Time to come to Ukraine’s aid

Russian President Vladimir Putin has made clear that he’s trying to reassemble the old Soviet Union. From the standpoint of his domestic audience, that may make sense. Russian citizens need to feel good about something and their economic realities aren’t rosy. Russia’s economy is the size of Italy’s even though Russia’s population is twice the size of Italy’s and its natural resources are much larger.

Russia started its quest to create Soviet Union 2.0 in 2012 when it sent non-uniformed soldiers to seize Crimea from Ukraine. With the peninsula secure, the Kremlin turned its ambitions on eastern Ukraine, funding terrorists – which it insists on calling separatists – and giving them weapons to fight Ukrainian soldiers. A Russia-supplied missile fired from militant-controlled Ukraine shot down a Malaysian Airlines jet in 2014, killing 283. The Russians tried to use clumsy propaganda to try to pin the responsibility on Ukraine.

{mosads}Russia falsely claims that the terrorists in eastern Ukraine are a Russian-speaking minority who are oppressed by the Ukrainian government in Kiev. Not true. One of the key agenda items of the President Petro Poroshenko Bloc Solidarity Party is ensuring the rights of Russian-speakers in Ukraine.

Not content with a military assault on Ukraine, the Kremlin also is waging a propaganda campaign, which attempts to undermine democratically elected leaders. Russian satellite TV falsely labels President Poroshenko’s government a “junta.” Russia also pays political enemies to spout lies about the government. And emails from a top Kremlin aide show many Russian attempts to destabilize Ukraine, including introducing pro-Russian bills in Ukraine’s parliament.

The aim of this barrage of disinformation is to create doubt in the minds of Ukrainians about the legitimacy of their government. But most Ukrainians have faith in the good-government policies the Poroshenko Bloc Solidarity Party, which have been implemented gradually – and successfully – since the President Poroshenko was elected in 2014.

The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), established by our government to root out corruption, is popular. NABU detectives – 70 initially, with the goal of hiring up to 700 – are fearless in their pursuit of corruption.

Early last year, NABU brought corruption and embezzlement charges against parliament member Oleksandr Onyshchenko for his mismanagement of the country’s gas company. And in December, PrivatBank, Ukraine’s largest private bank, was rescued by the government after years of pillage and incompetence by bank leaders who used depositors’ money for their own gain. The government saved PrivatBank from collapse, which would have destabilized the entire economy. This move is part of our government’s ongoing war against corrupt oligarchs.

Ukraine is a mid-sized nation fighting a two-front war against a committed foe in Russia. Despite this, it has accomplished much over the past few years since the Poroshenko Bloc Solidarity Party was elected.

But Russia will not give up. And perhaps sensing that he can find favor or at least a blind eye from President Trump, Vladimir Putin has resumed his bloody war in eastern Ukraine with random shelling of civilians.

This is why we need the friendship and help of the U.S., the new Trump administration and the U.S. Congress. Ukraine mirrors the values of democracy and rule of law of the U.S., two concepts foreign to the Kremlin. Ukraine is also a Western-looking nation eager for inclusion in NATO and the European Union.

We hope the U.S. realizes that Ukraine is a key strategic partner to America and Europe. It is a democratic firewall against the expansionist policies of Putin’s Kremlin. If Ukraine falls to Russia, then who will be next? Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have reason to believe they could be, and so could Georgia and Belarus.

All of us who sit in the Kremlin’s growing shadow realize this is a crucial moment for Ukraine and our neighbors. Now is the time for the West to come to our defense.

Ukrainian Member of Parliament Serhii Berezenko is a deputy leader of the Poroshenko Bloc Solidarity Party.

The views expressed by this author are their own and are not the views of The Hill.