Establishment Outlet Politico Admits That Zelenskyy Uses 'Lawfare To Intimidate Opponents And Silence Critics'.

The Mainstream Establishment Outlet Politico Admits That Ukraine Proxy War Did Not Save Democracy.

Throughout the proxy war in Ukraine, Western governments said the war needed to be continued in order to fight to save democracy in Ukraine.

But as of late, more and more establishment news outlets have admitted that the war- provoked and prolonged by the West in the name of Democracy- has paved the way for an authoritarian power grab from the Volodymyr Zelenskyy government.

The latest article in Politico notes that when Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, the former, “head of Ukraine’s state-owned national power company Ukrenergo” was “forced to resign in 2024”, “Kudrytskyi told POLITICO he was the victim of the relentless centralization of authority that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his powerful head of office Andriy Yermak often pursue”.

The article went on to note:

According to his supporters, it is that kind of talk — and his refusal to remain silent — that explains why Kudrytskyi ended up in a glass-enclosed cubicle in a downtown Kyiv courtroom last week, where he was arraigned on embezzlement charges. Now, opposition lawmakers and civil society activists are up in arms, labeling this yet another example of Ukraine’s leadership using lawfare to intimidate opponents and silence critics by accusing them of corruption or of collaboration with Russia

The outlet noted that, “Others who have received the same treatment include Zelenskyy’s predecessor in office, Petro Poroshenko, who was sanctioned and arraigned on corruption charges this year — a move that could prevent him from standing in a future election. Sanctions have frequently been threatened or used against opponents, effectively freezing assets and blocking the sanctioned person from conducting any financial transactions, including using credit cards or accessing bank accounts” adding that, “Poroshenko has since accused Zelenskyy of creeping ‘authoritarianism,’ and seeking to ‘remove any competitor from the political landscape.’”

The outlet noted that opposition lawmaker Mykola Knyazhitskiy, “believes the use of lawfare to discredit opponents is only going to get worse as the presidential office prepares for a possible election next year in the event there’s a ceasefire. They are using the courts ‘to clear the field of competitors’ to shape a dishonest election, he fears.”

The article went on to note, “prominent Ukrainian activist and head of the Anti-Corruption Action Center Daria Kaleniuk, argue the president and his coterie are using the war to monopolize power to such a degree that it threatens the country’s democracy.”

Even Adrian Karatnycky, a senior fellow at the NATO think tank Atlantic Council, admitted to Politico that there are, “worrying elements to Zelenskyy’s rule”.

The Politico article is just the latest in a series of articles in establishment outlets admitting that the Ukraine proxy war led to the erosion of democracy in Ukraine.

A previous article in the Spectator magazine wrote, “‘If the war continues soon there will be no Ukraine left to fight for,’ one former senior official in Zelensky’s administration tells me. They now believe their former boss is ‘prolonging the war to hold on to power’.”

The article went on to write, “Ukraine has two enemies, two Vladimirs: Zelensky and Putin,’ says a former Ukrainian cabinet minister, once a strong Zelensky supporter. ‘Putin is destroying Ukraine from [the] outside, but Zelensky is destroying it from within by destroying its will to fight and its morale. Human rights are being trampled on, there is pressure against political opponents, rich and influential people who could support opposition are being expropriated and opposition media is silenced. And the irony is that this Putinification of Ukraine is being funded by the West.’”

One opposition MP, Oleksiy Goncharenko, said that Zelensky was “holding on to power by all means possible”, even, “comparing Zelensky to Kim Jong-un and Ukraine to North Korea”.

Similarly, the Financial Times wrote , “Anti-corruption raids on prominent Ukrainian figures and moves to favour loyalists in senior positions have led to accusations that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s government is sliding into authoritarianism” adding, “Zelenskyy and his top aides face allegations from politicians, activists and diplomats that they are using extraordinary powers granted under martial law to sideline critics, muzzle civil society leaders and consolidate control.”

