Alleged recording of Poroshenko-Putin released by alleged Russian agent Derkach

The latest alleged recording of confidential phone
calls between then-President Poroshenko and a world leader was released on July
9, this time allegedly involving Russian President Putin. The alleged
recordings indicate Poroshenko colluding with Putin against Western attempts at
peace. “The peacekeeping project doesn’t draw much enthusiasm from our Western
partners. They believe this is a Russian trap for me,” Poroshenko told Putin,
who responds by saying Poroshenko has already told him. Poroshenko then laughs
about his Foreign Minister Klimkin arriving in Berlin for a “maximally
nonconstructive” meeting with diplomats, during which “they didn’t even get to
peacekeepers, to be frank.”

 

Later in the recording, Poroshenko pleads with Putin,
saying “if you would be so kind,” to send a representative to the Trilateral
Contact Group peace talks, to which Putin responds “Probably. Why not?”
Poroshenko said they should develop a scenario for Minsk “because I believe we
shouldn’t leave Minsk empty-handed. It’s desired that there already were
concreate positions there, which will lead to an effective result.”

 

Towards the conversation’s end, Poroshenko seems to
confide and seek consolation in Putin, who asks, “How are things domestically?
Are you handling everything?” Poroshenko responds, “I am handling them. The
further on, the easier it is because a chain of command is being built. Because
when I arrived, there was no chain of command. It simply wasn’t there. But
political stabilization, of course, in the conditions of economic problems are
not so simple to rebuild, to put it lightly.”

 

Then Poroshenko adds laughingly, “But I can tell you
that a long line of those seeking the presidential post hasn’t been observed.”
To which Putin responds, “It’s unfortunate you think that way. Ukraine is an
interesting and beautiful country.” To which Poroshenko says, “Well, yes. I am
proud of this. At least, I am proud that my ratings of support and trust aren’t
falling.” To which Putin says, “Well, thank God. This is very important. For
people to trust you. That’s most important.”

 

The conversation is alleged to have occurred on Apr.
30, 2015, two months after the signing of the Minsk II Accords that ended the
large-scale warfare and initiated the current period of low-level fighting.
Andriy Derkach, the MP who has been releasing a series of alleged embarrassing
recordings in recent months, presented these latest leaks in his third such
press conference on July 9. The recordings are posted on the NABU Leaks YouTube
channel.

 

At all three press conferences this year, Derkach
claimed to have gained his recordings from investigative journalists and said
he will transfer them to law enforcement authorities. Derkach has been a member
of Ukraine’s parliament since 1998, having joined the Russian-oriented Party of
Regions for the 2006 elections. He opposed the EuroMaidan protest of 2013-2014.
He currently serves as an independent MP, representing a single-mandate
district in the Sumy region. His father served in the Sovet KGB and led the
Security Service of Ukraine for about three years. He graduated the Academy of
the Federal Security Service of Russia (successor to the KGB) in 1993. These
ties indicate how Andriy Derkach has been able to leak numerous Soviet and
Ukrainian documents throughout his career.

 

As its response, the European Solidarity party led by
Poroshenko said the recordings are falsified information released by the Kremlin
in its campaign to whitewash Putin’s image, remove from Russia its
responsibility for the military aggression and shifted it onto Ukraine. “Fakes
have been one of the consistent instruments in Russia’s hybrid war against
Ukraine, and against Poroshenko personally, for six years. From the crucified
boy in Sloviansk to Poroshenko’s (alleged) murder of his brother. The
‘dicussion’ with Putin, released by the graduate of the KGB school, is from
this series. It is just as much a grossly edited and thoroughly compiled
falsification as the discussion with Biden,” the statement said.

 

Zenon Zawada: If these
recordings are true, they confirm the suspicions held by millions of Ukrainians
that Poroshenko was playing all sides in the conflict against each other, while
pursuing his self-interest above not only the national interest, but the global
interest of restraining Putin.

 

If the recordings are false, they throw into question
the validity of all those released by Andriy Derkach, including several dozen conversations
between Poroshenko and Joe Biden that are alleged to reveal the Ukrainian
president giving Biden control over his key personnel decisions and allowing
Biden to promote his corrupt business dealings in Ukraine, as part of alleged
quid pro quo arrangements.

 

Derkach is not a reliable source, considering his
likely ties to Russian intelligence. Moreover, the Western mainstream media are
ignoring his recordings, partly because they think they are fake, but also
because they would be extremely embarrassing to Biden and the entire Democrat
party if they are true.

 

So we lean towards the view that all the Derkach
recordings are a Russian psy-op involving the release of edited recordings with
numerous goals, including further discrediting the West in the eyes of the
Ukrainian public. We believe they will be effective in further demoralizing the
Ukrainian public (which has already been demoralized to a large extent, as
demonstrated by its overwhelming vote for President Zelensky last year).

 

A demoralized public will be useful should
pro-Russian forces take power in certain regions in the October elections, or
in even in Kyiv eventually. Only the fiercest pro-Western liberals and
nationalists will resist them, and their numbers are relatively few compared to
a majority that simply wants peace and some sense of normalcy.