“I warned you about Putin. He is never the one who starts negotiating »- Corriere.it

from our reporter

bebsradshi (Ukraine) You Europeans only now understand who Putin is: he told you this years ago.

Was he the one who sabotaged the Baltic Sea pipeline?

“Russia is a member of the United Nations Security Council, but with what it brings together we must talk about the Council of Insecurity. I have to tell you frankly, though: This episode shows how much you’re paying for your “Schroderization” for your energy policy.

In the sense of Schroeder, the former German chancellor?

“He, Merkel, Germany. Overshadowing common European interests, it created an energy dependence to develop a privileged relationship with Russia. Sarkozy and Berlusconi did the same in another way. I said it: There is a lot of risk in dealing with Russia in this way. And now you can see: for more than twenty years, Putin has created a system of international corruption.”

He said it right. Because Putin’s petting was one of the first to literally try it on his skin. The year was 2004: the Ukrainian presidential candidate, the leader of the Orange Revolution (“Moscow says we brought the Nazis to power next? And which one? Zelensky, the prime minister, the leader of the opposition, they are all Jews! …”), poisoned with dioxin soup. Long before Navalny and all the opponents of Putin: “I know who did it. And that the poison came from a Russian factory. When I met Putin, he always promised me that he would cooperate with the investigation. After 18 years, I’m still waiting … I’m a Cossack, it’s hard to die. But to do justice all you need is a star coupling, or a regime change.” Retired in a forest outside Kyiv, at the age of 68, Yushchenko, a former president out of politics. His face is still full of poison, he runs a home museum of Ukrainian traditions and supports Zelensky. His personal resistance, he says, is made of honey: “I keep bees. I designed the honeycomb panels to send it forward: pure energy for our soldiers! However, they bombed the factory that they made for me….”

I was also the first leader to suffer gas blackmail from Moscow. what will you do today?

It is very difficult to correct the mistakes of the weak Western energy policies adopted in the last fifteen years. Russia now controls 40% of the market. The important thing for Europeans is to have a firm stance and to leave behind the policies of the Germans or the French.”

Putin is using gas in an unscrupulous manner.

“He has created his own market and, despite the war, is earning what he earned a year ago. On the other hand, Europe has not created an alternative market, and it will have a very difficult year ahead. There are Arab, American and South American resources, but the time factor is crucial. He plays for Putin.

I have always been a convinced supporter of Europe. Today it seems even more bitter…

It was not good to see European leaders become employees of the Kremlin. We talked about ideals, in the Maidan Revolution there were more European flags than Europe… I remember when I went to the NATO summit in Bucharest in 2008. We had to discuss our membership and our membership in Georgia. We had the support of 41% of the population, when Spain was accepted with 17%. But Merkel said no. A few weeks later, Putin began saying that Ukraine was a fictitious country. Three months later, what happened? Russia invaded Georgia. I said, ‘Guess who’s going to be next…’ No one answered. On the other hand, during the war, the Nord Stream gas pipeline began to connect Russia and Europe. And after a few years, when the conquest of Crimea and Donbass had already begun, while Europeans and Americans did nothing, Nord Stream 2 is here too ».

You know him well: is he still Putin himself?

“And here he also came to this house. I’ve always found him formally cute, and I don’t remember one of his rude gestures. Call me secretly Viktorovich. But one thing shocked me: If there was anything to negotiate, it was always up to me to take the initiative, he never did. I explained the Ukrainian situation for half an hour, I only fumbled with scraps of paper he took out of his pocket. I think it has changed a lot in these 20 years. Especially after 2014. He saw that the status of Europe was complete and he showed himself to what you all see today.”

Will he use the bomb?

“Like 90% of Ukrainians, I also thought that he would never conquer us. Now I understand that he is stupid. And anything is possible ».

What happens to the referendum?

“It has no legal effect. Today it goes to the Duma for resale as a result, for internal use. But he knows very well that in war, this is just a small pause. The Christmas gift he gave on his seventieth birthday.”