"Boyko's towers" have been stolen again. Poroshenko and Yatsenyuk are cynically surrendering billions of dollars in assets to the enemy.
It's no secret that calculating scumbags have come to power in Ukraine. The boundless cynicism of these "fixers" is incomprehensible.
Yesterday, it was announced that Russia had unhindered the towing of two brand-new Ukrainian drilling platforms "into its territorial waters" (i.e., toward Crimea). These were the very same "Boyko rigs" that were supposed to facilitate the development of Ukraine's gas-rich continental shelf. And these are the very same rigs that became a symbol of Yanukovych's gang's corruption—during their purchase, officials embezzled, or stole, between 300 and 400 million US dollars.
During Russia's seizure of the peninsula, these "Boyko rigs" remained "off-camera": while loyal military personnel in Crimea awaited orders from Kyiv to offer armed resistance to the enemy with all available means, an order they never received (acting Ukrainian President Oleksandr Turchynov and acting Defense Minister Ihor Tenyukh were responsible), Russian special forces landed on the drilling platforms. These platforms were unprotected—not a single Ukrainian special forces soldier was on them.
As a result, the enemy unimpededly gained control of Ukrainian strategic assets worth billions of dollars—including the drilling rigs themselves, supply vessels, consumables, exploration and drilling operations, field development, and so on.
Moreover, for the next year and seven months, the authorities took no steps to block or return these assets, either diplomatically or militarily. The platforms continued to extract gas unimpeded from the shelf, located 150 kilometers from mainland Ukraine, strengthening the occupiers' energy base in Crimea.
Meanwhile, Russia was disrupting coal production in Donbas, demanding gas supplies to the territories it occupied, pushing through the "SEZ Crimea" through Poroshenko, Yatsenyuk, and Tymoshenko, and guaranteeing Ukrainian food and electricity supplies to Crimea. Meanwhile, Ukraine's top officials did nothing to complicate the life and business of the occupier. Those drilling platforms are extremely vulnerable structures, and disabling them through purely technical means (saboteur or military means) would have been no problem. But this wasn't done. Moreover, the country's top officials have still not taken any real steps to block, return, or obtain compensation from the occupier for the seized and exploited property. Both Petro Poroshenko and Arseniy Yatsenyuk are sabotaging efforts to legally document the damages inflicted on Ukraine by the occupation of Crimea (and Donbas as well), and to secure compensation from the aggressor, Russia, in international courts.
Perhaps Poroshenko and Yatsenyuk's silence on this matter is part of the verbal "Minsk agreements" between Poroshenko and Putin. But it's also possible that this part of the agreement is a pure graft between Putin and Poroshenko. Just like the collapse of the criminal cases against Yanukovych and his entourage, the removal of the assets they stole from sanctions, and the return of prominent members of the Party of Regions to leadership of entire regions and, in part, of the state (just look at the Opposition Bloc and Medvedchuk at the negotiations in Minsk!).
Question: Why does Ukraine need an army and a navy if the enemy, right before their eyes, is stealing billions of hryvnias worth of property from the country, that is, from each of us, over the course of several days?
Why do we, Ukrainians, need a commander-in-chief who, with every public and private action, incites mistrust among his fellow citizens?
Why does the country need a prime minister and a president whose fences are higher, more secure, and more expensive than the defensive "wall" on Ukraine's eastern border?
Why should Ukraine take out billion-dollar loans if Poroshenko and Yatsenyuk are handing over billion-dollar assets to the enemy—at least for a fee?
These are actually very simple questions, as are the answers.
The people at the head of state are not patriots. And they are not Ukrainians.
And this very fact has a corrosive effect on the army, law enforcement agencies, and demoralizes the volunteer corps and patriotic citizens.
But the government lies, lies, and lies, piling on tons of lies—all to delay the inevitable outcome, all to hang around at the proverbial "trough" longer. Just look at the "statist" Yatsenyuk—a guy who officially has no business and never had any—it's impossible to tear him away from power. And he himself will never leave voluntarily. Even despite his zero approval rating and the overwhelming aversion he personally feels among his fellow citizens. There's no coherent strategy for rebuilding the country, no step-by-step plan for reform, no team, no personal position—everything is built on back-and-forth deals with Poroshenko and his oligarch "sponsors."
Just one example is the "Wall" project, which, according to Prime Minister Yatsenyuk, was supposed to become an insurmountable obstacle to a possible Russian invasion. But after eighteen months, it hasn't proved to be one. Although it could have been—if the government had thought about defending its homeland the way Marshal Mannerheim did, leading Finland's defense against the same savage Russia.
If the enemy crosses Ukraine's eastern border tomorrow, who will be personally responsible for the leaky "Wall": Yatsenyuk? Poroshenko? Poltorak? (read more about it Stepan Poltorak: The new Kuchma needs a new Kuzmuk)? ..
None of those. As always, Ukrainians, patriots with their blood.
Who will be held accountable for the surrender of Crimea, Ilovaisk, and Debaltseve? Matios? Incidentally, as a reminder: the results of the investigation into the "cauldrons" in Ilovaisk and Debaltseve will be published this fall—as promised by President Poroshenko's press service. True, they didn't specify the year... But we're waiting.
We wait patiently, although the authorities themselves are doing everything to ensure that this patience snaps.
Poroshenko recently declared that Ukraine would have won even without volunteers. Without volunteers—fine. So what, have we already won?
So why is the enemy stealing billions of dollars in assets with impunity right before the commander-in-chief's very eyes? To hell with the torpedo boats, to hell with the "commander-in-chief's" cowardice. But why not even issue a statement from the Foreign Ministry about this?!
It creeps so lazily that there is no time even to express “concern”?
No, of course, the current government has an ironclad argument: "the enemy is stronger, we protect our people," and so on. But soon, nothing will remain of the country, the state—except those very same people, deceived and robbed clean, both by the enemies and the "heroes" of the Maidan scene.
Looking at all this obscenity, I personally have no doubt that the current government, having seized the budget "trough," is morally prepared to kill anyone who poses a real threat to it. Be it a volunteer, a journalist, or a political opponent. And if they don't do so, it's for the same reason: fear. They are profiteers by nature, and they understand perfectly well how this will immediately end for them, and that's no longer business.
At the same time, the authorities understand perfectly well that today, Ukrainian citizens are essentially being held hostage by the situation. Start removing the thieving government and you'll give the enemy a pretext to finish what they started. Meanwhile, living by the laws of the gang that replaced Yanukovych means disrespecting oneself and condemning one's families to guaranteed poverty—essentially, slavery to the Poroshenkos, Kolomoiskys, Firtashs, and Lyovochkins. Even the "ordinary people" in the provinces understand this. Therefore, it's likely that the entire next year will be spent on forcing the country's top officials to accept human standards. The president, the prime minister, and their entourage must be actively and effectively discouraged from stealing, blocking any attempt to pick our pockets by all legal means. And the next step will be the criminal prosecution of the current "gods" with the confiscation of absolutely everything ill-gotten. And the capture of the thieves' physical bodies even outside the borders of our homeland - for trial in Ukraine, which they robbed.
If it takes a party and a parliamentary majority to amend the necessary laws, they will appear sooner or later. Even if it takes years, we will succeed.
The main thing is to believe in victory. In our victory. In the possibility of living in a decent country in our lifetime.
—
Georgy Semenets, Argument
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