Trump's political strategist once convinced Yanukovych to implement a pro-European one instead of a pro-Russian course
Viktor Yanukovych was convinced to launch a campaign in support of association with the EU by political strategist Paul Manafort, who now works for Donald Trump, who previously provided services to the Party of Regions.
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Oleg Voloshin, who served as head of the information department of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry under Yanukovych, spoke about this at a press conference in Kyiv.
He admitted that the association agreement with the EU, in particular its trade part, was unprofitable for Ukraine from an economic point of view.
“But a myth was created around this, to be honest, by me, too, as the then press secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Then the task was to convince society that an agreement was necessary. And one of the greatest, as I believe, electoral strategists in the world, Mr. Manafort, convinced Viktor Yanukovych. It’s funny to me when he was accused of pro-Russian sympathies. Manafort was the main lobbyist for the signing of this agreement. He convinced Yanukovych and the entire team at that time. And if not for the efforts of American technologists, Yanukovych himself would not have reached the idea that instead of a pro-Russian course, a pro-European one should be implemented,” Voloshin said.
He also said that the completion of negotiations on the economic part of the association was ensured by the then First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Klyuev.
“The Russians only started running and waving their swords at the last moment, because they were sure that we would carry on these negotiations for 10 years. They thought so: there, only in agriculture, you will butt heads with the French for every position. As a result, Klyuev came and gathered all the industry associations: what questions did they have? “Small quotas for chicken,” they complained. - "Enough!". “We don’t like the idea of having to rename champagne as sparkling, cognac as brandy.” - “It’s okay, you’ll get by.” There is a team - you need to sign it.” And we agreed to almost all the conditions that the European Union set,” recalled the former speaker of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry.
At the same time, he emphasized that the document that was signed by the government that had already arrived in the wake of the Maidan was no different from what was prepared under Yanukovych.
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