Author | Wu Dayu
Recently, the appointment of a 26-year-old female minister in Ukraine caused trouble. The blonde and blue-eyed woman, still studying for a PhD in journalism, became the new deputy minister of Ukrainian Ministry of Social Policy. The full name of the Deputy Minister of
is Anna Sergeyeva, who was appointed in charge of European integration in June this year. However, with the media exposure in the past month, people have found that Sergeyeva's life experience has little to do with her current government vocational school.
Her first formal job worked as a director in a business consulting company focusing on beauty and haircuts, and she worked for more than 3 years in total. Since then, from August 2019 to June 2022, she served as an advisor to the Minister of Social Policy of Ukraine. This position does not require entry into the government department, which means that Sergeyeva does not have any government work experience.
Ukraine's new female deputy minister Anna Sergeyeva
What the beautiful new face brings to the Ukrainian people is not surprise, but anger. Many netizens question the behind-the-scenes operations and social injustice behind it. "No experience, becoming a deputy minister at the age of 26 is like frankness. Hey, Ministry of Policy, have you forgotten that this country is fighting? Are you recruiting relatives?"
The surging public opinion caused Sergeyeva to temporarily close his social account and set the content private. The Ukrainian Ministry of Social Policy also came forward to clarify that in the past four years, Sergeyeva has actively participated in social activities, including helping children with disabilities, orphans and elderly widows.
Although it does not conform to international political common sense, connecting the young deputy minister with Zelensky, who was born as a comedian, and the long-term corrupt Ukrainian government seems to have some "Ukrainian" characteristics. During Zelensky's tenure, the youngest prime minister in Ukraine's history, Gonchaluk, 35, appeared. Mikhailo Fedorov, the post-90s vice prime minister who made his mark in this Russian-Ukrainian conflict, was also quite young, he was only 31 years old.
Ukrainian President Zelensky is a comedian
After more and more young people are "heading the family", has Ukraine become different?
controversial female deputy
Ukrainian media described Sergeiva like this:
"Compared with her outstanding appearance, Anna's work experience is very inferior."
Sergeiva's work experience related to beauty was dismissed by the elite. She was born in 1996 and studied law at Shevchenko National University in Kiev. She is currently studying for a Ph.D. in journalism. But at the age of 22, she graduated from undergraduate studies, she joined Service Revizor LLC, a company that provides business consulting for the beauty and healthcare industries, and is also a member of the board of directors.
According to local media reports, the unknown company cannot check its financial information and operating conditions on any public website. "The most likely thing is that this is a shell company."
in Sergeyeva's self-introduction column, she also listed two work experiences, working at the media TSN from 2017 to 2018; and working for the Air Force from 2014 to 2015. These two experiences have not been officially confirmed.
's unproven resume has caused the public and public figures to question her.
Ukrainian journalist Yulia Zaberina said that Sergeeva was not only because she had a look.
"First of all, the deputy minister is a very high public position, requiring competition for transparency in information. Second, anyone applying for a position as a deputy minister or minister must have appropriate skills and experience in this specific field," she said.
According to Zabelina, such ministers are generally experienced and successful in the field.
In addition to taking office without persuasion, the salary of the new deputy minister is also the focus.Some media found that Anna Sergeeva received 68,643 Ukrainian hryvnia (about 12,500 yuan) per month. For comparison, President Zelensky's monthly salary is 28,000 Ukrainian hryvnia (about 5,100 yuan). Sergeeva is paying twice as much as the president.
Sergeeva (left)
Although it is controversial, it is not the first time that young women like Sergeeva have entered national and continental departments to hold important positions in Ukrainian politics.
In July 2016, former Minister of the Interior Arsen Avakov appointed Anastasia Deeva, who was only 24 years old, to serve as a position similar to Sergeyeva, the Ministry of Interior’s Deputy Minister for European Integration. In 2015, Anna Pengchewa, who has five years of modeling experience and has appeared in men's fashion magazines many times, became the head of the Odessa Police News Office. That year, she was only 28 years old.
In the above abnormal appointments, some media summarized the rules: none of these young women left their positions soon after. Therefore, "it is difficult to judge how long Sergeyev can last in his new position. Time will tell everything."
