Putin’s husband in Ukraine is making a profit even as the war continues

Photographer: Alexei Druzhinin / TASS / Getty Images

Kremlin-friendly political forces are making headway in Ukraine, and their leader says the time is right for further gains.

The advance may surprise those who saw how protesters saw the country – a common battleground between Russia and the West since communism collapsed – back on par with Europe just six years ago. The revolution prompted President Vladimir Putin to annex his neighbor’s Crimea and stir up war on the border of the two former allies that continues today.

But with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy increasingly bogged down in scrap metal against the dark political system he was chosen to exile, there is a window to tap into growing disillusionment. The popularity of the Opposition Platform – For Life party, which supports stronger ties with Russia, is the highest since the protesters overthrew Kremlin-backed Viktor Yanukovych in 2014 as it consolidates support among pro-Russian voters.

Russian revival

Support for pro-Kremlin political forces peaks in six years

Source: Razumkov Center; margin of error 2,3 percentage points

“There is no confidence in Zelenskiy or his party,” said Viktor Medvedchuk, the chairman of Opposition Platform – For Life. Putin, godfather of Medvedchuk’s daughter, has supported him as his punt man in Ukraine for years

“I openly say that we must go the same way with Russia, that we must do everything we can to restore relations,” the 66-year-old tycoon said in an interview. “People are increasingly believing that.”

Medvedchuk, there has been sanctioned by the US for helping undermine the sovereignty of Ukraine, targeting the Donbas conflict that killed more than 13,000 people. Zelenskiy has failed to deliver on the promises of peace that helped the then political novice to a landslide election victory in 2019, he said.

Read more: Ukraine’s leader is broken by the system he promised to crush

Opposition Platform – For Life supports constitutional changes that grant the breakaway region more autonomy that will further Ukraine’s goals to integrate with the European Union and NATO – a move that would likely be suicide for Zelenskiy.

Despite rising poll numbers and the With the collapse of the president’s popularity that once surpassed Putin’s in Russia, Medvedchuk’s party controls only about 10% of parliamentary seats and has little chance of ever being incorporated into a national government. This endeavor was made more difficult by the loss of Crimea, where the inhabitants largely leaned towards Russia.

“There is potential for further increases in support, but it is limited to 25% of voters – those homesick for the Soviet Union and those who would like to live in Russia,” said Andriy Bychenko, head of the sociology department. from the Razumkov Center. in Kiev.

Election ‘grounds’

The party can still be useful to the Kremlin. Indeed, it is working with oligarchs in parliament to oppose reform-minded legislation necessary to maintain a $ 5 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund.