An interesting opinion article appeared in the Brussels-based Politico, the unofficial mouthpiece of the European Union, with the above title: Ukraine may face another Maidan. Jamie Dettmer explains that Zelenskiy could not repeat in real life what he did in the series Servant of the People, moreover, he leads the country in an increasingly autocratic manner and almost imagines himself to be the biggest and most important politician in the world.

"During the Orange Revolution, in 2004, in my last year of university, I was on the street, and I was on the street in 2014 as well. So the 10-year mark when we used to organize revolutions is approaching," Inna Sovzun, an opposition representative of the liberal, pro-European Holosz party in Ukraine, told Dettmer, adding that she suspects another political upheaval is in the making.

The Orange Revolution and the Maidan of 2014 had unforeseeable consequences, as will the war, which forges a strong national feeling - indeed, creates Ukrainian national consciousness - and, moreover, sets huge expectations for the future that will be difficult to fulfill, no matter what things are changing. Wars definitely have one thing in common: they bring suffering, economic decline, and poverty.

Opposition leaders and former ministers Dettmer spoke to believe that post-war reconstruction will be particularly difficult for Zelensky, as he has become part of the problem: he has become an autocratic leader. It is strange to read all this in the light of the fact that since the beginning of the war, nothing else has come out of the mouths of the Western press and politicians, except that Zelensky and Ukraine are a model example of democracy.

They believe it cannot be denied that his landslide election in 2019 brought hope to the country when he promised to defend the interests of the people against the rich and the ruling class. It didn't end up like this:

he filled his government and advisory staff with former colleagues, screenwriters, friends, and business partners, and disregarding the law, he issued more and more presidential decrees to sanction his opponents, banned opposition parties, and took away minority rights - all while the Russians referred to a threat by

Four months before the Russian invasion, Zelenskyi and two of his close associates were implicated in offshore financial activities. The Pandora papers revealed that the Ukrainian leader created offshore companies before becoming president, but also benefited from them after taking office. Zelensky, for his part, denied any money laundering or illegality with the funds.

His political opponents look the other way as long as the war lasts, but Dettmer knows that once the guns fall silent, they will want to hold Zelensky accountable for what happened before and ask him why he acted the way he did before the outbreak of war, directly and indirectly. under it.

Opposition politicians and civil society leaders polled by Politico say Zelenskyi should also be held accountable for the way he and his small team of old cronies and former business partners governed during the war and tried to create a controlled democracy with a single dominant party.

“Of course we have to support the government and stay united. But I worry about the future of democracy in my country. Even in times of war, there must be a political opposition, the democratic process must continue, there must be parliamentary supervision," says Mikola Nyazsiczkij, opposition lawmaker from the city of Lemberg.

The Russian-Ukrainian war has been going on for over a year now, and

until a few months ago, it would have been completely unthinkable for anyone to express any criticism of the Ukrainians without being immediately accused of being Putin's agent.

Then articles started to appear in the Western press, which said that maybe the Ukrainian army is not in such a great condition as the leadership makes it out to be, maybe the Russians don't freeze in the Ukrainian winter either, and now that can be dismissed as well. write in the Brussels Politico, the unofficial mouthpiece of the European Union, that Zelensky will be overthrown - as soon as the war ends. But how and when will it end?

Source: vasarnap.hu

Featured image: Reuters/ATV