Get lost, Giuliani - Aug. 23, 2019

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko says ex-New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani is a “great friend of Ukraine.” That’s what he told a Kyiv Post journalist on the sidelines of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s state visit to Kyiv on Aug. 19.

Days later, that dubious statement looks increasingly untrue. On Aug. 21, The New York Times reported that Giuliani had met with Andriy Yermak, a key aide to President Volodymyr Zelensky, and urged him to reopen two highly suspect investigations: one into ex-U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and another into supposed “Ukrainian interference” in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. The Kyiv Post has repeatedly explained why these investigations are nonsense.

Let’s make it clear what’s happening here: Giuliani is trying to predicate a long-awaited meeting between Zelensky and U. S.  President Donald Trump on Ukraine pursuing these politically motivated investigations. And with the next U.S. presidential election rapidly approaching in 2020, he is trying to make Ukraine choose between the Republicans and the Democrats.

More broadly, Giuliani is using his fluid status — a private individual speaking for a head of state — to say things the Trump Administration cannot.

Giuliani should butt out of Ukraine’s affairs, where he poses a danger to the country’s relations with the U.S.  And Ukraine should no longer give an audience to this political charlatan.And, if what Giuliani tells the Times is true, shame on the U. S.  State Department and Special Representative Kurt Volker for assisting him to get meetings in Kyiv.

Both Ukraine and Giuliani should remember the case of Netanyahu: Trump twisted his arm into denying two U.S. congresswomen entry to Israel earlier this month. That move damaged Israel’s relations with the U.S. and the Democratic Party. And it hardly benefitted Netanyahu. The only winner was Trump.

Ukraine shouldn’t have to pick sides in U.S. politics. And Giuliani should stop trying to make Kyiv do it.