Derkach responds to U.S. sanctions with defiance, more accusations

Andriy Derkach, the Ukrainian MP targeted last week
with U.S. sanctions for alleged elections interference, gave a Sept. 16 press
conference in which he reiterated his most scandalous claims against then-U.S.
Vice President Joe Biden, who is now the Democratic Party nominee for
president. In particular, Derkach claimed to have more evidence that Burisma
Holdings, the natural gas extraction firm in which Biden’s son Hunter sat on
the board of directors, served to launder millions of dollars to firms
controlled by the Bidens. The USD 6 mln bribe alleged to have been offered to
anti-corruption officials to close a criminal case against Mykola Zlochevsky,
the founder of natural gas extraction firm Burisma Holding, came from millions
of dollars in funds misappropriated from the budgets of numerous state thermal
power plants, Derkach alleged.

 

Derkach also alleged evidence of U.S. involvement in
“colossal, corrupt transactions in purchases of coal and natural gas,”
resulting in inflated energy costs for Ukrainian households. He presented more
alleged evidence of what he deemed as Ukraine’s “foreign administration” by the
U.S. under the presidency of Petro Poroshenko. Derkach reiterated his claim
that he gained hid evidence from anonymous journalists and witnesses to the
alleged corruption (as opposed to Russian intelligence and spying agencies).

 

Derkach’s associate at the press conference, the
scandalous former senior prosecutor Kostiantyn Kulyk, alleged that hundreds of
thousands of dollars in U.S. technical aid were misappropriated, which was
otherwise provided for the reform of requiring prosecutors to undergo
recertification. Moreover, he alleged the recertification process was aimed at
removing prosecutors “not loyal to Ukraine’s Western partners.” Derkach urged
those dismissed to use his alleged evidence to challenge their dismissals in
court. (Kulyk is among those dismissed for failing the recertification
process.)

 

Recall, the US. Treasury Department announced on Sept.
10 that it placed under U.S. sanctions Derkach for “cultivating false and
unsubstantiated narratives” that it alleged were aimed at interfering in the
U.S. presidential elections. Between May and July 2020, Derkach released edited
audio recordings and other unsupported information with the intent to discredit
U.S. officials, the announcement said. “Andrii Derkach and other Russian agents
employ manipulation and deceit to attempt to influence elections in the U.S.
and elsewhere around the world. The U.S. will continue to use all the tools at
its disposal to counter these Russian disinformation campaigns and uphold the
integrity of our election system,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in
the press release. The same sanctions, including blocks on property and
business interaction with U.S. citizens, were applied to three Russian
nationals directing an Internet troll and disinformation factory.

 

Zenon Zawada: In his
series of press conferences exposing the alleged corruption of former President
Poroshenko, the Biden family and others (including U.S. and Ukrainian energy
officials), Derkach has offered large volumes of alleged evidence (including
more than 80 videos on the NABU Leaks YouTube channel) that require independent
verification. Without getting involved in the tedious task of trying to figure
out what is likely to be true and false, several conclusions can be drawn from
Derkach’s latest press conference, which he defiantly arranged after U.S.
sanctions were imposed against him.

 

Derkach is fulfilling a specific political agenda with
strategic goals, without which he would not have exposed himself to the
embarrassment and consequences of U.S. sanctions. We are confident that this
agenda comes from the Putin regime in Moscow, and not from any source in
Ukraine (because Ukrainian power brokers rarely have any agenda beyond petty
self-enrichment). So in this sense, U.S. Treasury officials are correct to
identify Derkach as a Russian agent (for which there is ample evidence for in his biography).

 

We have identified several strategic geopolitical
goals that the Kremlin is accomplishing with Derkach’s infowars. The primary
goal is discrediting the U.S. government in the eyes of Ukrainians as a source
of corruption just as bad as Russia, if not worse. That way, should the
Zelensky administration collapse (which we view as realistic) and a
Putin-aligned regime seizes power, the resistance from an exhausted,
demoralized Ukrainian public will be minimal.

 

The Kremlin is also continuing its work in
discrediting former President Poroshenko in the eyes of the public. During his
presidency, Poroshenko transformed himself as Ukraine’s main advocate and
political leader for Euro-Atlantic integration. Yet at the same time, he earned
himself the distinction of being Ukraine’s most distrusted politician from his
many corruption scandals. In producing a steady stream of new corruption claims
against Poroshenko in the media, Derkach is fulfilling the Kremlin’s goal of
discrediting Euro-Atlantic integration (for which Poroshenko is the figurehead
among the public).

 

Another goal is providing media fodder for political
attacks by U.S. President Trump and the Republican Party against Joe Biden
during his election campaign for president. While Trump and the Republicans
can’t be described as being aligned or even friendly with the Putin regime, the
Kremlin sees Trump’s re-election as preferable to Biden’s election. And while
the Republican Party (under Trump’s leadership) has made China its primary
foreign enemy, Putin’s Russia remains the main foreign target of the Democratic
Party.

 

In all, Derkach is doing effective work in
fulfilling the Kremlin’s geopolitical goals in Ukraine and the U.S. Even if his
recordings are determined to be edited and manipulated, he will have
accomplished the minimal goal of reaffirming the skepticism that millions of
Ukrainians have of the West and that millions of Americans have of Joe Biden.
In the worse case, he has prompted thousands of new people to share in that
skepticism.