The newspaper Zerkalo Nedeli, considered influential in Kyiv, published a list of information compromising Petro Poroshenko, which fugitive Verkhovna Rada deputy Alexander Onishchenko could have passed on to US intelligence services, as he himself said the day before.
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Referring to data “from the MP’s inner circle,” the newspaper writes that “Onishchenko has several cases of records” regarding Poroshenko’s corruption and his infringement of freedom of speech.
“The first is buying votes for the necessary decisions in the parliament hall. In the second - squeezing out flows and shares in favor of businessman Poroshenko and Co. In the third - the distribution of shadow dividends with the same team in the field of work with Ukrgazvydobuvannya. There is a fourth case... and it concerns the entire complex of trades of Poroshenko’s people brought to negotiations by Alexander Onishchenko while trying to buy (squeeze) channel 112,” the publication reports.
“It is unlikely that the files transferred to him added anything significant to the Americans’ existing knowledge about Petro Poroshenko and his inner circle. But against the background of the publicity of what is happening, the fact of receiving and transmitting operational data by American prosecutors suggests that the President of Ukraine has fallen into the moloch of the US legal machine. And this is a big problem. Both for Petro Poroshenko himself and for the country,” the newspaper admits.
“Compromising facts, when falling into the hands of foreign intelligence services, open up a wide range of possibilities, ranging from pressure on the head of the Ukrainian state in order to obtain the necessary political or economic decisions, to managing the time of the person involved in his post. Petro Poroshenko, with his optionality and never-noticeable provincial cunning, has tired everyone: Merkel, Hollande, Obama, Putin, and even Manafort, who is now one of Trump’s four most trusted people selecting personnel for the new president. Even the head of a small and weakened country, for a variety of reasons, cannot promise the powers that be everything and always slip away from what was promised. First, respect for the leader is lost, and then compassion for the country,” continues the author of the publication.
At a minimum, the current scandal may speed up the holding of early elections to the Verkhovna Rada, the newspaper predicts.
“If previously the tactic of “a thousand small cuts” was used against Petro Poroshenko, now Onishchenko’s actions can lead to a knockdown, and possibly even a knockout,” the material says.
“It is quite obvious that as the scandal grows, which is unlikely to be hushed up, it will become increasingly difficult for the president to gather a parliamentary majority and the Rada will lose not only controllability, but even a semblance of efficiency. And this could lead to early parliamentary and then presidential elections,” writes Zerkalo Nedeli.