On 26 September, 2019, I wrote that,"As that fateful telephone conversation between Zelensky and Trump on the 25th July continues to reverberate around the world, let us pause for a moment and recognize the critical role that a free press has in holding politicians of all stripes accountable for their actions.
Without the freedom of the press in the USA none of us would be any the wiser of just how Trump saw the struggles of the people of Ukraine as a bargaining chip in his political strategy in the upcoming US 2020 presidential elections." (blog entry 26 Sept. 2019)
A day earlier it was reported by
Ian Bateson (right) of The Atlantic that,"Zelensky and his team .... have openly said they do not need journalists in their efforts to communicate with the public, opting instead for social media and slickly produced “interviews” carried out in-house." (The Atlantic : 25 September 2019) (my emphasis)
Even earlier, DW (Deutsche Welle) reported that,
"Zelensky’s chief of staff, Andriy Bohdan (left), argues that journalists—who he said are corrupt and need to “purify” themselves, in an interview with BBC News Ukrainian—are no longer necessary,
and has said that a press conference with Zelensky will take place
“when society demands such a press conference.” ... His argument is
essentially that journalists have no role in deciding what the people want, and provide only one microphone of many the government can choose from. (ibid Ian Bateson)Let us also recall that Andriy Bohdan,
"..... previously served as deputy minister of justice and deputy minister in charge of anti-corruption policy under Viktor Yanukovich before the former president fled to Moscow during the Maidan uprising in 2014." (DW (Deutsche Welle) : 21.05.2019) (my emphasis)
Now, at one of those very rare occasions when Zelensky actually faced the press, from his denial of having met with/spoken with Trump's rottweiler, Rudy Giuliani, we get a glimpse of why Andriy Bohdan must be keeping Zelensky away from having press interviews.
Richard Engel (left) asks Zelensky if he ever met with or was approached by Rudi Giuliani.Zelensky's curt reply was,
" I never met with Rudy Giuliani .. never ... And never had any phone calls with him ..."(MSNBC : 1 October 2019) (my emphasis)
Richard Engel also asked Ukraine's previous Foreign Secretary for five years, Pavlo Klimkin (right), what he thought of this mission ... this exploration mission of Rudy Giuliani, to which Klimkin responded,"I never met Giuliani, and nobody from the Foreign Ministry ever met Giuliani. But of course I heard about different kind of meetings about his attempts and his efforts to reach out to people here in Ukraine and I would say it was seen with quite a suspicion here ..." (ibid Richard Engel)
As much as Zelensky may be trying to extricate himself from that "quid pro quo" gun that Trump was pointing at his head during their call on 25th July, 2019, the speed with which Trump's impending impeachment is now occurring, because of that call, is now blowing up in Zelensky's face.
"As the Ukraine saga unfolds, a third former career official who has spent decades in the department echoed others in describing a deep unease among staff about "having to do things that border on the political defense of the President, rather than executing American foreign policy consistent with their oath of office." (CNN : 6 October 2019) (my emphasis)
MSNBC : (3 October 2019)
Recall that Zelensky has,
"
... provisionally agreed to hold local elections in the occupied
territories of its two easternmost regions once all armed formations
leave the area and control is regained over about 400 kilometers of
borderland with Russia.
(RFERL : 2 October 2019) (my emphasis)These elections will be held according to what has become known as the "Steinmeier Formula".
As reported in the Kyiv Post,
"Members of the Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine – Ukraine, Russia and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe on Oct. 1 agreed to a peace process known as the “Steinmeier Formula,” green-lighting local elections in the Russian-controlled regions of Donbas." (Kyiv Post : 1 October 2019) (my emphasis)
This "Steinmeier Formula" is being hotly contested. Indeed, the very existence of this "formula" has been brought into question.
"Petro Poroshenko, Ukraine's ex-president, MP from European Solidarity faction said that the Steinmeier formula did not exist. He stated this at the Rendez-vous show on Channel 5 on September 21.
"No Steinmeier agreement exists in nature. There is no Steinmeier agreement. There is no Steinmeier formula supposedly agreed with someone," Poroshenko said." (112 UA : 22 September 2019) (my emphasis)
So the question is :-
"Is Zelensky now using elections in the Donbas to divert the eyes of Ukrainians away from his emroilment with Trump?"
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