OSLO, Norway – According to the plan, Norwegian journalist Halvor Tjønn was supposed to moderate a conversation between Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and his host, Prime Minister Erna Solberg, during the Oct. 18 Norwegian-Ukrainian Business Forum in Oslo.
But, while Poroshenko was rambling on, speaking 31 minutes to Solberg’s 9 minutes, a member of the presidential delegation whispered to Laxmi Akkaraju, chairwoman of the Norwegian-Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce. The plan had been changed.
Suddenly, Poroshenko had an urgent meeting with Norway’s energy minister and Solberg also had to leave quickly.
So sorry, goodbye, gotta go, nice talking to you.
I don’t know what questions that Norwegian journalist had for Poroshenko, but I hope they would have penetrated the fantasy world that Ukraine’s president is living in.
I’ve seen Poroshenko only twice on foreign trips, once at the Norwegian-Ukrainian Business Forum, where I had the honor of moderating a panel. The other time came at the NATO Summit in Warsaw last summer.
Both times he’s distinguished himself as someone who prefers to speak, not listen or answer questions, especially when independent journalists from Ukraine or those who know the real situation are present.
But no matter.
Even without the pesky questions of journalists, Solberg put Poroshenko in his place – with a diplomatic smile and lots of sweet talk.
How did the Norwegian prime minister deliver the ultimate challenge and put-down?
She cited Poland as the example that Ukraine should emulate. That’s got to hurt.
She extolled the virtues of Poland’s political will to change and join the European Union and revamp its economy.
Now, she said, Poland is home of 300 Norwegian companies (compared to 60 in Ukraine).
Now, she said, Poland is a major trading partner in the shipyard industry.
Essentially, she told Poroshenko to get to work if he expects Ukraine to get more investment from Norway, one of the richest countries in the world — with nine times less people than Ukraine (5 million vs. 45 million people) yet four times the gross domestic product ($388 billion vs. $90+ billion).
Reform “requires stamina and taking on a long-term perspective,” Solberg told Poroshenko.
But she delivered the lecture in such a peaches-and-cream manner that it is doubtful that the self-absorbed president heard the message.
Instead, he followed her on the stage, mixing truth, propaganda and falsehoods to create the impression that he is Ukraine’s leading agent of reform – rather than its chief obstructionist, as he is turning out to be in too many cases.
He started out OK, reeling off impressive and mostly accurate statistics about how far Ukraine had progressed since he became president on June 7, 2014, all the more impressive as progress came amid Russia’s ongoing war.
Then he veered off into fantasyland by claiming that he is creating an independent and effective law enforcement system – police, prosecutors and judges – to Ukraine.
He is doing nothing of the kind.
Ukraine, he said, is now “fighting against corruption” and “guaranteeing rule of law.” He’s got new police force (with limited powers). He’s fired all top judges and rehired 200 new ones (out of 7,500 largely corrupt ones still sitting on the bench). He’s created new corruption-fighting institutions (still understaffed and subservient to the Soviet-era General Prosecutor’s Office with 15,000 prosecutors).
Those corruption fighters are “arresting ministers, members of parliament, governors of the region,” Poroshenko said. “This is a demonstration of the complete independence from political pressure. We are bringing attractive results based on the principle of zero tolerance of corruption.”
Easy, easy, Mr. President.
The only minister facing charges is Yanukovych-era Justice Minister Oleksandr Lavrynovych. The only member of parliament facing charges is Radical Party lawmaker Ihor Mosiychuk. The only governor facing charges is a deputy one in Mykholaiv Oblast, Mykola Romanchuk.
“Nobody has an umbrella if you are a corruptionist,” Poroshenko said.
Nobody, perhaps, unless your name is Leonid Kuchma, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Dmytro Firtash, Yuriy Boyko, Serhiy Lyovochkin, Ihor Kononenko, Mykola Martynenko or one of dozens of oligarchs or politicians suspected of major corruption and crimes — accusations all dutifully denied by the suspects when confronted.
Poroshenko’s sound bites sound good to foreigners who know little about the scale of Ukraine’s unpunished corruption, about Poroshenko’s obstruction of justice through his appointments of prosecutors or about the alleged schemes of his allies in trying to use government to tap into huge cash flows.
But he’s not fooling Ukrainians, who give him approval ratings ranging from 6 to 20 percent. He’s not fooling hard-core investors, whose capital is bypassing Ukraine for friendlier places. He is also not fooling journalists or Western donors and diplomats, who are increasingly giving up on him.
Poroshenko’s aversion to tough questioning from independent journalists only fuels the widespread belief that he is a president who is, paradoxically, intoxicated by power and fear simultaneously.
