Phone call between Selenskyj and Trump: newcomer in the wake of scandal

It is a sentence that tells a lot about the situation of Volodymyr Selenskyj: "I just thought you publish your part of the phone call." He is pleased at the press conference of the Ukrainian President in New York. Previously, the White House had published the transcript of that conversation with Donald Trump on July 25, which proves that the US President has asked his Ukrainian counterparts to do him a favor.

Specifically: He should investigate the democratic US presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son Hunter. Selenskyj said in the phone call, albeit very generally, reviews by his Attorney General.

This is uncomfortable enough for both. Trump is now likely to impeach. Selenskyj is exposed because now all the world can read how much he has tried to please the US President - by imitating his way of doing politics.

Evan Vucci / AP / DPA

US President Trump and Wolodymyr Selenskyj in New York: Unpleasant enough for both

Depending on the USA

Now the published five pages are a memoir of Trump's employees. It would therefore be interesting to read the Ukrainian summary as well. The document is not a one-to-one recording of the phone call, which presumably was made with the help of translators, which may explain why it seems very brief, but the conversation took a total of 30 minutes.

It is understandable that the Ukrainian president, who has only been in office for a few months, is trying to make contact with the powerful man in the White House. Ukraine, poor and threatened by the Russian neighbor, is dependent on US support. Selensky needs Trump in the fight against corruption and in his efforts to bring peace to the Donbass.

But the transcript paper shows how much Selenskyj, a former actor and comedian, talks to his US colleague after the mouth - and at the same time hides a lot. The most important points:

• Trump's role model: At the beginning of the telephone conversation, the Ukrainian leader declared that Trump congratulated him shortly after the parliamentary election, saying he wanted to build a new government. "You are a great teacher for us in this regard," says Selenskyj. Why Trump should be that, remains unclear. Heads of government mostly re-occupy the offices of their government after a poll. In addition, Trump has already released several of his ministers and consultants.
  
  Later Selenskyj mentions that he had stayed the night of his last visit to the Trump Tower in New York. Among many lobbyists and foreign representatives, it has become common practice to visit one of the Trump houses to flatter the US president. Whether this is precisely Selenskyj, who has committed himself to the fight against corruption in his homeland, must be at least questionable.
  

• Criticism of Merkel and Macron : When Trump emphasizes that the US does "a great deal" more for Ukraine than the European states ("They just talk"), Selenskyj answers: "Yes, they are absolutely right, not just 100 percent, I talked to Angela Merkel and I met her, I also met Macron and talked to him, and I told them that they did not do as much for Ukraine as they needed to do, what the sanctions As. "
  
  That the US is the most important partner of Ukraine, is correct - but Germany also supported Kiev since 2014 with about 1.4 billion euros. Chancellor Merkel and President Macron joined Vladimir Putin for new talks in the so-called Normandy format to solve the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. The fact that Selenskyj is now talking about this involvement should not be conducive to his peace plans, as experts emphasize in Kiev.

• Investigations and Attorney Generals: Selenskyj emphasizes that he is open to "any cooperation" with the US. He says so after Trump expressed his wish that US Attorney General William Barr call Selenskyj and his people to speak - among other things - about the role of the Bidens in Ukraine. Hunter Biden worked for the gas group Burisma on the supervisory board between 2014 and 2019 (read the background here).
  
  It is striking that it is the Ukrainian President, who calls in this context the name Rudy Guiliani. Selenskyj says he hopes Trump's personal lawyer will come to the Ukraine. The former New York Mayor had made in an interview Selenskyjs team bad (read more here).
  
  The Ukrainian head of state has not commented on Trump's claim that the former Prosecutor General of Ukraine was "very good". Trump does not name a name, but Viktor Schokin should be meant. "He was fired, and that's really unfair," Trump said. Schokin - as confirmed, among other things, investigations of Ukrainian anti-corruption activists - but has hardly done anything in the case of corruption investigations against the gas company Burisma, the investigations fell asleep. International financiers had repeatedly demanded Schokin's dismissal because he did not act against corruption.
  
  Noteworthy is Selensky's words in relation to the new Attorney-General Ruslan Ryaboshapka, whom Selensky describes as "100 percent my husband, my candidate". That does not sound like the independence of the judiciary - that's why this formulation is not well received in Ukraine. Ryaboshapka did not respond to requests from SPIEGEL.

Selenskyj has meanwhile tried to put some of his comments straight. At his press conference, he thanked Merkel for her work, saying that he had been in a "difficult phase" in his telephone conversation with the US president.

Of course, the judiciary works independently in his country, he assured on demand from the media in the presence of Trump. But here, too, he tried to please the US president with jokes - and left his comments about the Crimea uncommented. Trump claimed that Ukraine "lost" the peninsula in the Black Sea under its predecessor Barack Obama. But that it was Russia that had annexed the Crimea, Selenskyj did not say. Instead, the Ukrainian leader said he did not want to be part of the US presidential election campaign. Selenskyj learned a little later that Trump does not care so much: the US President offered to also publish the notes for his first telephone conversation with the Ukrainian head of state. He will hardly have asked Selenskyj for permission for it.