This year will largely be a decisive one for Ukraine. Late March will see the presidential election which can change the country's development path if a new head of state is elected. Many Ukrainians have already made up their minds about the candidate. Some of them are attracted by certain politicians' experience and understanding of the current economic situation, others have a fascination for contemporary views and flights of eloquence. However, in many countries, including the United States, health status of wannabe presidents is considered no less important than everything mentioned above. Some candidates talk openly about their health, others don't, but without any doubt voters in the West are deeply concerned about the issue.
More recently, rumors have been spreading about the deteriorating health of President Poroshenko due to his unhealthy lifestyle and the impact of stress caused by the severe situation in his country. To what extent can this affect his chances of winning the election?
"I believe Poroshenko's health is not the main issue," expert of the International Institute for Humanitarian and Political Studies Vladimir Bruter said in an interview with Inforos. "For the time being it is very difficult to assess the external influence on the Ukrainian election. A few months ago, before the attempt to impose martial law, the United States seemed grimly determined to help Poroshenko stay in his chair. Today, his anti-ranking is so high that in terms of electoral strategies he is beyond any help."
According to the expert, winning the election with such a rating is impossible: over half of respondents said they did not want to see Poroshenko in the presidential capacity. The present posture of affairs in Ukraine is being compared with the 1996 situation in Russia. Back in those days Boris Yeltsin also had a low rating, which was later "pumped up", but this had been a fundamentally different situation: Yeltsin's rivals had similar anti-rankings and were able to make it to the second round of the election. As for Poroshenko, the second round will witness his defeat with a huge gap, no matter who his opponent is.
"It is most unlikely that his health will have an impact on results of the second round, and I believe that the probability of Poroshenko's victory is approaching zero if the elections appear to be at least somewhat honest and will chime with public sentiments," Bruter emphasizes. "In my opinion, the situation has gone one step far enough, and leaving Poroshenko at the helm will require certain serious steps from Washington. In this regard health may only encourage Poroshenko to quit politics, but is unlikely to affect voting results."
Early last year rumors began to ooze out that Poroshenko is gravely ill and suffers from paranoia, a serious mental illness caused by a somewhat clouded relationship with the West, Ukraine's neighbors and his own people.
"Poroshenko is a mediocre and ambiguous personality," psychoanalyst Gennady Goncharov noted. "Let's proceed from the premise that he got a fancy education, studied abroad and has a perfect command of English. Therefore his mentality is more of a westerner. His actions remind of Mikhail Saakashvili: both are in fact aliens in their own countries - a fact they feel, understand, and fear". According to the expert, it is this fear that explains Poroshenko's domestic and foreign policy.
Psychologists, psychoanalysts and other specialists have been eyeing the Ukrainian leader for a long time. They believe the President abuses alcohol. Poroshenko's appearance bears relevant marks: a swollen face, lowered corners of his mouth, general appearance. And, of course, alcohol affects the brain, which can be obviously traced in his statements and decisions.
Back in the old days Poroshenko's team did not comment on the head of state's being drunk, but the approaching elections call for some kind of explanation. "In 2015, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko appeared in front of the press in a state of intoxication not because of abusing alcohol but after visiting range practice," Ukrainian journalist Yuri Butusov said.
Poroshenko explained that during Ukrainian military exercises in Novi Petrivtsi, he was testing a demonstration sniper rifle but was not warned of the shock power, and having approached the optical tracker, Poroshenko got a blow in the face.
A year earlier, Ukrainian journalist Sonya Koshkina published a video capturing drunk Poroshenko in a formal setting. She claimed that at the Munich security conference, the President of Ukraine spoke too briefly and looked not quite sober.
According to Verkhovna Rada ex-deputy Vladimir Oleynik, the Ukrainian President is often tipsy. "This is Poroshenko's natural state, even more so today. According to his inner circle, Poroshenko drinks a lot, which disagrees with his health due to diabetes and other problems. People in his administration say he even drinks in the workplace," the ex-lawmaker said.
This raises many questions, since alcohol is prohibited if you have diabetes. A year ago, a news passed round the media that the President of Ukraine is forced to wear an insulin pump under his suit. Experts associate Poroshenko's kidney diseases, mood swings, affectability and anger with diabetes. There is evidence of how the President goes crazy, yells at people, spoils for a fight and pushes his subordinates, even women.
It is undoubtedly quite difficult to give documentary evidence of Poroshenko's diagnoses. This is a highly-classified kind of information. Hardly anyone dares to speak about this explicitly, at least until he leaves high office. And the President's team is tight-lipped about his health.
