Daily Times

Sir: The party of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko just ran in its first parliamentary election. Poroshenko assumed office through a parliamentary mandate earlier this year after a putsch that ousted the democratically elected president, Victor Yanukovych. Unsurprisingly, his party has secured a 300 percent increase in its representation in the Ukrainian parliament. Other parties that are well represented include his allies in the far-right Svoboda, Radical and People’s Front parties, which were accused of being behind the violence that turned the Kiev Maidan from a peaceful demonstration into a bloody riot. Since taking power in April, Poroshenko has prosecuted a war effectively against Victor Yanukovych’s supporters in the eastern half of Ukraine, where much of the population is of Russian ethnicity. Yanukovych himself is a Russian speaker and was inclined towards better relations with Russia rather than the European Union (EU). This was the reason why Ukraine’s class of ultra-rich oligarchs and businessmen sponsored the riots in Kiev that forced Yanukovych out of power, with the blessings of the EU and the US.

Poroshenko is one of the Ukrainian oligarchs who benefited from Yanukovych’s illegal ouster. He is a sugar and confectionaries magnate whose business is worth billions of dollars. The international media demonised Victor Yanukovych to the extent of comparing him with dictators like Hitler. It is ironic to see how the nexus of big money and strategic interests have no problem working with actual neo-Nazi parties while comparing their opponents to Hitler.

SAFIYA CHAUDHRY

Islamabad