You're reading: “Defiant” Poroshenko snubbed in Brussels

The Brussels publication POLITICO has provided more coverage of former president Petro Poroshenko’s unexpected appearance in the Belgium capital while he is wanted for questioning by the authorities back home.

In an interview with POLITICO’s David Herszenhorn on Jan. 13, Poroshenko “rejected criticism that he was airing his country’s dirty laundry by visiting Brussels and highlighting domestic in-fighting on the same day NATO allies were linking arms to confront Russia over its military build-up on the Ukrainian border.”

The former president insisted the “high treason” charges brought against him were a politically motivated act of revenge being carried by his successor.

He insisted he was conducting “quiet diplomacy” in Brussels in support of Ukraine.

POLITICO noted however that he was being viewed as a nuisance rather than a help.

“Petro non grata,” POLITICO commented, adding that Poroshenko “complained that some high-level EU meetings, including with the European Commission and the office of European Council President Charles Michel, were canceled” after POLITCO’s initial comments about his uninvited visit.

See POLITICO’s interview with Poroshenko in which he describes the charges levelled against him as “bullshit” and “judicial trash,” here