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2021-08-31 Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
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How Biden became the godfather of corruption in Ukraine
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Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
by Dmitry Steshin
Former Lieutenant Colonel of the SBU (Security Service of Ukraine) Vasily Prozorov, who has lived in Russia since 2019, has taken up research into the abyss of Ukrainian corruption. There was a whole book of material! On the eve of its release, he told kp.ru about a disease that endures the consciousness of the Ukrainian statehood.
Vasily Nikolaevich Prozorov: Born on 06/29/1975 in the city of Berdyansk, Ukrainian SSR. Ex-employee of the Security Service of Ukraine, lieutenant colonel. Since 2014, after the coup d'etat on the Maidan, he collaborated with the Russian special services for reasons of principle. The head of the Investigation Center is Vasily Prozorov. Part of the materials of the book being prepared for publication has been published on the website of the Center in the public domain.
TWO VARIETIES OF THEFT - AT ZELENSKY AND Poroshenko
As you know, one of the official reasons for the Maidan was the allegedly incredible corruption of the past government. Of course, it did not go anywhere after 2014, but only grew and multiplied, continuing to spoil life in today's Ukraine. For example, the European Union says it does not take Ukraine into its membership because of its corruption. Maybe this is just a formal reason for the refusal? I asked Vasily Prozorov to estimate the scale. It turns out that there are two types of corruption, one worse than the other:
"While studying Ukrainian corruption, I divided the post-Maid period into two parts: 'under Poroshenko' and 'under Zelensky.' What amazed me was that under Poroshenko, the level of corruption was off scale, but the stolen money remained in the country. Corrupt officials under Poroshenko did not separate themselves from Ukraine. It was a kind of 'pro-Ukrainian corruption,' people stealing money saw their future in Ukraine - oligarchs, businessmen, Rada deputies. Under Zelenskiy, everything turned 180 degrees, corruption became pro-Western.
- Like this?
- This is theft in the interests of other countries. Corruption in itself destroys the state, the social and political system, the economy, but when money is stolen in the interests of other countries.
- There is a feeling that Ukraine has been "degreased" in recent years. The country left the USSR with a GDP at the level of Germany. It is clear that in the 90s all the former Soviet republics had a hard time, but Ukraine became the only one of them that never reached its 1991 level.
- So, Ukraine is losing billions of dollars, I was amazed when I began to delve into it. The claims of the European Union are not empty, they have grounds. Moreover, corruption at all levels - from regional hospitals to the president himself. But I think that in Ukraine, too, they are right: the EU uses corruption as a reason for refusing to integrate. They are simply afraid to get involved with Ukraine.
DO NOT FIGHT BUT CONTROL
What can Europe fear with its well-oiled state machine? According to Prozorov, this corruption is systematic. In fact, this is an artificial model of state governance:
- The European Union knows that corruption in Ukraine is systemic. Moreover, the West has created in Kiev a vertical of bodies controlling corruption - the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (hereinafter NABU. - Auth.), A specialized “anti-corruption” prosecutor's office and the Anti-Corruption Court. That is, the West has an operational investigation in Ukraine, and support for accusations in court - prosecutor's supervision, and the court itself, which is considering all these cases.
- Tight bundle! Corruption should have been defeated long ago!
- Yes, it is a closed, self-sufficient system. But what's the problem: it is completely controlled by Western countries! And then this system has undeclared opportunities - a body that fights against the system of corruption receives dirt on any official and civil servant.
- That is, this is how the notorious "external control" of Ukraine works?
- I will give an example of pro-Western corruption that is literally killing the country. There was such a Nikolai Martynenko, an oligarch, was engaged in nuclear energy. His firms collaborated with Rosatom and ensured the operation of Ukrainian nuclear power plants. Martynenko supported the Maidan, became one of the leaders of the "Popular Front" of Arseniy Yatsenyuk. It was even called the "Popular Front" purse. And here such a giant as Westinghouse from the USA lays an eye on the Ukrainian nuclear industry.
Cases of corruption are quickly initiated, the oligarch is knocked out of business, from all spheres, he is even imprisoned for a while. As a result, Westinghouse enters Ukraine, and now it supplies TVEL (the main fuel cell in nuclear reactors - Ed.) For nuclear power plants, moreover, it is 30 percent more expensive than similar ones from Rosatom. The new Ukrainian government obediently signs contracts, and by 2025 60 percent of TVEL in the country will be from the United States. I think this is already a betrayal of the motherland.
- This is really something innovative in public administration - externally controlled corruption. Like the Film "Aliens," but American, by the way.
COLONIALISM 5.0
- Nobody denies the commercial interest of the USA in Ukraine. On the contrary, the Ukrainian authorities are very proud of cooperation with such a powerful country. But here in your book the scandalous story with the private gas production company "Burisma" is disclosed in detail. Where, by a strange coincidence, the son of the current American president ended up on the board of directors
- Yes, it became known that Biden's son was paid from $3 million to $10 million dollars, such a form of bribe, and not only to the son, but also to the father. This is true. But against the background of the schemes that worked in the Ukrainian Naftogaz, corruption in Burisma is a trifle. And Vice President Joe Biden was directly involved in these schemes.
- What were these schemes?
- The loudest one is “reverse gas deliveries”. Gas is supplied to Europe via a Ukrainian pipeline, and then from Slovakia, Poland and Hungary is returned back through "gasket firms".
