Red line – Volodymyr Zhelensky, from laughter to arms

Red line – Volodymyr Zhelensky, from laughter to arms

Divya

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A country under Russian bombs, and a president who became a national hero. How can Ukrainian comedian Volodymyr Zhelensky, who has no proposal for becoming president, be able to stand up to Vladimir Putin today? Who is Zhelensky really? A Red Line Inquiry by Pauline Revenas, Nicolas de Lapreier, Simon Terracier and Alexandre Funel.

From the beginning of the conflict, he established himself as a warrior and father of the nation. On the eighteenth day of the conflict, when bombs rained down on his country, Volodymyr Zhelensky took to the streets and took the risk of meeting wounded soldiers in a military hospital.

Since February 24 and the start of the Russian invasion, he has addressed the Ukrainian people and the international community from behind his desk, reiterating that he will continue to carry out his duties in his office despite death threats against him. . Although nearly 400 mercenaries from Wagner’s group were stationed in the queue to assassinate him, he filmed himself in his office and on the streets to deny rumors about him:

“The Russians rumored that he had fled the country to seek refuge in Lviv or Poland in western Ukraine. Ulysse Gosset, columnist and foreign policy expert at BFMTV.

>>> Find the full replay of our Red Line Survey on the RMC / BFM Play website

School Student Humor

To the U.S. administration, which offered to evict him in the early hours of the conflict, he replied, “I do not need a taxi, but ammunition.” At 44, President Zhelensky is a national hero. He made the country laugh as an actor when he was still 3 years old.

In 1998, during a comedy competition in Sochi, Russia, the first traces of Volodymyr Zhelensky were televised. He was then 20 years old and was part of a small amateur theater troupe from Ukraine. Originally from the small industrial town of Kryvyi Rih, he studied at the local university where the professor was born to his parents. Very quickly, he stood alone for his desire to make people laugh and show himself on TV. In 2006, he won the final of the Dancing with the Stars show, and is known in his country for his paintings … not always in the best taste.

“For example, there is an absolutely hilarious video of him playing the piano with his penis,” smiles Galia Ackerman, editorial director of Desk Russia.

Founded in kyiv as the head of a thriving production company, he combines films and series before dedication and his biggest hit series Servant of the peopleIt will attract 25 million visitors, more than half of the population of Ukraine.

Opposition organization candidate

In this series, he plays a professor who becomes president following a speech that is highly critical of power and the corrupt elite. A series of previews of what will happen to the actor in a few months. To everyone’s surprise, Volodymyr Zelensky announced himself as a candidate for the 2019 presidential election. Initially this announcement was not taken seriously.

Before he confronted President Pedro Poroshenko, who was leaving the debate in the 70,000-seat arena, he did not rely heavily on social media. Before the first round, Bernard Henry Levy goes to meet the actor at the gates of power:

“I asked him if he’s like Cologne or Pepe Grillo. He replied, ‘I’m like Reagan.’ He wanted to tell me he would go all the way,” the French intellectual recalled.

During his exchange, he even provoked Putin’s threatening image, saying he could make the Russian president laugh.

>>> Find the full replay of our Red Line Survey on the RMC / BFM Play website

Corruption and corruption

In 2019, Volodymyr Zelensky won a landslide victory with almost 73% of the vote in the second round. He later became the youngest president of the post-Soviet era. As he ascended the throne, he imposed his style: he appeared close to the people, relaxed, and stressed his difference in front of MPs by asking them not to put his portrait in offices. He seeks to disrupt the process at all costs, and seeks to reform it very quickly, while at the same time giving his government the nickname “turbo regime”.

But a year later, the Ukrainian president is immersed in time-consuming reforms. He was elected president by promises of social justice and was embroiled in a corruption scandal published in October 2021 by the Pandora press.

“He and his friends and collaborators at his production company hid the money in tax havens.

Change in shape

His image is tarnished. He must also deal with the delicate situation in Donbass in the war with pro-Russian separatists since 2014. After all, he failed to get anything from Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Within a year of the threat of the 2021 spring, when Russian troops were concentrating around the border with Ukraine, the Kremlin leader launched an offensive and launched an invasion of Ukraine, while Volodymyr Zhelensky made the opportunity to change the dimension.

Now from his office, the Ukrainian president is coordinating military and diplomatic operations and talking to leaders around the world. He is urging Western nations to do more every day.

Faced with the circumstances that stopped him against the wall, the Ukrainian president seems to have changed his status: he no longer pretends to be a clown, and he knows how to find words of encouragement for his fellow citizens in the midst of the invasion. From Lviv to kyiv, 91% of the people support its president in war, set by many as a true hero.