On February 7th Ukrainian deputies, who for a couple of consecutive days cheerfully and merrily rejected the opposition’s amendments to the law on the sale of agricultural land, suddenly decided to take a pause until April. At first glance, their actions are devoid of any logic. But only at first.
Indeed, the “Servants of the People” faction, which diligently promoted the draft law, still managed to collect all possible negativity, and the postponement of the decision will not help it. The opposition’s introduction of 4,000 amendments irrefutably showed that there were enough votes in the hall to pass the law. Thousands of amendments are made solely to delay a process that one cannot stop. As the experience of the Ukrainian Parliament shows, the majority is able to reject (without violating the regulations) from 300 to 700 amendments per day. In the beginning, the inexperienced “servants of the people” managed to accomplish more than 200 amendments, but in the future the pace would accelerate. In two weeks it was really possible to complete the procedure for adopting the law in the second reading. By delaying its adoption until April, they give the opposition time and opportunity to gather votes against it. Moreover, “Servants of the People” no longer exclude the processing of the draft law.
What happened? After all, so far the Kiev authorities have attributed the rush with the land law to what the IMF demands. The Fund refused to allocate the already agreed $5.5 billion to Ukraine until Kiev passed the version of the law needed by the IMF.
On February 5th in Washington the US Senate acquitted President Donald Trump of all articles of impeachment. Due to the time difference, in Kiev this became known on February 6th. It took almost 24 hours to make sense of what was happening and make a decision.
Of course, formally, Trump has nothing to do with Ukrainian soil. But the Ukrainian authorities are directly involved in Trump’s impeachment. Despite all the attempts of his lawyer Rudolph Giuliani to get Vladimir Zelensky to investigate the Burisma case, which would drown the Democrats with all their investigations, as well as the clear statement of the Ukrainian president that no one pressured him and no military assistance was frozen, Ukrainian “wise men” from the presidential team chose to keep neutrality. Only this neutrality was unequivocally in favour of Trump’s enemies. They accused him, and Kiev (which was directly concerned) did not refute the accusations.
At the same time, one of Trump’s main opponents in the United States and one of the main players in Ukraine was (and still is) the unforgettable George Soros, a billionaire who destroyed more than one country and gathered to earn some “crumbs” from Ukrainian soil. Soros played alongside the Democrats, who traditionally have a strong position in Ukraine, as it was their structures that controlled and implemented most of the grant programs through which the current Ukrainian managers were raised. The version of the law insisted by the IMF reflected Soros’ interests.
But Ukraine has enough of its oligarchs, who dreamed of living off the sale of land. They wished at the first stage to restrict foreigners (and therefore Soros) concerning the right to buy Ukrainian land. They would like to first get three or four years of moratoriums on the participation of foreigners in this fascinating process, to buy the land themselves, and then resell it to “foreign partners”, but for a much more expensive price. The leader of this group was Igor Kolomoisky.
Kolomoisky and Soros fought with variable success. But in the last couple of months, Soros’ relative advantage has come to be seen. Kolomoisky failed to bring down the pro-Soros government. And a consolation prize in the form of replacing several ministers did not give him control of the Cabinet of Ministers. The SBU carried out a demonstration search against the channel of Kolomoisky “1+1” within the framework of the case of wiretapping the Prime Minister’s office. Most importantly, the Soros version of the land law was being prepared for adoption at an accelerated pace (despite the protests organised by the Ukrainian oligarchy).
Having control over the president did not help Kolomoisky. Zelensky was explained that if the IMF has not given money now, by the end of spring the grateful populace can simply take down all the government. And it will be worst of all for him – Zelensky. And without the land law needed by the IMF, the Fund won’t give any money.
It seemed that Kolomoisky and the Ukrainian oligarchy are losing the fight against international business irrevocably. If they do not gain access to land money, their ultimate subjugation and robbery by the globalist oligarchy (the same Soros) will be a matter of time, not principle (in the near future). But the delay in time (including with the help of 4,000 amendments) played a role. In the United States, Trump defeated the Democrats. He’s not only not in danger of impeachment anymore. He’s already the favourite in the upcoming election. The Republicans are more united than ever, and the Democrats are more divided than ever. And Trump finally got an opportunity to get revenge on everyone who had been drinking blood from him for more than three years – and he started to do this with pleasure.
Since the draft law on the agenda reflected the interests of Soros and the Democrats, and Trump is clearly going to level their influence (some are even threatened with prison), the Ukrainian government in general, and the whole afraid President Zelensky in particular, had a logical question: is it worth playing along with these political corpses? What if Trump is not interested in Ukrainian land at all? Or will he just order the IMF to give money to the Kiev government if it betrays Soros and the Democrats on time?
Of course, Kolomoisky’s relations with the US are not better either – there are a lot of criminal cases against him there. But it was still the Democrats who launched the cases. Who knows, maybe suddenly Trump will now change anger to mercy. After all, IMF money is needed, but it can so happen that you accept the law and don’t get the money if the touchy Trump decides that his enemies are still supported in Kiev. After all, it’s not the Democrats’ vote in the IMF, but the US government’s. Today it’s Trump’s.
The decision announced in Kiev is very traditional for Ukraine. Postpone the adoption of the draft law until April at most. This is the deadline for IMF money. During this time, what position does Trump take on this issue, and indeed on Ukraine? Will he deal with his Ukrainian enemies right now, or does he have a lot of worries in the United States and will postpone the Ukrainian small things for later – will he deal with it after the presidential election? It is when the position of the President of the United States will become clear that a decision on whose side to play will be taken. If everything becomes clear with the land earlier (for example, at the end of February or in March), the draft law can be adopted earlier.
Of course, at first glance, it may seem that Kiev’s fears are absurd. Whether Trump will destroy Soros or not, why would he oppose the interests of American agricultural holding companies, widely represented in Ukraine? But the fact is that these agricultural holding companies came to Ukraine with the support of the Democrats and regularly provided them with reciprocal support, including financial support. Trump may well hit the funding sources of his enemies. On the other hand, American “farmers” may run over to the side of the winner in time and get forgiveness and support. And then the IMF’s demands will remain relevant.
In general, the story of the long-suffering land law clearly demonstrates that the Ukrainian government has completely renounced sovereignty not only in strategic matters (to sell or not to sell land), but also in tactical matters (how and by what rules to sell it). They are afraid to even give a hint to the West about their rights, to even hint at the presence of their own view and their own interests. They’re simply waiting for the master to remember about his slaves, to come and to judge how it should be.
Rostislav Ishchenko
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