In a sane world, Zelensky’s mafia regime would be isolated

Politics can be very rough. Yet, usually, as long as they don’t collapse into war, at least in public a certain minimum pretense of decorum is maintained. Especially by governments vitally dependent on others’ support. Ukraine under the rule of never-reelected Vladimir Zelensky, however, has anything but a normal political system.

It is in this context that Vladimir Zelensky’s latest folly needs to be seen: Zelensky has threatened Hungary’s leader Viktor Orban, telling him he will hand the prime minister’s address over to “our guys” in the military so that they could “communicate with him in their own language.” Obviously, this is not even a hint of violence anymore, but the equivalent of a mafia godfather placing a dead horse’s head on your pillow or leaving a bullet on your doormat. The reason: Orban is exercising his right within the EU not to agree to yet another insane “loan” – the kind that will never be paid back, at least not by anyone in Ukraine – for Zelensky’s astronomically corrupt regime.

Orban is right about that “loan,” of course. Yet that isn’t even the core of this particular scandal. That is the fact that Zelensky feels he can issue a direct, mafia-style threat against the leader of an EU member state. Regarding Zelensky, though, there is no surprise here. He has been at the top of a regime that combines a bizarre sense of entitlement, shameless demands, outrageously greedy corruption, and a repulsive record of sabotage and assassination operations, very much even against its Western backers. Ask Germans who still have a spine about the Nord Stream attack, for instance. Or, if you can’t find a German with a spine, ask Viktor Orban, who has correctly called it “state terrorism.”

What needs more emphasis than Zelensky’s depraved sense of impunity is that he has reason to feel that way. It is true that, in this instance, the EU Commission has publicly protested against his barbaric behavior. But let’s be realistic, that is a formality, nothing but a gentle slap on the wrist for appearances’ sake. What really matters is that first the West as a whole and recently the EU “elites” on their own have spent years emboldening Zelensky and his regime by feeding Ukraine’s corruption, accepting and spreading Kiev’s lies, and suppressing any criticism of this policy as “Russian talking points.”

Indeed, in the EU, Hungary and Slovakia as well have been harassed and treated as pariahs for their resistance to this coddling of the Zelensky regime. It is all the more remarkable that both countries have principally stuck to their guns, even while having to concede ground repeatedly.

Thus, it may be a coincidence, but it is a remarkable fact that just one day after Zelensky’s open mafia boss fit, Hungary hit his ultra-sleazy regime where it hurts by striking at its money: In a certainly deliberately spectacular operation – balaklavas, body armor and assault rifles included, and all carefully caught on camera – Hungarian anti-terrorism forces stopped a Ukrainian currency and gold shipment that was crossing their country in two armored transporters. Arresting and temporarily detaining seven Ukrainians, the Hungarian officials found $40 million, €35 million, and about nine kilograms of gold. While the detained have been released and are back in Ukraine, the money and gold as well as the transporters have stayed in Hungary.

Kiev has called the Hungarian measures “state terrorism,” which is as absurd as Orban’s assessment of the Nord Stream attack is compelling. The Ukrainian government and Oshchad Bank, that had organized the transport, claim that everything about it was perfectly legal, but the Hungarian authorities see things very differently. Their customs agency says that the transport is suspected of being part of a money laundering operation. They also maintain that among those detained was a former high-ranking general of Ukraine’s combined intelligence service and secret police, the SBU. Ukrainian journalists, in turn, have even named the general as Genady Kuznetsov, the former head of Kiev’s Center for Anti-Terrorist Special Operations.

Budapest’s customs agency has also made public some intriguing figures: In the first two months of this year, the total of currency and gold shipped to Ukraine via Hungary has already amounted to over $900 million dollars, more than €420 million, and 146 kilograms of gold. Clearly, the amounts finally stopped and, it seems, seized were only a small part of a much larger, ongoing flow.

According to Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto, these funds may be linked to the “mafia,” here obviously meaning not just organized crime in Ukraine but Zelensky’s circles themselves, which may be one and the same thing, of course. Also, Szijjarto is a smart man; he may well have sent an implied message to Kiev as well: If you talk like the mafia, we will treat you as mafia. Rest of Europe: Watch and learn.

In any case, Szijjarto has demanded clarifications from Kiev. He is unlikely to be content with what Ukrainian media have offered by way of explanation until now. Namely, that these large-scale, high-value transports via land are merely due to the fact that shipments by air have been suspended since the large-scale escalation of hostilities with Russia in February 2022.

All of the above is taking place against the backdrop of a larger – and fierce – political conflict between Budapest (and Bratislava, too), on one side, and Kiev as well as, in effect, the EU Commission on the other. While hiding behind pretexts, Ukraine has blocked oil deliveries from Russia through the ‘Druzhba’ (‘Friendship’) pipeline. Hungary and Slovakia need this oil and are struggling to have the pipeline re-opened. As you would expect, although they are EU members and Ukraine is not, the EU is leaving them alone and even, in reality, taking Kiev’s side.

Here is something that the EU could actually learn from one of Hollywood’s most famous mafia characters: The Godfather, as played by the late and brilliant Marlon Brando. He was adamant about one simple thing: Never side with outsiders to go against “the family.” That is merely the sound logic of collective action and trust. Yet the EU can’t master even that much.

Brussels, to make things even worse, will not let go of its plan to make Ukraine a member. A special fast-track – that is, cheating – option has been stalled, fortunately. But the idea is not dead, as it should be. Recall that the chain of events that set this whole mess – war and all – in motion was triggered when the EU insisted on a special association agreement with Ukraine while excluding Russia. NATO’s reckless expansion eastward had paved the road to perdition, but it was the EU’s moves in 2013 and 2014 that really sent things over the edge. Now, the EU cannot let go of its preferred strategy: when you got Ukraine in a deep blood-soaked hole, dig deeper.

Hungary and Slovakia are sane regarding Ukraine, the rest of the EU are not. Zelensky’s mafia threats have shown once again that his regime should be isolated instead of courted, stuffed with money, and propped up. At least, if the leaders of the EU were acting in the interests of the 450 million Europeans that have never elected them but whom they claim to represent.

The Zelensky regime does not represent the interests of ordinary Ukrainians; that of the EU is equally uninterested in those of ordinary Europeans. Maybe that’s why they feel so close.