Ukrainian President-elect Petro Poroshenko’s campaign promised to help Ukrainians “live in a new way.”
In speeches and advertisements, he has assured the nation that once he takes the oath of office on June 7, his administration will chart a new path for Ukraine in the spirit of the recent EuroMaidan Revolution.
But Poroshenko’s cagey past and Ukraine’s present crisis suggest that Ukrainians may be fated to live in much the same way they have since the country gained independence in 1991 following the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Poroshenko is the consummate political pragmatist, which likely means he will try to balance Kyiv’s interests in Brussels with those in Moscow. Disappointment may lie ahead for the EuroMaidan protesters who braved bitter cold and gunfire, and chanted “Ukraine is Europe.
Age: 48
Place of birth: Bolhrad, Odesa Oblast
Net worth: $1.3 billion
Business holdings: Roshen group, Channel 5 TV, Leninska Kuznya
Previous government positions: Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council (2005), Minister of Foreign Affairs (2009-2010), Minister of Trade and Economic Development (2012), People’s Deputy of Ukraine (1998-2004, 2006-2007, 2012-2014), board member of the National Bank of Ukraine, (1999-2012)
Political affiliation: Independent
Alma mater: Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv (graduated with a degree in economics in 1989)
Wife: Maryna (b. 1962), cardiologist
Children: Olexiy (b. 1985), Yevheniya (b. 2000), Oleksandra (b. 2000), Mykhailo (b. 2001)
However, Poroshenko says he’s the man to end the Kremlin’s war against Ukraine and move the nation closer to Europe at last. He was aggressive in his first post-election press conference, vowing to crush the Russian-backed separatism in eastern Ukraine in a matter of “hours, not months.”
But his political record is actually one of maneuvering between East and West, a tactic that has defined Ukraine’s foreign relations since independence.
According to Igor Burakovskiy, professor of economics at Kyiv National University, Poroshenko’s experience as a businessman and politician may work to his advantage internationally.
His greater challenge might come at home in pushing through democratic reforms, reducing corruption and weakening the oligarchs’ grip on the nation.
“To influence the country economically, Poroshenko needs to influence it politically. A lot will depend on how the central government is structured,” Burakovskiy says.
Although he has consistently advocated a pro-European course for Ukraine, he faced criticism as a foreign minister for pursuing closer ties with Russia, where he has business interests. Poroshenko’s chocolate company and his main business Roshen employs 25,000 people and has two factories in Russia, where 40 percent of his revenue is generated.
Poroshenko opposed Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s energy diversification plans to reduce dependence on Russian oil and natural gas. This dependence has allowed the Kremlin to dictate Ukraine’s political agenda. Ukraine and Russia remain deeply intertwined in other ways, with nearly a quarter of Ukraine’s exports headed for the Russian market.
Although Poroshenko has stressed healthy ties with Russia, he is unlikely to be a puppet of the Kremlin – as disgraced former President Viktor Yanukovych was considered to be. After fleeing Ukraine on Feb. 22, Yanukovych is living as a fugitive in Russia, wanted on mass murder and corruption charges.
On March 12, amid heckling from a pro-Russian crowd, Poroshenko visited Crimea in protest of Russia’s annexation attempts. The appearance convinced many of his commitment to Ukrainian nationhood.
The Kremlin has attempted to punish Poroshenko for his pro-Europe stance.
Citing “toxic impurities” in Roshen products, it banned the import of Poroshenko’s chocolate in August. Since then Moscow has frozen $53 million of the billionaire’s assets in Russian banks and seized his chocolate factory in Lipetsk. The annexation of Crimea also brought a shipyard Poroshenko runs under Russian control.
The U.S. State Department has had its eye on Poroshenko, with more than 100 references to him in diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks. In one cable, diplomats noted his calls for “increased European integration and more pragmatic relations with Russia” when he was foreign minister in 2009.
Citing a Ukrainian lawmaker, U.S. diplomats suggested Poroshenko could “engage constructively with Moscow and would not needlessly provoke the Kremlin.”
Another WikiLeaks document shows Poroshenko telling U.S. Ambassador John F. Tefft in 2010 that he hoped to push Yanukovych “to a more pro-Europe, pro-Euro-Atlantic orientation.”
Petro Poroshenko and Barack Obama in Warsaw, Poland on June 4.
Poroshenko also gained popularity by emerging as an early supporter of the EuroMaidan Revolution. His Channel 5 TV station was active in covering both the 2004 and 2014 revolutions and has since grwon in popularity as a TV news source. He made frequent appearances during protest rallies on Independence Square, but kept some distance from the three main opposition leaders in parliament then – Oleh Tiahnybok, Vitali Klitschko, and Arseniy Yatsenyuk. He vowed to rebuild parts of Kyiv with his own money, but has not followed through on all of his pledges.
Underpinning the “Chocolate King’s” successful presidential campaign, in which he got 54 percent of the vote on May 25, was the promise that he will relinquish all his business interests, except Channel 5.
Burakovskiy is skeptical. “He has an opportunity to be written into the history books as the first president to give up a profitable business.,” he says.
His first big test will come with Russia.
He vows to take Russia to an international court for its illegal annexation of Crimea in March.
In an interview with the Washington Post, Poroshenko said that he knows Russian President Vladimir Putin “quite well” and is ready to compromise with Russia on all except Crimea. At the same time, he indicated he is ready to sign a far-ranging free-trade agreement with the EU soon after assuming the presidency.
The complicated situation leaves Ukraine where it is today: yearning for a European future while unable to shake its Russian past.
Kyiv Post staff writers Isaac Webb and Matthew Luxmoore can be reached at [email protected] and [email protected].
