Editor’s Note: This feature separates Ukraine’s friends from its enemies. The Order of Yaroslav the Wise has been given since 1995 for distinguished service to the nation. It is named after the Kyivan Rus leader from 1019-1054, when the medieval empire reached its zenith. The Order of Lenin was the highest decoration bestowed by the Soviet Union, whose demise Russian President Vladimir Putin mourns. It is named after Vladimir Lenin, whose corpse still rots on the Kremlin’s Red Square, 100 years after the October Revolution he led.
Ukraine’s Friend of the Week: Emmanuel Macron
French President Emmanuel Macron was very much in Ukrainians’ bad books just a few weeks ago. The French leader attended the soccer World Cup final in Moscow, and was pictured, drenched by heavy rain, next to Russian dictator Vladimir Putin (who had someone hold an umbrella over himself, but not Macron.)
Macron could perhaps be excused for attending the World Cup final in Moscow on July 15, as France had previously won the competition only once, in 1998, when they were the hosts.
But the French leader had also turned up for France’s semi-final match with Belgium in St. Petersburg on July 10, needlessly lending legitimacy to Putin’s neo-fascist police state even as Ukraine’s soldiers were facing continued attacks from Russian-led forces in the Donbas. In hosting world leaders at the World Cup, Putin wanted, and got, the kind of respectability that Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime in Germany got by hosting the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.
Ukrainians, and all those who understand the true nature of the Kremlin regime, were naturally disgusted by Macron’s attendance of the World Cup. But he redeemed himself somewhat in comments he made about Putin in an interview with Swedish television broadcast on Sept. 2.
“Putin’s dream is the dismantling of the European Union,” Macron said, adding that Russia does not share the respect for human rights of the rest of the continent.
Macron is thus Ukraine’s Friend of the Week and a winner of the Order of Yaroslav the Wise for articulating clearly one of Putin’s main goals – one that should be foremost in the minds of all EU leaders when they consider their relations with the Putin regime.
This cannot be said too many times: The reason that war has returned to Europe is that Putin had wanted to include Ukraine in his Eurasian Union political/economic project –a rival to the EU. Ukrainians refused, revolted against their pro-Russian leadership, and installed a government that would instead move the country back towards the civilized world and possible EU membership.
Putin reacted savagely, attacking Ukraine with his military in the hope of dismembering the country. He would do the same with Europe if he had enough forces, and NATO were not standing in his way.
But this does not mean that Putin is not still attacking the EU – not with tanks, artillery and mercenaries, but with subterfuge. He has, according to Western intelligence agencies, funded extremist political parties in the West on both the far-right and far-left of the political spectrum. His propaganda channels RT and Sputnik, which masquerade as legitimate news media, attempt to influence and inflame public opinion – they are currently particularly active in Germany, fanning the flames of prejudice against immigrants and Syrian war refugees.
Most seriously, Putin has attempted to influence elections in democratic countries, in France, Germany and the United States, and probably in other countries as well.
While a probe is ongoing into the extent and effect of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election under Special Counsel Robert Mueller, evidence has emerged that the Kremlin may also have sponsored the campaign in the United Kingdom to leave the EU. Unfortunately, there is no similar institution of special counsel in the UK, so the true extent of Kremlin interference may never be known.
However, Brexit, as the process of the UK leaving the EU is known, is fully in line with Putin’s goal of weakening and possibly dismantling the EU. While leaving the EU will probably have an extremely damaging effect on the UK economy, and according to the latest opinion polls may even lead to breakup of the UK (the Kremlin also strongly supported the “Yes” campaign in the 2014 Scottish independence referendum), the EU would also be badly weakened by Brexit.
Macron can be forgiven his disgraceful decision to attend the World Cup in Russia if he continues to regularly warn Europe of the danger it faces from the Putin regime in the Kremlin. Putin may already have helped knock one of the biggest countries in Europe out of the EU. It won’t be long before he fixes his sights on another target.
Ukraine’s Foe of the Week: Dmitry Trapeznikov
The assassination of Oleksandr Zakharchenko, the leader of the Kremlin’s proxy authorities in the Russian-occupied part of Ukraine’s Donetsk Oblast, was newsworthy but not entirely unexpected.
Zakharchenko was killed on Aug. 31 by a shaped explosive charge hidden in a chandelier in a Donetsk restaurant, according to unconfirmed reports.
Zakharchenko was installed by the Kremlin in 2014 as the leader of the Russian-occupied part of Donetsk Oblast to bring a Ukrainian face to the Russian occupation – the previous political and military leaders were practically all Russian citizens. And his assassination brings to the fore another Ukrainian collaborator, Dmitry Trapeznikov.
Trapeznikov, Ukraine’s Foe of the Week and a winner of the Order of Lenin, has apparently taken over as the leader of the Russian occupation authorities in Donetsk Oblast. Born in Krasnodar, Russia, in 1981, Trapeznikov came to live in Ukraine as a one-year-old. He is linked to Ukraine’s richest man, the oligarch Rinat Akhmetov, having worked at Akhmetov’s football club FC Shakhtar from 2001 to 2005. He then worked in business and subsequently became a local politician.
Trapeznikov was next in the line of succession after Zakharchenko, having held the post of deputy prime minister in Russia’s Donetsk occupation authority. However, it is difficult to predict how long he will remain as leader.
That’s because Russian and Ukrainian warlords and local Kremlin collaborators have frequently met fiery ends since Russia launched its war on Ukraine in the Donbas in 2014.
For instance, the war-criminal commanders of two Donetsk war bands, Arseniy “Motorola” Pavlov, of the Sparta Battalion, and Mikhail “Givi” Tolstykh of the Somalia Battalion, were assassinated (a bomb for Motorola, an incendiary rocket for Givi) in 2016, and 2017, respectively. About half a dozen other such people have also been killed.
While the Russian proxy authorities always blame Ukraine for these deaths (and always without providing any evidence) it is doubtful Ukrainian assassination teams could operate so successfully behind enemy lines for so long.
It is much more likely that the deaths are the product of disagreements between members of the Russian proxy administrations, which are, essentially, heavily armed criminal gangs. It is also possible that in some cases the Kremlin intervenes directly to rid itself of a “problem” figure.
Trapeznikov was reputed to have been involved in power struggles between the various factions of the gang now running Donetsk. He no doubt has enemies much closer to hand than the Ukrainian armed forces. There is now likely to be a further struggle for power among the various factions in Russian-occupied Donetsk, and there is a high probability that Trapeznikov will not remain in his present position for long.
It is to be hoped, however, that he does not meet the same barbaric fate as Zakharchenko, Motorola, Givi, and all the others. It would be best if he could be captured, and face a fair trial in a Ukrainian court. That would be the most appropriate answer to Kremlin crimes and lawlessness, and show that Ukraine has left Russia’s orbit for good and is determined to enforce the rule of law in a just and democratic society.
