‘Classic Example Of Anti-Midas’

Putin is in for a disappointment.

Ukraine has officially begun negotiations on joining the EU, which was hard to imagine just a few years ago. Ukrainian society is now record-breakingly pro-European and advocates joining NATO.

How did these transformations in consciousness become possible? Charter97.org talked about this and more with Ukrainian politician, former Verkhovna Rada deputy Boryslav Bereza:

— You know, I wouldn't exaggerate that it was impossible to imagine this a few years ago. In 2019, the Ukrainian parliament voted to include a vector for European integration and NATO in the Constitution. Even then, more than half of Ukrainians wanted to be members of the Alliance, and more than two-thirds wanted to be members of the European Union.

The changes have been dramatic, but this has become a reality recently. Because of the war, we were given, let's say, certain discounts in the requirements. But these are discounts only at the initial stage, then we will have difficult negotiations with each of the countries, obtaining consent for membership and a process that some countries still cannot go through, for example, the countries of the former Yugoslavia. But there are reasons for that.

We still have everything ahead of us, and I hope that we will be able to become members of the European Union quite quickly, like Estonia did in seven years. I would really like this, but I understand for sure that this will not happen during the war.

— Everything that Putin undertakes has the opposite effect. The latest examples: a trip to the DPRK — South Korea is going to give weapons to Kyiv, Vietnam — the next day Hanoi declares a strategic alliance with the USA. An attempt to deprive Ukraine of a European future is the maximum turn of the Ukrainian people to the West. Something does not fit with the image of a great strategist they are trying to portray Putin as in the Russian Federation.

— The animals that inhabit Russia do not care what and where is happening. They were told that “Putin is great”, which means that for them he is “great”. For them, Putin is actually the viceroy of God and the representative of the highest power on Earth. No more, no less.

At the same time, in Ukraine they very clearly see that it was Putin who made a lot of efforts so that Ukrainians realized the value of their state and became full-fledged citizens of their country. And having said goodbye to the “sovok”, Ukrainians are progressing even more actively towards full-fledged citizens of an independent state.

Until recently, Kharkiv and Odesa were quite Russophile cities. And today, it is probably hard to imagine who would hate Russia more than Odesa and Kharkiv. In these cities, Russian speech is practically inaudible precisely because many simply switch to Ukrainian on principle, this is antagonism to the imposition of the Russian language by Putin. He did a lot so that Ukraine switched to the Ukrainian language for the most part.

In addition, Ukrainians began to value their country much more. Until recently, many agreed that Russians and Ukrainians are one people, because they were told about it from the screens of Russian channels. Thanks to Putin, most people in Ukraine have stopped watching Russian television, and the idea that “we are brothers” causes only laughter and irritation, nothing else.

That is why Putin is a classic example of such an anti-Midas. If Midas touched anything, and it turned into gold, then Putin touches anything — it turns into sh**.

— What is Putin hoping for in this whole situation? Ukraine's European future has already been determined. What will he strive for now? Some kind of freeze on the war? Will there be an attempt to split the West? What to expect?

— Putin will do everything at the same time. He will really try to split the West through his agents of influence, through the parties that he finances, politicians who are ready to cooperate with him. Putin will try to weaken support for Ukraine, will try to raise Euro-pessimistic sentiments again and will promote the message that Ukraine is actually hindering Europe, that Europe does not need it and it is easier to return everything to how it was, like, Ukrainians should generally be with Russia.

Putin will promote all the messages that we have already heard before, there will be nothing new. He will try to destroy the infrastructure in Ukraine, he will try to attack all centers of energy generation, thermal generation, hydro generation. For what? To create maximum discomfort for Ukrainians. So there is nothing new here.

But Putin will also face disappointment from not getting the result he wants, because, let's say, Europe will not abandon us, we already see this. Our partners do not want, even with a change of power, for Russian narratives to win, they will realize the danger of Russia. But Ukrainians will not give up on European integration, no matter what Putin does. Therefore, Ukraine is lost to him.

Moreover, the hatred of Ukrainians towards Russia and Russians will be further cultivated, the more Putin drops bombs and missiles on Ukraine.

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