Few countries are likely to benefit more from Joe Biden’s presidency than Ukraine. Biden knows the country very well. He was responsible for US policy towards Ukraine as vice president. He is committed to both her defense from Russia and internal reforms in the country, writes Atlantic Council…
The author recalled that as Vice President, Biden visited Ukraine at least five times. As a result of this intense interaction, he also has excellent staff who know Ukraine very well, in particular Dr. Michael Carpenter, who will most likely become his key collaborator in Ukraine.
Ukraine played a large, albeit unintended, role in Biden’s victory over Donald Trump. Trump’s impeachment was based on his “perfect” phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyyy in the summer of 2019. It is outrageous that Trump and his private lawyer Rudolph Giuliani tried to use Russian disinformation received in Ukraine from suspects in cooperation with Russian special services to slander Biden. how Andrey Derkach…
Trump fired honest American officials who supported Ukraine, in particular, Ambassador Maria Yovanovitch and Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman. Other US officials had little choice but to remain silent. Trump favored a relationship with Putin.
Despite these dire circumstances, Ukraine continued to enjoy strong bipartisan support in Washington throughout the Trump presidency. Even people loyal to Trump, such as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, supported Ukraine.
Aslund writes that Biden will strengthen this bipartisan support for Ukraine and make it effective. The United States has not had a permanent ambassador to Ukraine since May 2019, when Trump fired Yovanovitch. The country will now have a senior ambassador again, and his policies will be more proactive than ever because Ukraine is in many ways critical to US interests.
Fortunately, Trump has failed to stop or even reduce US military support for Ukraine. Biden will maintain and possibly increase this support, while at the same time strengthening his credibility, which will give the Kremlin food for thought. Attempts by pro-Russian forces inside Ukraine to promote anti-American and anti-Western narratives will accordingly lose credibility.
US measures against the Kremlin suffered from inconsistency during the Trump presidency. Trump himself wanted to end, or at least ease the sanctions, while the rest of Washington wanted to tighten them. This created confusion and undermined their effectiveness. Biden, who was one of the original sponsors of the current US sanctions regime against Russia, can be expected to bring new clarity and strengthen existing measures.
It is inevitable that the Biden administration will ensure that it plays an important role in Ukraine’s negotiations with Russia over the ongoing war in eastern Ukraine. This means that the likelihood of serious consideration by Russia of the withdrawal of troops from eastern Ukraine has suddenly increased. The Kremlin knows and respects Biden, who has cultivated a reputation as a tough opponent of Putin.
As vice president, Biden fought hard for the rule of law in Ukraine. He must do it even more decisively, as president. This is bad news for many different forces in modern Ukraine that are trying to reverse anti-corruption initiatives or block judicial reform.
For example, eleven judges of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine involved in attempts to disrupt anti-corruption activities should be reconsidered. Otherwise, they may fall under US sanctions, including a visa ban and an asset freeze. The Global Magnitsky Act of 2016 was specifically designed with such characters in mind.
Many other Ukrainians now have every reason to rethink their actions. Putin’s closest ally in Ukraine, Viktor Medvedchuk, has been sanctioned by the United States since March 2014 in connection with the Russian occupation of Crimea. Why, then, was he allowed leading the parliamentary faction and control three large Ukrainian TV channels? Biden is likely to ask this question.
It is reported that the FBI has been investigating the Ukrainian oligarch Igor Kolomoisky since 2016 in connection with the alleged money laundering in Cleveland… Rumors suggest Trump has blocked U.S. prosecutions. Kolomoisky is another obvious target for the Magnitsky Act. Meanwhile, the convoluted case of the US Justice Department against the oligarch Dmitry Firtash is likely to lead, finally, to his extradition to the United States.
These American criminal cases could help clean up Ukraine’s politics. They could also give President Zelenskyy a new lease on life as he struggles to live up to the scores as a fresh face to transform Ukraine’s political culture.
With the support of Biden, who supports a strong anti-corruption program in Ukraine, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau and the rest of the country’s anti-corruption architecture will be strengthened. The long-awaited reform of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) is likely to finally take place, and the judicial reform will be resumed, Aslund said.
As a result, Ukraine, the author continues, will come closer to the true rule of law. This will have a significant positive impact on the country’s prosperity and, at the same time, pave the way for further Euro-Atlantic integration.
Ukraine’s cooperation with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will acquire a new impetus. Indeed, Ukraine could receive such a level of financial support from the IMF, the European Union, and the World Bank, which at the moment seems unlikely.
A combination of measures to strengthen the rule of law and expand international financing will also attract foreign direct investment. Needless to say, all of these measures will improve the prospects for greater economic growth.
Following the announcement of Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 U.S. presidential election, President Zelenskyyy became one of the first foreign political leaders to congratulate him… He acted wisely. Ukraine, like Zelenskyyy personally, has a lot to gain from the Biden presidency, the author sums up.
On the evening of November 7, a number of media announced the victory of Joe Biden, who, together with Pennsylvania, received 273 electoral votes.
