“Poroshenko became president by accident”: former MP spoke about the event that changed political history

Petro Poroshenko became President of Ukraine not only thanks to his own political campaign, but also due to a coincidence of circumstances during the Revolution of Dignity. As the outlet Glavkom reports, this opinion was expressed in an interview for the project “DumaY” by former deputy and one of the leaders of the Orange Revolution Taras Stetskov (Tettskiv).

The politician is convinced that the turning point was one of the most tragic moments of Maidan — after the shootings of protesters in February 2014 year.

According to Stetskov, then-President Viktor Yanukovych invited the leaders of the parliamentary opposition to negotiations. Vitali Klitschko, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, and Oleh Tyahnybok went to the meeting. Petro Poroshenko was not among them.

“When the shootings on Maidan happened, Yanukovych invited the leaders of the parliamentary opposition to come to him. Klitschko, Yatsenyuk, Tyahnybok came. Poroshenko did not come, because, as I was told, he could not reach Yanukovych by phone. It was a coincidence, but it benefited him,” Stetskov said.

In his view, participating in these negotiations cost the three opposition leaders political support among Maidan. Meanwhile, Poroshenko, who stayed on the sidelines of this process, gained a reputational advantage.

“The three leaders at that time lost a lot in the eyes of Maidan, and Poroshenko, on the contrary, won. In fact, after that he became one of the main candidates for the presidency,” the politician noted.

Stetskov suggests that if Poroshenko had also been present at those negotiations, his political career might have developed under a different scenario.

“So I say that Poroshenko became president by accident. The circumstances turned out that way,” he summed up.

Earlier, former Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine and former head of the Secretariat of President Viktor Yushchenko Oleg Rybachuk stated that a number of Ukrainian politicians at various times turned to astrologers, bioenergists, and people who practiced esoteric practices.