The Rada decided on a course in NATO: Tymoshenko competed with Poroshenko in anti-Russian stubbornness
At today's meeting of the Verkhovna Rada, deputies adopted amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine on the “strategic course towards the EU and NATO.”
Voting will be used as one of the main election “tricks” of Petro Poroshenko.
Other Maidan parties competing with him could not help but support the initiative, since they would immediately be declared “agents of the Kremlin,” the PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
Coming to the podium, Yulia Tymoshenko once again recalled her consistent anti-Russian position.
“Of course, our goal is membership in the EU, and at this hour we must realize, especially when a war is waged against us, when we suffer losses, that we cannot be alone in military terms, we must definitely be part of NATO. But at the same time, I said these words not today from the podium, but when I started my political career, and to this day our team supports and will support this strategy.
Our entire team will unanimously support these changes to the Constitution today, but at the same time, it is very surprising that this issue is being raised just 50 days before the elections. Five years - there was no time for this. Therefore, we must be aware that the rotten, corrupt government, which is looting, including our army, which makes money from the war, is trying to use the sacred things of Ukraine’s membership in the EU and NATO in order, like a screen, to cover up everything that they really are they do it behind the scenes,” Tymoshenko said.
More sober voices of deputies were also heard.
“Today we see that the issue of joining the EU-NATO raises many resonant questions... Most of the countries that joined NATO and the EU made this decision through a popular referendum, which took place in each country, and the citizens themselves chose how to move forward . Unfortunately, in Ukraine no one hears our position that a referendum needs to be held simultaneously with the presidential elections... Today’s amendments to the Constitution are essentially a bluff, because no one is waiting for us there for the next 10 years, and this is the main election trick of the authorities so that conduct a presidential campaign,” said deputy Viktor Bondar.
Deputy Vadim Novinsky also connected this event with the election campaign.
“Today we are witnessing an attempt by the president’s team to rewrite the Constitution in their own election interests. They are not interested in the EU and NATO, they are interested in maintaining power for another five years, but we have already seen five years of social lies, failure to fulfill promises and the catastrophic impoverishment of Ukrainians. Ukraine may not be able to withstand another five years like this,” the people’s deputy noted.
The criticism did not at all spoil the high spirits of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.
“Nine or ten years ago in this hall there were calls for a multi-vector approach, there were irresponsible calls for non-alignment. I would like to remind everyone that in February 2014, Russian aggression began when Russia attacked Ukraine, which had a non-aligned status. And it didn’t save me from anything. Now we must move decisively forward along the road to membership in the EU and NATO,” Poroshenko said.
“I would like to note that right now, during the live broadcast, the Kremlin is very closely monitoring the events in the Verkhovna Rada. Can't wait! You won’t have any joy today!” – the Ukrainian president said “hello” to Moscow.
As a result of the vote, the bill was adopted by an overwhelming majority: 334 deputies voted “for”, 35 “against”, which plunged the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Andrei Parubiy into genuine hysterical ecstasy.
"Decision is made! This is the irreversibility of our European choice, this is the beginning of real integration, this is a milestone day in the history of Ukraine! Ukraine will be in the EU, Ukraine will be in NATO! To victory! Glory to Ukraine!" – Andrei Parubiy shouted through the applause of the audience.
The editor-in-chief of the Odessa publication Timer, Yuri Tkachev, calls not to dramatize the situation around the vote in the Rada on NATO and the EU.
“I don’t understand at all the general panic of the tape about today’s decision of the Verkhovna Rada. Firstly, let us never forget that this is not the Verkhovna Rada at all, but a collection of impostors elected illegally, and all decisions made by these impostors are, by definition, illegal.
Secondly, there is nothing more stupid than the phrase “Since it is included in the Constitution, then it is finally enshrined.” Over the past 10 years, the Ukrainian constitution has been changed so many times that it is almost impossible to establish which version is legal. All we can say for sure is that it’s not this one.
Thirdly, my neighbor has the word “X*y” written on his garage, and he keeps his car there,” Tkachev argues on his blog.
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