“Polik and Grek”. It is very unpleasant when the president of my country is taken for a ride by some crooks

Column by political consultant Vladimir Petrov.

Vladimir Alexandrovich, good evening! How is your tour of Ukraine going? I immediately realized that you missed the stage and came up with a clever plan: you have traveled through the regions and performed on stage in each one, combining business with pleasure.

It is very unpleasant when the president of my country is taken for a ride by some crooks, so I will tell you about an old fraud scheme that Polik and Uta Grek made money on in the early 90s. Remember them? It is very simple: bandits come to a man with money and extort that money from him, threatening to kill or maim the members of his family. While he is at a loss trying to resolve the matter, a well-wisher appears and says he has a “roof” that can help for a sum two or three times smaller. More often than not, the sucker agrees, glad to get off with half or a third of the sum — the wolves are fed and the sheep are safe.

But there is a slightly more complicated scheme: one group goes after a man with money, a second offers to “settle” things, the businessman agrees, but two or three days later the helpers report that the first bandits are very frightening and crazed, that no one can settle things with them, and that it is best to pay up. In turn, the first bandits pull a sour face and punish the sucker for going to complain and seek a settlement by doubling the sum. In the end, the sheep pays twice as much as at the very start.

This whole story is very similar to our diplomatic relations with Russia over the past few months. Someone from your inner circle told you that they could work things out with the most terrifying bandit for half the sum, led you by the nose, and kept saying how well everything was going. But the time has come, and the most terrifying bandit, realizing that he is in a stronger position than you, starts throwing his weight around and demanding several times more in the end. Who do you think is more to blame for this primitive swindle: the bandit, who is a stranger to you and for whom this is just a job, or your friend, who set you up completely?

We read between the lines and know perfectly well which Telegram channels you read. So this story, “President Zelensky won the Donbas case by angering Putin”, is a pathetic attempt by your secretary to write off his diplomatic failure by presenting it as your victory. Because when victory turns out to be defeat, that defeat automatically becomes yours too, while the one who really cooked up this scheme will wash his hands of it in advance, having already received his share from the most terrifying bandit.

Vladimir Alexandrovich, let us not give anyone anything, and simply tell both the most terrifying bandit and your close circle, which is helping him “fleece” you, to go to hell.