Calls for “unity” from the opposition to defeat President Volodímir Zelensky
After a few weeks out of the country, the former Ukrainian president, Petro Poroshenko, returned to Kiev on Monday from Warsaw to appear before the Pecherski court in the Ukrainian capital accused by the Prosecutor’s Office of alleged “high treason.” Poroshenko, who could be sentenced to 15 years in prison if found guilty, has preferred to “prove his innocence” before the Justice of his country instead of taking refuge abroad.
The former president, who had to leave power in 2019 after being defeated at the polls by Volodímir Zelenski, the current head of state, believes that the legal case against him is instigated by the Presidency without any foundation with the sole objective of neutralizing and misleading him. attention to the real problems facing Ukraine.
Poroshenko, whose passport was withdrawn as soon as he set foot in the airport arrivals terminal, was greeted outside by a crowd of several thousand people. In his opinion, the country needs to get rid of Zelensky as soon as possible, for which he has called for the “unity of the entire opposition”, including former Prime Minister Julia Timoshenko, his main rival in the elections held in 2014, that gave him the victory.
From the airport he went to court, where the hearing began to decide whether he can remain free until the trial or, on the contrary, he is sent to prison on a preventive basis or must remain under house arrest. The Prosecutor’s Office has asked the court to send him to jail or, if he is released, to impose a bail of 30 million euros and also require him to wear an electronic tracking bracelet. Poroshenko, who financed the “Maidan” revolt in early 2014, is one of the richest men in the country.
What is clear is that a significant part of the population is disappointed with Zelensky’s policy, above all for economic reasons and the impossibility of finding a solution to resolve the conflict in the east of the country with the rebel territories of Donetsk and Lugansk. . Both enclaves are supported by Moscow and are the reason Russia has deployed troops along the border.
Poroshenko, who has also failed to make progress towards the country’s reunification beyond the much-maligned Minsk agreements, seems to be trying to take advantage of Zelensky’s weakness to bring about a change of direction. What no one is very clear about is in which direction. His relations with Moscow are worse than those maintained by his successor.
The former president is accused of having organized the shipment of coal supplies to Kiev from Donetsk between 2014 and 2015, thus helping to financially support the separatists. After the annexation of Crimea, in March 2014, the eastern regions of Ukraine also rose in revolt, which led to the start of a war that, according to the UN, has already caused more than 13,000 deaths.
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