Similarly, the Economist magazine reported that Zelensky has an “increasing monopoly of power” quoting Ukrainian journalist Yulia Mostovaya saying, “While the Western media and European leaders have lionised Zelensky and turned him into a celebrity, we feel trapped”.

The magazine wrote that, “power is being concentrated not in the government or the parliament, but in the hands of a few unelected officials in the presidential administration, including Andriy Yermak, the chief of staff, Dmytro Lytvyn, Mr Zelensky’s speechwriter, and Oleh Tatarov, who oversees the security agencies. The administration is reluctant to share power not just with opponents but with anyone seen as a potential rival” and that “differences of opinion and critical media are seen as a threat, rather than a strength”, adding that, “Ukraine’s move towards more authoritarian rule is unsurprising given the pressures it faces as the war grinds on well into its fourth year. Yet the risk is that it undermines the country’s self-organising resilience”.

While this year, the establishment media has admitted that Zelenskyy has become a dictator, the reality is that since the start of the proxy war Zelenskyy was propped up in the West as a symbol of democracy, whitewashing how he was actually ruling.

This was all documented by Ukrainian political scientist Konstantin Bondarenko in his book, “The Joker: The True Story Of Volodymyr Zelensky’s rise to power”.

He documented that during the proxy war, “contracts were signed with more than 60 Western lobbying and PR agencies, whose tasks included arranging pompous publications in leading Western media, blocking negative articles, and organizing meetings and speeches” for Zelensky.

Examples of this included, “Time magazine named Zelensky ‘Person of the Year.’ Bookstores were filled with books about Zelensky in every language under the sun. Comics appeared with Zelensky as the main character. Zelensky was portrayed as a positive hero fighting a ‘refined evil’—Putin. Hollywood was considering making a film about Zelensky. Small figurines of Zelensky were sold in souvenir shops in Europe and the U.S., and they sold out very quickly. Zelensky became an element of pop culture. Zelensky appeared at the 64th annual Grammy Awards. He spoke at the opening of the Cannes Film Festival in May 2022. He spoke at the opening of the Berlin Film Festival in February 2022. Sean Penn came to Ukraine and gave his Oscar statuette to Zelensky.”

While Zelensky was portrayed in this light in the West, Bondarenko noted that in reality, he was a “morose dictator and despot, a fanatic ready to imprison all dissenters and suspects, while also sending all Ukrainian citizens to the frontlines”.

As he noted, “The West discreetly closed its eyes to the lawlessness going on in Ukraine. There is a popular apocryphal story among historians about a remark Franklin Roosevelt allegedly made to Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza: ‘He may be a son-of-a-bitch, but he’s our son-of-a-bitch.’ Over the past 80 years, American policy principles have not changed, and Biden could proudly repeat the words of his distant predecessor and party colleague, this time in reference to Ukraine and its president”.

Like most of Zelensky’s critics, Konstantin Bondarenko was placed on a sanctions list for writing the aforementioned book.

The Ukrainian newspaper Strana reported :

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky imposed sanctions on the well-known Ukrainian political scientist Konstantin Bondarenko, who recently released a biography of Volodymyr Zelensky called ‘Joker’, which caused a great resonance.

The decree on sanctions appeared on the website of the President’s Office.

Also sanctioned were Oleksiy Arestovych [a former advisor to Zelensky] , journalists Dmytro Vasilets and Oleksandr Semchenko, who left for the Russian Federation, and blogger Myroslav Oleshko, who is in Europe and criticizes the Ukrainian authorities, in particular, excesses in mobilization.

The paper went on to note:

Recall that recently journalist Alexander Shelest, former head of the 112 Ukraine TV channel Artem Marchevsky and political scientists Vadim Karasev and Denis Zharkikh also fell under the sanctions of the National Security and Defense Council.

Arestovych claimed that the NSDC sanctions have turned into a tool for reprisal against political opponents and are used for extortion. According to him, in order not to be included in the sanctions lists, they demand money.

While NATO states fueled a proxy war, which killed or wounded 1 million people in the name of fighting for Ukrainian democracy, the war actually resulted in Ukraine turning into a dictatorship.

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