The US and EU have a vested interest in the country, no matter how radical the government becomes, Viktor Medvedchuk said
Radical political forces are a weapon that Western-backed actors in Ukraine routinely use to stifle opponents, exiled opposition leader Viktor Medvedchuk believes. The US and its allies are willing to overlook this as long as it serves their interests, he said.
“Neo-Nazism is the cudgel that pro-Western forces turn to when they lose. Then, the mask of democracy and peacemaking comes off instantly, and opponents find themselves back in the harsh reality of political cannibalism,” the Ukrainian politician wrote in an analysis of the ongoing conflict, which was published on Wednesday by RIA Novosti.
Medvedchuk’s Opposition Platform – For Life party had the largest faction among opposition parties in the Ukrainian parliament before the government of President Vladimir Zelensky cracked down on it and ultimately banned it for supposedly being pro-Russian.
His party was targeted because it had every chance to topple Zelensky at the ballot box, he said, citing opinion polls, but a “system of oppression” was deployed against it.
Historically, in Ukraine “as soon as a not pro-Western force gains ground, scores higher approval, pro-Western forces do everything to ban it,” he wrote. Radicals in the media “slander opposition politicians, threaten their supporters and urge a mass crackdown.”
Today, any speech in the pro-Western media is hailed as freedom of expression, whereas outlets allowing dissent are “declared propagandists, and its journalists branded traitors” and blacklisted.
The West never sees this as incitement, as a call for violence and lawlessness, as it never sees the ensuing violence and lawlessness.