This is how Ukraine’s former president of Norway will hit Russia – VG
BEIRUT (VG) Ukraine’s former president, Petro Poroshenko, wants Norway to increase oil production so that Russia will struggle economically. He says this in an exclusive interview with VG.
A man dressed in black appears on the screen. It is the former president of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko.
Behind him is an exploded apartment block, the soot spreads up the walls. Crushed concrete and twisted rebar are located on the ground in the Obolonskyi district of Kyiv. It has now been five weeks since the Russian invasion began.
“I hear you hear the sound behind me of the Russian artillery and rocket launchers constantly bombing our Ukrainian capital,” he told VG.
– This is Putin’s style when he fights. A catastrophic war.
He ruled the country for five years, in the important years from 2014, after Ukraine overthrew the pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych, and until 2019 when Zelensky won the election.
He negotiated several times with Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war in eastern Ukraine, which broke out in 2014. The war was almost forgotten when Putin sent some 150,000 Russian troops across Ukraine’s borders on February 24 this year. Suddenly the whole country was at war.
Now he calls Putin one war criminal and a crazy man.
– We have managed to destroy Putin’s plans to divide Ukraine in two.
Since Poroshenko lost the 2019 election, he has been in political trouble.
He is under investigation for treason after allegations that one of his companies has been involved in the sale and purchase of coal from the areas in the east that were controlled by the Russian-backed rebels. Poroshenko is one of Ukraine’s richest men, and has become rich by producing chocolate.
Poroshenko himself has denied the allegations, saying Zelensky is trying to discredit him.
But now that the war has broken out, the two politicians have agreed on their message of getting weapons to Ukraine, and ending the war as soon as possible.
And where Zelensky spoke in the Storting on Wednesday and asked for more weapons, Poroshenko, for his part, has conducted video interviews in recent weeks with CNN and the BBC, among others, often surrounded by soldiers in the background. In the eight minutes VG was assigned to the interview, we were asked questions.
He has been on the front lines of diplomacy to try to persuade Western leaders to impose a no-fly zone, send more weapons to Ukraine and provide security guarantees. But former President Poroshenko has himself taken to arms.
– I want to thank Norway for this solidarity, because they have never given weapons to a non-NATO country, and we greatly appreciate it, and especially anti-tank weapons that help our armed forces to stop Russian tanks.
He continues to thank Norway for accepting refugees, and for Norway’s donation NOK 200 million to Ukrainian teachers and health professionals.
– But what do you need from the world community, and from Norway?
– The short answer: weapons.
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Oil and gas
Poroshenko also has a clear message for Norway, and that is to increase oil and gas production to harm Russia’s economy.
– Every day Russia receives one million euros, and this million euros every day will be enough to build 300 tanks or 200 cruise missiles that kill people in Ukraine.
He wants Norway to increase oil and gas production “to replace Russia’s energy resources and stop financing Russia”.
– I also want Norway to introduce sanctions that prevent Russian vessels from visiting Norwegian ports.
– And please keep the door of EU membership open for Ukraine. We pay a very high price for this future perspective. And that price is sealed with Ukrainian blood.
Four million Ukrainians have fled their homeland, and more than six million people have been internally displaced.