‘It Discredits The New Administration And Indicates Weaknesses’ – Expert On Trump’s Connections In Ukraine

Expert indicates weaknesses within Donald Trumps new administration with regards to  Ukraine and Russia. The deals are amateurish and a reflection of the past Ukraine wants to get away from.

Read More: Who Is The Person That Suggested To Lease Crimea To Russia?

A recent New York Times article revealed the fact that Ukrainian MP Andriy Artemenko delivered a proposal on lifting sanctions on Russia to former US national security advisor Michael Flynn which has caused a new wave of discussions on sanctions.
Hromadske spoke with a senior fellow Adrian Karatnycky from the Atlantic Council, on February, 20th, 2017 in Kyiv.

What is the role of deal making in politics today?
 
I think it shows an amateurish level of politics when Trump's administration is showing, business policy, foreign policy and governmental policies all mixed up together. Every defect Ukraine is trying to get away from, and these are now appearing in American politics. The simple fact that the lawyer, who is working for Trump has business relations, most probably with the Russian and Eastern Europe buyers of Trump's business assets, and through this tie some half-baked materials are delivered to the National Security Council and they are expected to be taken seriously. This shows some kind of improvisation and amateurism. It just discredits the new administration and indicates weaknesses that should be got rid of, if the US wants to rebound as a professional player in the international political arena.
 
Do you consider the plan suggested by Artemenko as some real variant of a plan of action that can be taken by Trump's administration?
 
I don’t think that a peace plan and Artemenko, can, be put together. We can combine diplomatic attempts of the Ukrainian side or people with deep knowledge of diplomacy. So it shows a level of amateurism from the side of Artemenko. He thinks "I have some contacts, I will meet some people and pass some genius plan I've created". The worst thing about it is that people who may really have great influence, see that as a half-baked idea. The President's administration hires lobbyists to find contacts, and here we have a person who accidentally gets these contacts and doesn't coordinate the transferring of information for the good of Ukraine, but plays his own game.
 
And what do you think about Artemenko referring to support from Putin's military advisor?
 
I don't know who this advisor can be, apart from Vladislav Surkov, who is unfair. I don't know how a person from the Radical Party of Oleg Liashko and a former finance donator of the Right Sector can have contacts with the main advisors of Putin.