President Petro Poroshenko celebrated his 51st birthday on September 26. While no jubilee, this date stands at the equator of his presidency. Poroshenko was elected amid extreme conditions in May 2014, when following the Euromaidan and Russian aggression, the situation was very difficult. Then, the Ukrainian society really showed its maturity.
Monitoring of media space shows the supporters and colleagues of the current president recounting his achievements and showering him with praise. “In this time, the government has established a number of anti-corruption agencies, signed the Ukraine-2020 national development strategy, and embarked on de-oligarchization and de-communization. In addition, liberalization of visa regime for Ukrainian citizens has moved forward. Ukraine is also moving towards decentralization of power according to the president’s campaign promises. Reforms in the police and military are still going on,” we read at Channel 5’s website.
“He has got a very difficult time to serve as president, and nobody would envy him. He is hard and emotional man, there is no denying that. Still, it is he who is currently the main opponent of Vladimir Putin,” Deputy Speaker of Parliament Iryna Herashchenko posted on Facebook.
“Poroshenko has strengthened our military; in fact, after years of destruction and theft, he has created it from scratch. He has also opened a diplomatic front against Russia, a country that invaded my motherland, brought grief to the families of my friends, stole our Crimea and chopped away the Donbas. It was he who successfully pushed for the Russia sanctions, making himself the main enemy of Putin,” Herashchenko wrote.
And now for a little tar. Website strana.ua found a strange way to congratulate the president, releasing in literally the first minutes of September 26 an article entitled “How Poroshenko Is Buying TV Channels and Creating His Media Holding.” The article asserts that Poroshenko has begun to buy up media assets, including TV channels 112 Ukraina and NewsOne, as well as 1+1 TV channel, currently owned by Ihor Kolomoisky. The administration did not contest this news on September 26.