Young Prime Ministers
Sergeeva's appointment made the public confused. But if we look at Zelensky's employment rules, young people are indeed his favorite. Moreover, he himself is a political amateur. Appointing young people without rich political experience has become a feature of Zelensky's presidency.
Zelensky's "reliable player" is Vice Premier Mikhailo Fedorov, who is only 31 years old. After the Russian-Ukrainian conflict broke out in 2022, the vice prime minister in charge of digital transformation took the initiative to launch a "digital war" and was well-known to the world.
Zelensky (left) and Fedorov (right)
He has a skill: force the other party to compromise with the most ruthless tone and the least text on Twitter. The other party is also a technology giant with hundreds of millions of users around the world.
The most iconic message was on the "smacking" of Apple CEO Cook. Just two days after the Russian-Ukrainian conflict broke out, Fedorov posted a letter to Apple on Twitter, saying that Apple should step up sanctions on Russia after Russia launched a military operation against Ukraine. For example, Apple products are no longer sold to Russia.
"They killed our children, and now (you want) killed their internet access!" Fedorov wrote to Cook with violent strokes. This move was responded by Apple, making it impossible for Russians to buy Apple products in the short term.
Local time on March 9, 2022, France, Ukrainian refugees arrived at the local
Fedorov, who has successful experience, named Elon Musk, and said: "When you try to colonize Mars, Russia is trying to occupy Ukraine! When your rocket successfully landed from space, Russian rockets are attacking Ukrainian civilians!"
This public voice to Musk is intended to call on the latter to step up the construction of Ukrainian starlinks to ensure the smooth flow of the local Internet.
high-profile and makes giants have nowhere to hide, the effect is significant. Musk quickly replied that the satellite was "on the road". In another weekend, Fedorov gave back on Twitter, "Satellites have arrived."
even the giants let them "assign", which shows that Fedorov is well aware of the pain points of Western countries. Emerson Rukin, a senior researcher at the Atlantic Council who focuses on digital warfare, said that traditionally, public pressure was only exerted by the United States, and the rest of the world used to be really passive. ”
In special historical extremes, this public pressure was actually created by the small country Ukraine, and the concocted was a post-90s. According to his deputy minister Leh Bornakov, from the end of February to March, Fedorov had publicly put pressure on about 50 companies to gain weight against Russia.
Kiev citizens who hid in the air raid shelter during the Russian-Ukrainian conflict
also had a stunning starting point, Fedorov's former direct leader, Hongchaluk, the youngest prime minister in Ukraine's history. This is a lawyer with more than 10 years of experience. In 2015, he joined the government think tank office and was responsible for the investment supervision of small and medium-sized enterprises. Until May 2019, 35-year-old Honchaluk was appointed deputy director of the Ukrainian Presidential Office, in charge of economic development and reform.
In other words, when Hunchaluk was nominated as prime minister by Zelensky in August 2019, he had only 3 months of internal government experience.
This was also quite controversial at the time. Some local media reported that Honchaluk was able to work in a national department because of the recommendation of the founder of the local Ukrainian bank Monobank. However, this statement was denied by the parties involved. After taking office, Honchaluk did launch drastic reforms. The policies introduced are equivalent to Zelensky's campaign slogan: tax cuts, anti-corruption, and improving the business environment.
Local time on February 17, 2022, protesters shouted slogans in Kiev, Ukraine. For months, local businesses have been protesting against tax system reforms
Everything looks hopeful.
However, just 4 months later, a recording suspected to be Honchaluk was exposed. In that recording, he said that Zelensky and himself were “powerless on economic issues” and said the president did not understand the economy. After the
scandal was exposed, Honchaluk clarified on January 17, 2022 that the audio is a clip of "a clip of a government meeting recorded".
At the same time, he accused the intentional leaker and said that "we will continue our anti-corruption struggle."
Despite this, this scandal left the Prime Minister helpless in his position. On the same day, he announced that he would resign to Zelensky.
The youngest prime minister ended in disappointment.
all the way westward
A dramatic scene always happens in Ukrainian politics. This may not be a single individual problem, but an institutional and social disadvantage.
