KIEV (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th July, 2019) Former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko slammed on Friday the proposed initiative by his successor, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who suggested to permanently deprive top Ukrainian officials who were in power from February 2014 to May 2019, of the possibility to govern the country.
On Thursday Zelenskyy suggested subjecting top government officials to lustration, a procedure to exclude these officials from public office. According to Zelenskyy, the list should include officials who were in power from February 23, 2014, to May 19, 2019, such as the president, all the members of the Ukrainian parliament, the speaker of the parliament and others. He submitted the bill to the parliament on Friday.
"Today there was a fantastic initiative: to lustrate all those who were in the executive or legislative power from 2014 to 2019. Those who defended the state and built the state. To lustrate so that to make room for the fifth column," Poroshenko said, as cited by the press service of his European Solidarity political party.
In his opinion, such an initiative was "inspired by anti-Ukrainian forces" and represents the evidence of "undisguised pro-Russian revenge."
Lustration was one of the requirements of the participants of mass Euromaidan protests, which took place in Kiev from November 2013 to February 2014. The protests led to a change of power in Ukraine and a snap presidential election which led to Poroshenko's victory.
