Ukrainian president calls on country to hold back ‘fifth column’
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has called on the country to prevent the formation of a “fifth column” in the local elections planned to take place later this year in the fall. “We must hold back the pro-Moscow political forces,” Poroshenko said at a press conference today, where he discussed the results of his first year in office.
In his speech, Poroshenko also addressed the “unprecedentedly high” threat of a Russian invasion of Ukraine. He added that he will never permit a referendum that would allow Ukraine’s eastern regions to secede from the country. Poroshenko also admitted that Kiev cannot expect to regain control of Crimea in the immediate future, calling the issue “exceptionally challenging.”
“Crimea remains our first priority. To date, the government, acting on my orders, has prepared a number of legal suits that will be submitted to various courts, beginning with Maritime Arbitration and ending with the court in The Hague,” Poroshenko said.
- On June 4, Poroshenko addressed the Verkhovna Rada, announcing that Russia is amassing troops at the border with Ukraine. He also claimed that roughly 9,000 Russian troops are already present in eastern Ukraine.
- Russian defense officials denied Poroshenko’s allegations, saying he is scapegoating Moscow to distract from his presidency's “dashed hopes and phantasmagoria of bright prospects” for Ukraine.
- The concept of a "fifth column” has become enormously popular in Russia in recent years, and particularly since March 2014, when Vladimir Putin publicly expressed concern about “action by a fifth column,” whom he described as a “disparate bunch of ‘national traitors.’” In Russia, the so-called fifth column includes opposition members who oppose Russia's annexation of Crimea and intervention in eastern Ukraine.