According to statistics from the Ukrainian investigation news website "Bihus", Zelensky hired a total of 6 screenwriters or producers from the film and television company he established, as his presidential adviser. He also planted more than 30 close friends in various government departments, including security agencies responsible for monitoring Russian military information. For example, the director of the Ukrainian Security Bureau is Bakanov, a friend who has been playing with Zelensky since childhood.
Reality is happening similar to the film and television drama "Public Servant" starring Zelensky. In this Ukrainian TV series, Vasia, who was successfully elected president from the People's Teacher, appointed a large number of old friends without political experience to hold important national positions because of distrust of the subordinates of the old rulers.
"People's Servant" clip
In this regard, foreign media have published articles summarizing: The Ukrainian government may be "the first government to absorb a large number of TV and movie comedians."
But in the context of long-term political corruption in Ukraine, the people's confidence in young people and comedians, and even a passerby, surpasses officials with endless power and wealth. In March 2019, when Zelensky had not taken office, Gallup poll data showed that the Ukrainian people's trust in the government was only 9%, which was far from the world's average of 56%.
In May 2019, Zelensky, a comedian with zero political experience, officially took office. In addition to swearing to set off an anti-corruption storm, Zelensky also said during the 2018 campaign debate that he wanted to break the existing political system in Ukraine.
"If elected, I will let Ukraine integrate into Europe." Zelensky said. Declarations like
are contrary to the cultural memory of the older generation of Ukrainians and are not in line with the interests of many domestic oligarchs. Therefore, boldly using newcomers became a step Zelensky took to fulfill his promise.
Independence monument in Kiev, Ukraine
Local media have concluded that young Ukrainian politicians have many similarities. For example, these young people have little memory of life in the Soviet era. Most of them have no political experience, but have rich experience in international communication. Many people have returned from studying abroad.
Western English media once exposed a good performance of a member of parliament - 34-year-old Alyona Shkrum. When she was elected, she had never worked in government. But she returned from studying in France and has worked in Paris and London on international law.
Yarema Duh, a senior political adviser to the Ukrainian government, concluded that Schkrum is a "typical representative of new Ukrainian politics." Such new leaders can not only interact with Western heads of state in their own language. Moreover, they fully understand Western culture and qualities.
"They have seen the world and understand the problems that Ukraine needs to be solved urgently." Duh concluded. It just so happens that the Russian-Ukrainian conflict has accelerated the determination of young politicians to embrace Europe.
Local time on April 8, 2022, Kiev, Ukraine, European Commission President von der Leyen, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Borelli and Ukrainian President Zelensky met with
A recent poll showed that since the beginning of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, 91% of Ukrainians hope that the country will join the EU. The unified public opinion of
is exactly the same as the young politicians. "It's not that we are happy in the war. The Russian-Ukrainian conflict has somehow strengthened our path to joining the EU, making everything clear and black and white," said Krafchuk, a young Ukrainian politician.
Now, President Zelensky is ahead, leading the Ukrainian political arena "west".
On July 26, the American fashion magazine VOGUE published a group of special articles by Ukrainian first lady Yelena Zelenskaya. She also appeared on the cover of this fashion magazine.
In this cooperation between the President's wife and the fashion industry, the President's wife's excessive marketing and publicity once again became the focus of public controversy.
In the magazine page, Zelenskaya and Zelensky's photo are listed. What is even more controversial is that in the background of a photo of Zelenskaya, multiple Ukrainian soldiers appeared. Some people questioned that the cruelty of war has created a "high-end" blockbuster with a relaxed and fashionable beautification method.
In a photo, Zelenskaya is standing at Antonov Airport in a windbreaker, behind which is a ruin. Two female soldiers holding weapons, looking in different directions,
The president's wife's public opinion crisis is a microcosm.
It can be predicted that disputes and disputes over Westernization will accompany Zelensky and his young government. They are facing more than just oligarchs in the domestic economic structure, powerful interest groups, and bureaucratic mechanisms that are difficult to change.
What is important is that as the pace of integration into the West accelerates, many people will face inner questions about self-identity. The cultural and identity crisis of "who do you really are" will cause the Ukrainian people to suffer.
Some of the pictures in the article are from Visual China, and some are from the Internet
Edit | Sumi Typesetting | Wenyue
