not receive binding force, since in the end it was not ratified by any of the signatory states.

The United States is one of the founders of the IMF, and has a certain influence in it, but Washington has no interest in writing off Ukraine's debts, Semchenko added.

Tymoshenko's statement about the need to write off debt to the IMF speaks of a crisis situation in the Ukrainian economy, said Vladimir Shapovalov, deputy director of the Institute of History and Politics of Moscow State Pedagogical University, in an interview with RT.

“This situation, which has developed after the Euromaidan, is the result of the activities of the last two presidents of Ukraine.

At the same time, the permanent crisis in the country was exacerbated by the actions of the United States, which launched an information campaign about the “invasion” of Russia, which led to an unbridled flight of capital.

As a result, the already very weak Ukrainian economy received an extremely strong blow due to the actions of its ally and patron, that is, the United States,” Shapovalov explained.

According to the political scientist, Tymoshenko decided to take advantage of the situation and strike Zelensky, who, of course, will not be able to achieve such a write-off of debts. 

“Therefore, this statement should be considered primarily in the domestic political context.

That is, within the framework of the struggle that is going on between Tymoshenko, on the one hand, other Ukrainian politicians and President Zelensky, on the other, ”the expert said.

At the same time, Ukraine's debt burden and debt to the IMF are the result of the activities of pro-Western elites, to which Tymoshenko herself belongs, Vladimir Shapovalov added.

However, the IMF and the US will never give up such leverage of pressure on Kiev, the analyst believes.

According to the political scientist, to such a proposal from Ukraine, “the reaction will be either zero or limited to insignificant handouts,” which both the IMF and the United States periodically provide to Ukraine to remind who its true benefactor is.

“But these handouts in no way solve the serious issues that exist in the country, but they create the impression that the West cares about Ukraine.

At the same time, if assistance is nevertheless provided, it will be conditioned by the fulfillment of a serious list of obligations that Ukraine will have to fulfill, ”the expert concluded.