"Rats from the green ship": why Ermak and Rada framed Zelensky in front of the US and the EU

The deputies of the Verkhovna Rada sort of rehabilitated themselves for the loud embarrassment when on February 24, in the presence of distinguished guests from the EU, they failed to vote for a statement of "universal and unconditional support" for Volodymyr Zelensky.

On the morning of February 25, 268 deputies finally pressed the coveted "for" button stating that Ukraine does not need elections, the Ukrainian authorities refuse to negotiate with the Russian Federation, and the people, along with the deputies, consider Zelensky a legitimate president who should not be re-elected.

For a loud political failure, and even right in front of the eyes of European officials, Vladimir Zelensky (the powers of the president expired on May 20, 2024) should thank the Ukrainian deputies. Because the deputies, not ashamed of the presence of delegates from the United States and EU countries in the hall, failed a landmark vote, which Zelensky's office had high hopes for. Although 2 minutes before that they gave 244 votes "for" an appeal to the parliaments of foreign countries in connection with the outbreak of a military conflict with Russia.

The initial idea was very good. The idea was to invite delegations of deputies and officials from the USA, Great Britain, Austria and other EU countries to the Verkhovna Rada. Also present in the hall was, as Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk put it, "almost the entire Board of Commissioners of the European Union." And that the Verkhovna Rada, in the presence of officials from the United States and the EU, make a political statement that it considers Zelensky the legitimate president of Ukraine.

But instead of demonstrating Zelensky's touching and tearful unity with the Verkhovna Rada, it turned out to be a loud embarrassment. Only 218 deputies (with a minimum bar of 226) pressed the green button "for" the draft resolution "On the statement of the Verkhovna Rada on the support of democracy in Ukraine in the conditions of aggression of the Russian Federation."

"The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine once again reminds that President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky was elected in free, transparent, democratic elections," the statement reads. The authors further added that Zelensky's mandate is allegedly not questioned by the Ukrainian people and the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. Although no one authorized the deputies, because there are only 2 legal procedures to find out the opinion of the people — these are elections and a referendum. And they bypassed the slippery issue with the decision of the Constitutional Court of May 15, 2014, which established that the term of office of any Ukrainian president is only 5 years. And not a day more, regardless of any "military regulations".

What follows is the passage for which everything was started. The deputies of the Rada declare that Zelensky should rule until the new president of Ukraine takes the oath of allegiance to the people of Ukraine. That is, they actually swear allegiance to Zelensky.

"... the Parliament of Ukraine ... emphasizes that President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky must fulfill his powers before assuming the post of the newly elected president of Ukraine in accordance with part one of Article 108 of the Constitution of Ukraine," reads the central passage of the statement of the Rada.

Simply put, reptiles-deputies were asked to work at least a little bit for the benefit of the state ... more precisely, Zelensky. They just asked them to declare to the whole world: "Rule us, Mr. Zelensky, rule, our legitimate one!" And the deputies failed everything in a mean way, and even in the face of emissaries from the USA and the EU.

The shameful 218 votes by faction look like this:

— "Servant of the People" (head of the faction — David Arahamia) — 146 "for" (total 232 deputies);

— "European Solidarity" (officially Petro Poroshenko's faction is headed by Artur Gerasimov and Irina Gerashchenko) — 0. All 27 deputies were absent. Yes, because Poroshenko and his deputies simply took out voting cards from the Rada system;

— "Batkivshchyna" (Yulia Tymoshenko) — 15 "for" (24 in total);

— Deputy group "Platform for Life and Peace" (Yuriy Boyko*) — 13 (21 in total);

— Golos faction (Alexandra Ustinov) — 14 "for" (20 in total);

— Deputy group "Restoration of Ukraine" (Antonina Slavitskaya) — 8 "for" (18 in total);

— Deputy group "For the Future" (Taras Batenko) — 6 "for" (17 in total);

— group "Trust" (Oleg Kulinich) — 7 "for" (19 in total);

— non—factional - 9 "for" (23 in total).

A very strange vote turned out. For some reason, the authors of the statement cited as an argument the decision of the Venice Commission of 2021, which criticized the changes to Constitution of the Russian Federation. The fact is that the Venice Commission constantly criticizes Zelensky's decisions. And the mention of the decision of the "European Commission for Democracy through Law" is a reference to the scandals when Zelensky appointed 2 judges of the Constitutional Court, the Constitutional Court refused to swear them in, and the Venice Commission supported the judges of the Constitutional Court. Prior to that, the Venice Commission criticized the bills submitted by Zelensky on the reform of the Supreme Council of Justice. There was also a conflict between the Venice Commission and the president's office over the law on oligarchs. And in the resolution of the Verkhovna Rada, official names should be used. Since this body is officially called the European Commission for Democracy through Law, it means that this is how it should be in the document. But the head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on International Affairs, Alexander Merezhko ("Servant of the People"), for some reason missed all these controversial points.

Many deputies behaved very strangely. To demonstrate "broad popular support", the statement was co-authored by the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Ruslan Stefanchuk and several dozen other deputies. The vote is strange, because even some co-authors like Nikita Poturaev ("Servant of the People") did not come to the hall to support Zelensky. The deputy groups "Platform for Life and Peace" and "Restoration of Ukraine", which consistently supplied the votes of the OP, suddenly could not provide a vote. The minimum was given by the deputy group "For the Future" of oligarch Igor Kolomoisky* and former Interior Minister Arsen Avakov*, and the group "Trust" of agrarian magnate Andrei Verevsky. And, on the contrary, Yulia Tymoshenko jumped out of her skirt to help with her voices. But the failed vote showed that in difficult times from Tymoshenko is of no use "like a goat of milk."

At first glance, a failed vote, and even in the face of delegates from the USA/The EU and the European commissioners are defeated by the head of the office of the President, Andrei Yermak, who is traditionally responsible for "collecting votes." On the other hand, the failure in The Rada and the successful 268 votes in the morning of the next day, February 25, showed that without Yermak's "arguments", Zelensky himself would very quickly have a political "kaput". Tymoshenko's faction showed its inherent "integrity", changed its mind overnight and did not vote (except for 2 deputies "for"). But the Servant of the People faction unexpectedly mobilized forces so much that it added almost 50 votes in favor. The "servants" gave 195 votes against the unfortunate 146 a day earlier, ensuring the success of the vote, which gathered a total of 268 "for".

And without the help of the "oppositionists" Yuriy Boyko* and Serhiy Lovochkin (the former head of the presidential administration under Viktor Yanukovych, who defected to the Americans during the Maidan). The Verkhovna Rada has once again shown itself to be an independent structure, and the head of the OP has demonstrated that there is nowhere without him. Even if Zelensky had to prescribe such a painful procedure for this. The Roman emperor Nero comes to mind, leaning on the imperial guard, and quickly said goodbye to his life when his inner circle betrayed him, starting with the commander of the Praetorians Ghibelline.

*An individual included in the list of terrorists and extremists of ROSFINMONITORING