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Petro Poroshenko gave an interview to Censor.net: he stated that the authorities are preparing elections, and commented on the cases against himself. We retell (and explain) his main theses — as briefly as possible

Author:: Glib Gusiev
Editor:: Kateryna Kobernyk

Date:: 08:36, 17 february 2025

Petro Poroshenko gave an interview to Censor.net: he stated that the authorities are preparing elections, and commented on the cases against himself. We retell (and explain) his main theses — as briefly as possible — Getty Images / «Babel'»

Last week, on February 12, the sixth president of Ukraine imposed sanctions against the fifth president of Ukraine: Petro Poroshenkoʼs assets were frozen, he was banned from trading, from taking capital out of the country, from "using the radio frequency spectrum" and "electronic communication networks", from transporting anything across the country — and much more. Commenting on the sanctions and speaking about their reasons, Volodymyr Zelensky mentioned two relatively recent cases against Poroshenko: "South African coal" and "Medvedchukʼs pipe", and also hinted that Poroshenko used his charitable foundation to finance his party. Yesterday, Petro Poroshenko gave a long interview to the publication Censor.net. In it, he rejects the accusations, makes counter-accusations to Zelensky and names a possible date for the upcoming elections: October 26, 2025. Hereʼs what he said about coal, "Medvedchukʼs pipe", the charity fund, and the election campaign.

(Weʼve shortened and paraphrased some of his remarks without changing the essence.)

What is Poroshenko accused of in the "South African coal" case?

The prosecution says that in November 2014, Petro Poroshenko criticized a contract to purchase coal from South Africa through a British company at a meeting of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC), citing the poor quality of the coal. According to the investigation, he did this because, through Viktor Medvedchuk, he agreed with Vladimir Putin that he would purchase coal from mines in the occupied Donbas. In early 2015, Ukraine did indeed purchase coal from two enterprises on the temporary occupied territories (TOT). To do this, they were re-registered in Kyiv and accounts were opened in Ukrainian banks. Salaries to employees in the occupied territories were paid in cash. How Ukraine conducted this monetary settlement with the “L/DPR” is unknown. Another interesting detail of this case is that it contains two opposing expert opinions on the quality of coal from South Africa: one says that the coal was indeed poor quality, the other that it met standards.

What did Petro Poroshenko say about "South African coal"?

[In November 2014, at a meeting of the National Security and Defense Council, Prosecutor General Vitaliy Yarema and the head of the Security Service Valentyn Nalyvaichenko reported that Deputy Minister of Energy Yuriy Prodan had concluded a corruption contract. I ordered] “to suspend the contract, investigate the case, conduct an examination, and report on the results. I was told that they bought garbage at the price of coal, laundered the money, and are bringing it here.”

[Instead of coal from South Africa, they offered the following alternative:] "coal is half the price, from Ukrainian mines that have accounts in Ukrainian banks in Kyiv, that are re-registered in Kyiv. [I learned about the fact that these mines are on the TOT] later — itʼs not the presidentʼs issue at all."

What did Petro Poroshenko say about the elections?

"[My] assets are being seized to prevent me from [...] financing the election campaign."

[The closest possible date for elections is October 26 of this year. According to the Constitution, parliamentary and local elections should be held on this day. The authorities are preparing for them] “according to our sources in law enforcement agencies. According to our sources in the ʼUkrainaʼ printing plant, which is currently processing as many ballots as necessary. According to our sources in the Central Election Commission, which is starting to make changes to the voter register. According to our sources in the [Ministry of Unity], which is opening the first office in Berlin. Exclusively for the preparation of the elections.”

What is Poroshenko accused of in the "Medvedchuk pipe" case?

In 2021, Ukrainian special services “leaked” records of Viktor Medvedchuk’s telephone conversations to the Bihus.Info team. They revealed that Viktor Medvedchuk was an intermediary between Poroshenko and Vladimir Putin. According to Bihus.Info investigators who analyzed the conversations, Petro Poroshenko was in collusion with Viktor Medvedchuk in a commercial deal: he manipulated the chain of Ukrainian courts that were considering the dispute between the Ukrainian “PrykarpatZakhidTrans” (PZT) and the Russian “Transneft” so that the Ukrainian side would lose. Thanks to this, PZT ended up first in the ownership of the Russian “Transneft”, and then the Swiss company ITC. Nisan Moiseev, a businessman close to Viktor Medvedchuk, built a network of “Glusco” gas stations on the sale of diesel fuel from PZT. In May 2022, Medvedchuk testified to SBU: he said that this scheme was offered to him by Poroshenko, and that Poroshenko was its ultimate beneficiary.

What did Petro Poroshenko say about the partnership with Viktor Medvedchuk?

"We met [with Viktor Medvedchuk] only on two occasions. When it was necessary for Putin to pick up the phone [...] [And when it was necessary] to exchange prisoners. When our negotiators understood that we had reached a dead end, we turned to [Viktor Medvedchuk].

“[About Viktor Medvedchuk giving evidence against me] I donʼt know about that.”

What did Petro Poroshenko say about the "Sprava Hromad" charity fund?

"This fund helps the army. We are approaching the figure of 7 billion [hryvnias]. This is my money. One person in my fund receives the average salary."

“Once [the public organization “Solidarity Youth”, led by the MP of “European Solidarity” Dinara Gabibullaeva, came]. They say there are [requests] from organizations of displaced persons, volunteers, veterans. How can [they] be given money? I say: [...] organize transparent, open grant competitions. [...] The fund will transfer funds to those who win grants. And they did.”

"I havenʼt given the party a single penny in all these years. Although, maybe there were some expenses during the election campaign. Well, Iʼm not sure about that."