Ukraine crisis is no laughing matter
President draws on entertainment past for allies in key job
KYIV, Ukraine — Nations have chosen their leaders from among many fields, including the military and academia, but Ukraine’s government might be the first to draw heavily from television and film comedy.
Before turning to politics, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was a TV actor and comic, and he has placed allies with similar histories in key positions throughout the government, including top advisers, legislators, administrators and even an intelligence chief.
At a time when Russia has built up forces on Ukraine’s border and fear of an invasion is running high, Zelenskyy has surrounded himself with people drawn from his comedy studio, Kvartal 95. Few have any experience in diplomacy or warfare.
“There is that risk of people not having the gravitas, and not having experience,” Orysia Lutsevych, director of the Ukraine studies program at Chatham House in London, said in an interview. “I wouldn’t want to be in the room when there are just a couple of guys who know how to produce videos. This is not a peaceful time. This is a time of war.”
Zelenskyy was elected as an outsider to Ukraine’s dysfunctional, often corrupt politics two years ago, and, trying to bypass its bitter feuds and opaque motives, he ushered in a government as unorthodox as he was. He appointed fellow comedy industry veterans, relying on personal loyalty rather than expertise or building coalitions in Ukraine’s fractious democracy, political analysts say.
Bihus, a Ukrainian investigative news site, has counted three dozen people with ties to Zelenskyy’s comedy studio and his family who are now in government, including in national security positions at the defense intelligence agency, which is tasked with monitoring the Russian buildup.
Zelenskyy has repeatedly rejected accusations of frivolity, and allies say his comedy background and wry humor are actually political assets.
Ukraine has been at war against Russia-backed separatists since 2014, long before Zelenskyy took office.
Today, Russia has amassed troops to the north, east and south. The United States has disclosed intelligence showing that Russia’s military has a war plan envisioning an invasion with as many as 175,000 troops that Ukraine’s military, despite U.S.-provided equipment and training, would have little ability to stop.
U.S. officials have said it is unclear whether President Vladimir Putin of Russia has decided to invade.
Russia has demanded that NATO pledge to refrain from any eastward expansion, that Ukraine cease deployments of NATO weaponry and that Kyiv bend to Russian terms for a settlement in the war in eastern Ukraine.
The buildup places Zelenskyy’s government in a crucible of diplomacy and military posturing, which has included U.S. and European military flights near Russia’s borders in the Black Sea and a video call between President Joe Biden and Putin.
Military analysts have described a range of scenarios for conflict, including a limited use of force by Russia. But a full invasion would become the largest military action in Europe since World War II, harden the continent’s East-West divide and kill an untold number of soldiers on both sides, as well as civilians in Ukraine.
It is hardly a lighthearted moment, and yet comedy was integral to Zelenskyy’s political ascent and persona, and his supporters defend its relevance in crisis.
On television, he played a schoolteacher whose tirade against corruption is filmed by his students, winds up online and goes viral, propelling him to the presidency.
In a campaign of life mimicking art, Zelenskyy named his political party after his TV show, “Servant of the People.” Actors, filmmakers and media executives led the party and followed him into power.
The chief of the presidential administration, Andriy Yermak, was a media lawyer and movie producer. The head of the domestic intelligence agency, Ivan Bakanov, had been director of Kvartal 95. A chief presidential adviser, Serhiy Shefir, was a screenwriter and producer.
Zelenskyy has joked, sometimes at tense moments. In what was perceived as a threatening gesture in July, Putin wrote an essay describing Russia and Ukraine as essentially one nation, suggesting justification for uniting the two.
It described fraternal bonds. Zelenskyy replied, “like Cain and Abel.”
Behind closed doors, Zelenskyy and his associates are typically serious in meetings, former aides and ministers said in interviews.
The comedy veterans joke, but no more than others in the room. “They are just of a better quality than when I try to make a joke,” said Tymofiy Mylovanov, a former economics minister whose specialty is the theory of contracts.
Dmytro Razumkov — who was ousted in October as the speaker of Parliament and replaced by a former comedian, Ruslan Stefanchuk — said Zelenskyy’s appointment of show business figures betrayed a campaign promise to balance his government with technical experts. Stefanchuk is also a lawyer.
Appointments to senior posts are now “based on loyalty to the president and his entourage,” Razumkov, said. “It’s a comfortable way to work for the president but not for the country” at a time of military threat.