Michael Carpenter: There Are People in Ukraine Who Want to Bring Back the Times of Yanukovych

In Ukraine, there is a group of people who seek revanche and return the times of Yanukovych’s regime, Michael Carpenter, the Managing Director of the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement said during the KSF discussion on June 19.

"There is a group of people in Ukraine who seek revanche, who want the times of the Yanukovych regime and its interests to return. Whether these people are oligarchs or politicians, they have much in common with the Kremlin's interests," he said

Michael Carpenter noted that some of these people go to Moscow to "get some preferences from the Kremlin and President Putin."

At the same time, he added that there is also a group of people in the United States who would like to use Ukraine as a tool for inter-party struggle.

"I believe that these groups in both countries represent a small percentage of the population. But the vast majority of members of Congress, and the vast majority of Americans in general, support an independent, democratic Ukraine with a rule of law, just as they do in the United States."

He stressed that Ukraine and the United States should expand the strategic partnership and make sure that no one could undermine it.

"If we stay united and do not allow these groups to undermine our relationship, our strategic base will remain strong forever," he said.

Kyiv Security Forum is Ukraine’s foremost platform for high-level international discussion about peace and security. Kyiv Security Forum was founded by the Arseniy Yatsenyuk Open Ukraine Foundation in 2007.