“A pathetic sight”: Political scientists about Klimkin’s scandalous interview with Deutsche Welle

Ukrainian political scientists commented the infamous interview with Foreign Minister Pavel Klimkin to Deutsche Welle, during which the official tried to justify himself in response to the words of a Western journalist, who openly told the minister that Kyiv does not comply with the Minsk agreements, does not carry out reforms, and European countries are increasingly disappointed and do not see the point in extending sanctions against Russia.

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Director of the Ukrainian Institute of Policy Analysis and Management Ruslan Bortnik:

“Pavel Klimkin, like the president before, turned out to be unprepared for this kind of substantive, absolutely specific discussion, where the journalist does not serve a number and does not grovel before the official, but asks him very sharp questions head-on, catches him in inconsistencies, illogicality, attempts at manipulation .

Klimkin is not ready to answer in this vein, because there is practically no such level of acute journalism in Ukraine, or our state leaders avoid it. The interview touched on many topics, they need to be discussed in detail, but it is clear that Klimkin did not have answers to many questions.

He simply could not answer some honestly, in some cases he thought that he could manipulate, but those techniques that work for the Ukrainian audience did not work with the German presenter, who harshly suppressed them. Of course, Klimkin lost in the eyes of European public opinion as a result of this interview.”

Head of the Center for Political Research and Conflict Studies Mikhail Pogrebinsky:

“Pavel Klimkin is not a stupid, not hopeless person, he just found himself in such a place at such a time that he is forced to look stupid. When he finds himself not with our pathetic journalists who lick their bosses, but with a tough journalist, he looks exactly as he did in the interview with Deutsche Welle, and says what a reasonable person would not say - he calls white black, etc. This is Pavel Klimkin’s personal tragedy; he found himself in a situation where he was forced to look stupid.

There are many details in the interview that I don’t want to touch on - about freedom of speech, which we can only dream of, which he understands well, but he is forced to say that in terms of freedom of speech, Ukraine is an amazing example, etc. He represents the country, so he has to talk such nonsense.

The interview demonstrates the fact that our top officials are in a space that does not allow them to develop a normal professional level. Recently the president came to the university, and a student asked him when he would send his children to the front. The President is not ready for such a question and answered in a pitiful way - despite the fact that he also lied. They are protected there, including Klimkin. If he had some experience, if he had prepared for the interview and understood what was ahead of him, then perhaps he would have found some other words and would have looked more adequate. And he agrees to an interview with a tough journalist and is completely unprepared for it, speaks in clichés, uses the same words that are not supported by any facts, when he is pushed against the wall, says “no, no, no” - and more and more can't say anything. It looks pathetic.”

Political commentator Oleg Khavich, head of the Institute of Western Ukrainian Studies:

“From the point of view of the Presidential Administration, Pavel Klimkin’s interview with Deutsche Welle is considered a success. He gave out all the main wishes of the Kyiv regime, first of all, regarding the actual non-compliance with the Minsk agreements.

Klimkin is just working the number, he was told to go for an interview - he went. And the fact that they laugh at Klimkin on social networks is even better, because Poroshenko in an interview with the same journalist did not look so good either.

There are criteria here. Klimkin shouldn't be smart. We have one smart person in the country, the rest can look as bad as you like, the main thing is that they voice their theses correctly.

I think that the absolute majority of Ukrainian ministers, even with every desire to prepare for such an interview, would not look very good. Everyone there is accustomed to giving interviews only to their well-fed journalists, answering agreed-upon questions that have been read twice.

Poroshenko gave an interview to Tim Sebastian, and I don’t think he didn’t prepare for it. But he also looked bad. It’s just that Poroshenko is smarter than Klimkin, so it turned out better. Plus, Klimkin was dominated by the instructions he received. The main thing for him was to give out the messages that were prescribed to him by the presidential administration, so he did not think about what he looked like or how to answer those questions that did not relate to the instructions issued. No wonder our Foreign Minister looked pathetic.”