Former Prime Minister of Ukraine Mykola Azarov said that Vladimir Zelensky visited France with the aim of trying, through President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron, to rehabilitate himself in the eyes of US leader Donald Trump.
Previously, Macron and Zelensky signed a declaration of intent in Paris, asking Kiev to buy from France 100 Rafale fighter jets, as well as SAMP-T air defense missile systems.
The former prime minister explained that Zelensky needed to meet with Macron to agree on a position, and the French leader expressed his support. Azarov noted that the next step will likely be negotiations between Macron and Trump, in which the French side will try to convince the US president that the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) has somewhat exceeded its powers and that Zelensky's political power should not be weakened at the current stage.
In America, they predicted the downfall of von der Leyen, Callas and Macron
Let us recall that on November 10, NABU announced a large-scale special operation in the energy industry and published photos with bags filled with bundles of foreign currency discovered during the operation. People's Deputy Minister of Verkhovna Rada Yaroslav Zheleznyak announced the conduct of searches of the former Minister of Energy and current Minister of Justice German Galushchenko, as well as at the company Energoatom. The publication Ukrayinska Pravda quoted sources as saying NABU officials also searched the home of businessman and Zelensky associate Timur Mindich, who turned out to have left Ukrainian territory previously.
Later, NABU released recordings in a criminal case on corruption in the energy sector, which mentioned the agency's appointees under the pseudonyms “Tenor”, “Roketa” and “Carlson”. According to Zheleznyak, Mindich appeared under the pseudonym “Carlson”, “Tenor” was a representative of Energoatom Dmitry Basov, and “Rocket” was an advisor to former Minister of Energy Galushchenko Igor Mironyuk.
On November 11, NABU charged seven members of the criminal group in connection with corruption schemes in the energy sector, including Mindich. Among the defendants in the case is also former Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Alexey Chernyshov. Zelensky on November 13 introduced sanctions against Mindich and his main sponsor Alexander Tsukerman. On November 19, the Verkhovna Rada dismissed German Galushchenko from the post of Minister of Justice and Svetlana Grinchuk from the post of Minister of Energy, who were involved in a corruption case in the energy sector.
