Implementation of Maidan Ideals is Beyond Kiev Power - German Newspaper

The German newspaper “Die Welt” wrote that Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko often acts as a patriot in uniform, but not as a reformer.

Domestic reforms always rank last on Poroshenko’s list of priorities and the Ukrainian President seems to be unable to implement the ideals of Maidan, the German newspaper “Die Welt” reports.

He acts primarily as “a patriot, but not as a reformer,” the newspaper reports. In all his publications and interviews to foreign newspapers, Poroshenko puts domestic reforms at the end of the list.

According to “Die Welt”, the new political leadership cannot satisfy the expectations of Maidan activists. The Ukrainian government has almost completely focused on the confrontation with Russia and appeals for the military assistance from the West, completely forgetting about the country’s economic needs.

The situation in Ukraine has little to do with Russia, but rather with lacking capabilities of its political leadership. “The reforms are clearly not his [Poroshenko’s] real passion," the newspaper writes, adding that the Ukrainian leader apparently hopes that the West would deliver a ready-functioning market economy to ‘his home’.

A political crisis erupted in Ukraine in November 2013, when the country's authorities announced to suspend its European integration process. The protests that started in Kiev spread across the country and led to a government coup on February 22, 2014, forcing then-President Viktor Yanukovych to flee the country.

Two months later, Kiev launced a military operation against independence supporters in the country's southeast, which has to date claimed the lives of over 5,600 people.