Zelensky wants to have a telephone tête-à-tête with Putin???

It's all over bar the shouting. Joe Biden, the nemesis of Putin and friend of Ukraine, has been formally acknowledged as the winner of the 2020 US presidential election.

Putin's Siamese twin, Donald Trump, continues to shake his tiny fists at the US electorate who voted for Joe Biden.

As reported by the BBC,

"Donald Trump has accepted a formal US transition should begin for President-elect Joe Biden to take office." (BBC : 24 November 2020) (my emphasis) 

MSNBC : 24 November 2020

 For Zelensky, Biden's win will now spur him on to act decisively in dealing with the corruption within the Constitutional Court which has abolished some anti-corruption laws to protect corrupt officials in Uraine's government.

As reported by RFERL,

"Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and the Constitutional Court have clashed over a ruling to abolish some anti-corruption laws, as hundreds of protesters gathered in the streets of Kyiv over the decision.
...
In its ruling, the court said the punishment for false information on an official's asset declaration, as envisioned by the laws, was too harsh.

But Zelenskiy said the move could jeopardize vital international economic aid and called for lawmakers to dissolve the Constitutional Court because its decisions were "worthless." (RFERL : 30 October 2020) (my emphasis)

As now reported by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NACBU),

"The NABU Director [Artem Sytnyk] (left) spoke about the negative impact of the decisions of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine on the activities of the Bureau and the risks that a decision of the CCU regarding the High Anti-Corruption Court may have.
.....
Commenting on the decision of the Constitutional Court, Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, the Member of the Parliament, emphasized the importance of renewing responsibility for submitting false data to declarations and stopping the blocking of anti-corruption actions using the judiciary. “If this is not done till the end of the year, we will receive serious consequences: indulgence for undeclared income and serious complications of communication with European partners,” the Yaroslav Yurchyshyn said." (NACBU : 20 November 2020) (my emphasis)

Added to which, as an added impetus for Zelensky to act decisively in boldly confronting Putin, UNIAN reports that,

"The latest meeting of the Trilateral Contact Group on Donbas settlement was the toughest one, says Serhiy Harmash, one of Ukraine's delegates to the Group. "They even got the ever so patient, diplomatic [Leonid] Kravchuk (right) mad!" Harmash noted.

He noted that the representatives of the occupied areas of Donbas (ORDLO) are not members of the TCG, and therefore it is impossible to consider at the Minsk negotiations any proposals they submit, including  [t]heir so-called settlement plan." (UNIAN : 26 November 2020) (my emphasis)

UNIAN also reports that,

"Head of the Ukrainian delegation to the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) on Donbas Leonid Kravchuk has called on the Russian Federation to politically take charge of the fulfillment of the agreements reached by the Normandy Four leaders (Ukraine, Germany, France, Russia) at the Paris summit in December 2019." (UNIAN : 26 November 2020) (my emphasis)

Perhaps signs of Zelensky's state of panic lies in the fact that he  now     wishes to have a telephone  tête-à-tête with Putin.

Unfortunately for him, notwithstanding that "Putin's Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov says the telephone conversation between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Putin, "can be easily coordinated if necessary."(UNIAN: 25 November 2020), Putin himself seems somewhat reluctant to confirm that such telephone conversations will take place.

Zelensky's belief that he can, somehow, reason with Putin, is his political Achilles heel. 

Like Trump, when confronted with failure, Putin lashes out and blames others for his failures. 

As reported by Daria Litvinova (right),

• Russia’s health care system, vast yet underfunded, has been under significant strains in recent weeks, as the pandemic surges again and daily infections and virus death regularly break records.

• A partial six-week coronavirus lockdown in March only added to long-brewing public frustrations over Russia's already weakened economy. 

• Soon after that, Putin delegated the powers to impose virus-related restrictions to regional governors. Critics saw the move as an effort to inoculate himself from any more fallout over the pandemic." (Chron : 22 November 2020) (my emphasis)

And Zelensky wants to have a telephone  tête-à-tête with Putin???

 

(to be continued)