Recording in Ukraine reveals US pressures to change government, prosecutors and blackmail with IMF loans
International
Ukrainian MP Andrei Derkach released the recordings of a telephone conversation that former country’s President Petró Poroshenko had in 2016 with then-US Vice President Joe Biden. The recording revealed the influence Washington had on the Kiev authorities to change fiscal authorities by blackmailing loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that could hit Biden’s presidential career.
According to the denouncing deputy, the Ukrainian president would have committed high treason when discussing with these American politicians what steps to take to replace the Kiev attorney general, how to change the government and how to meet the IMF’s requirements.
The audios involve former President of Ukraine Piotr Poroshenko; former Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden; and the former US Secretary of State, John Kerry, reported RT.
In the audio, Joe Biden, current Democratic Party candidate for the 2020 presidential elections, discussed with Petró Poroshenko many political decisions that should be made in Ukraine. One of his demands was the dismissal of the then Ukrainian Attorney General Viktor Shokin and the appointment in his place of Yuri Lutsenko. Otherwise, Biden promised to condition the delivery of a millionaire loan to Ukraine by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Poroshenko would have promised to grant his request and also to reform the Ukrainian Attorney General’s Office in accordance with the agreements reached with the US by asking Washington to take over a second appointment, the former Ukrainian president practically organized a foreign incursion into the affairs of this body, as journalist Vitali Didenko writes in his article for the Russian portal Ukraina.ru.
“We not only voted for the new Attorney General, but also (…) to amend the law. Incidentally, we introduced the new structure of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine into this law, including the General Inspectorate, as we had agreed with you. Then I urgently invited Lutsenko and told him that he should contact the US embassy. I will be happy to know that you have a specific person, either from Washington or from another country, “said Poroshenko in that recording, referring to the lawyer, according to Sputnik.
The confirmation of this unusual American pressure was given by Biden himself, in January 2018, when he presumed that the Ukrainian Attorney General would be kicked out thanks to his efforts, confessing that Washington threatened Kiev with not giving him credit guarantees for 1,000 million dollars if he refused.
USA and its pressures:
John Kerry reportedly started the process during a call on December 3, 2015, communicating to Poroshenko that he would like to have the attorney replacement issue resolved.
“I know that the Vice President is very concerned about this. So it would be nice if we could find some solution before Vice President Biden arrives. If possible, you need to take the necessary steps to move in this direction, ”Kerry suggested.
Two months later, the ex President of Ukraine gave “good news” to Joe Biden.
“The day before yesterday I met with the Attorney General of Ukraine, Victor Shokin. Even though we have neither allegations of corruption nor evidence of his illegal actions, I specifically asked him to resign. According to the results of our meeting, despite the support in Parliament, he promised to present his resignation […]. And an hour ago he brought his resignation letter, ”Poroshenko informed Biden. “This is the second step to fulfill the obligations that I have assumed,” concludes the former president, who expressed “great,” reports RT.
This conversation would have taken place on February 18, 2016, while in April of that year Víktor Shokin left his post.
Why was a former Ukrainian prosecutor so dangerous to the US?
Biden made it clear that Ukraine should eliminate “the damage” that was caused by Victor Shokin when he was attorney general. In this way the American politician referred to the investigation of the Burisma case, which involves his son, Hunter Biden.
Burisma is a Ukrainian company that explores, produces and sells hydrocarbons. After the violent change of power in 2014, its owner, Mykola Zlochevsky, fled to London fearing that the new authorities would open a criminal case against him. Thanks to an investigation by Shokin, the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office had enough evidence to imprison him and confiscate his assets. However, by that time Hunter Biden (son of Joe Biden) became part of the Burisma board of directors among other people.
Biden Jr.’s company, Rosemont Seneca Partners, had received $ 3.1 million between early 2014 and late 2015 for the protection of the Ukrainian fugitive, revealed an investigation by journalist John Solomon of The Hill newspaper.
The Ukrainian anti-corruption Prosecutor’s Office is not currently investigating the case of Biden’s son.
Shokin’s inquiries threatened to inflict a serious blow to Joe Biden’s political reputation. However, the Democratic politician managed to escape unscathed from this scandal, demanding the dismissal of the Ukrainian attorney general. To achieve his goal, Biden allegedly blackmailed Ukrainian leaders by ensuring that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) would not offer a $ 1 billion loan to Ukraine.
As a result of these goings-on, Lutsenko ended up burying Shokin’s investigation.
Intervention of the Democratic Party
In 2018, it seemed that Biden could no longer be in danger. But the situation changed in the spring of 2019, because after the publication of The Hill, the scandal related to the alleged political corruption of the Biden family in Ukraine gained strength again. At the same time, the politics of both countries was shaken by another scandal dubbed Ukrainegate: the alleged pressure that Donald Trump had exerted on the Ukrainian authorities to investigate Joe Biden.
Once Volodimir Zelenski was elected President of Ukraine, Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudolph Giuliani, arrived in Kiev to try to establish cooperation with the ruling elite and gather material that would incriminate Biden. In response, the Democratic Party counterattacked by initiating a political trial against Trump. Ultimately, Democrats failed, because the Republican majority in the Senate supported the White House tenant, Didenko recalls.
In turn, the former Ukrainian Attorney General Shokin began to actively cooperate with Trump’s representatives by sharing the information he had on the Burisma case. Soon after, someone tried to poison him during a vacation in Greece. Ultimately, the Democrats managed to significantly hamper the investigation launched against Biden. They did so with t
help of the first attorney general appointed by Zelenski, Ruslán Riaboshapka, who in November 2019 stated that the Burisma case no longer existed.
“The Burisma case is clear evidence of the systematic looting of the country by the oligarchic groups, which periodically organize wars among themselves to redistribute their property. This is a clear demonstration of the hypocrisy of the US, which speaks to its devotion to democracy, openness, and transparency, while US officials encourage corruption and abuse in other states that are overly dependent on Washington. ” summarizes the medium.
In March 2020, the current Ukrainian President, Volodímir Zelenski, dismissed Riaboshapka as attorney general for lack of confidence. The document notes that during his more than six months in office, Ryaboshapka did not undertake an investigation into the illegal actions of senior Ukrainian government officials.