- And his price is already different?
- So different that, according to some estimates, from 2015 to 2020, about 2 billion dollars were pulled out of the pockets of Ukrainians. And this scheme was lobbied by Biden, who achieved the appointment of his assistant, Amos Hochstein, as a member of the supervisory board of Naftogaz with very broad powers, up to participation in resolving personnel issues and monitoring the execution of transactions. Without his personal involvement, the "Russian gas reverse" scam would not have materialized.
- Now all the reasons for the US suffering over Nord Stream 2 are becoming clear.
- What's interesting: when Zelensky came to power, he perfectly understood what kind of scheme it was. Representatives of the Trump administration, lawyer and politician Rudolph Giuliani, for example: they needed dirt on Biden for the presidential elections, immediately became frequent visitors to him .
Zelenskiy and his advisers decided to drag out until the last moment, without taking sides. But in the event of Trump's victory, they were ready to rewrite this shop to other owners. US Energy Secretary Rick Perry came, held meetings with Zelensky. He urged him to replace the head of Naftogaz in order to appoint his own man. But Zelensky got out of it, remained "neither yours, nor ours." Unlike Poroshenko, who bet on Biden, and Trump won.
- I see a new colonial system of the world, it works even without guns and landings on the coast.
- Yes, this is no longer necessary, the money is taken away and so, and the competing enterprises are liquidated.
GARBAGE ARMOR
- There is probably also corruption in the Ukrainian defense industry - it is for special people who are not afraid of blood. It is already openly said that it is largely for this reason that Kiev needs the war in Donbass to last as long as possible.
- I was picking schemes in Ukroboronprom. There were two such people, Sergei Pashinsky and Oleg Gladkovsky, under Poroshenko they were called "shadow kings of the defense industry." Pashinsky was a deputy and chairman of the Defense Committee of the Verkhovna Rada, and Gladkovsky was the deputy head of the National Security Council. They were spinning billion-dollar schemes.
- Are there examples?
- For the Ukrainian army, outdated BMP-1s, still Soviet ones, were purchased in Poland and the Czech Republic. They were bought through Cypriot and Polish firms at the price of scrap metal, 25,000 euros per unit. Moreover, the hull and the tower were delivered to Ukraine separately, according to some estimates, "Ukrooboronprom" paid about 170,000 euros for them.
At the Zhytomyr armored plant for 30,000 euros they were collected, slightly modernized. They put up a connection and welded on the grilles from hits from a grenade launcher. As a result, one BMP-1 cost the budget 200 thousand euros. But! There is one detail: Ukrainian officials and the Ukrainian plant made money on this. The money as a whole remained in the country. Under Poroshenko.
- And under Zelensky?
- 2019, "Ukrooboronprom" is completely transferred under the control of the West. It was a raider takeover. They changed the leadership, announced a reform of the structure. Moreover, the plan for this reform was developed by the British Department of Defense! Then the Americans landed at all the enterprises of Ukroboronprom, analyzed and determined which industries are competitive with the West and which are not. And they took action.
- What else did they consider a threat to their business?
- The shipbuilding industry, inherited by Ukraine from the USSR. Three giant factories in the city of Nikolaev, capable of producing even aircraft carriers, with a hundred-year history, have gone bankrupt. The Black Sea shipbuilding plant was liquidated. And now Zelenskiy says he is going to strengthen the Ukrainian fleet by purchasing ships from the UK.
- The sales market was completely squeezed out.
MORTARS OF DEATH
- There was also a story that profits for corrupt officials are more expensive than people's lives. Almost two dozen of their own crews were killed by the Ukrainian Molot mortars.
- I was in rotation as deputy commander of the ATO (Anti-terrorist operation - as the war in Donbass was called in Kiev. - Ed.), And Colonel-General Mikhail Koval came to one closed meeting. And he said: "Nobody will give up Molotov, because this is our Ukrainian production, the Mayak plant in Kiev."
- And what about the military?
- They shrugged their shoulders, "Hammers" were accepted, but they did not use them. And when you start digging into this story, it turns out that the Hammers were lobbied by Mr. Pashinsky, and each mortar cost the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense 400,000 hryvnias (about 1 million rubles - Ed.). And the Mayak plant received only 150,000 for the mortar, the rest went to the gasket firms. Naturally, Mr. Pashinsky was interested in having as many of these mortars in the troops as possible.
- And what was wrong with them, sorted it out?
- According to my information, the guides in the barrels were made with a defect, therefore, when fired, the mortar burst, the mine went off in the barrel.
- Have you punished someone?
- No, all corruption scandals do not develop in Ukraine. There are no judgments and court decisions. Russia, which Ukraine loves to nod at, jails corrupt officials every week. With confiscation. There are no untouchables! And in Ukraine they are persecuted only for politics. It is not accepted for corruption.
- What will happen to Ukraine if the state of affairs continues in the next decade?
- This is my opinion, but I am afraid that Ukraine does not have this decade. And the future too. And it's not even about officials who steal and run away, but about quite prosaic things. For example, in the deterioration of infrastructure. I do not think that there will be an offensive in the Donbass in the fall, but the freezing Ukrainian cities are quite real.
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Posted by badanov 2021-08-31 02:21||
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