An interview with Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky
“I STILL DON’T feel comfortable here,” says Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, as he walks briskly into an opulent presidential meeting room. A former comedian in a hit TV series, “Servant of the People”, that tells the story of a humble schoolteacher who accidentally becomes president, he is still, it seems, more used to a studio than a palace.
But two years ago his chutzpah, and the failures of his predecessors, won him nearly 75% of the vote in the runoff round of a presidential election. In a country where politics has long been dominated by oligarchs and treated as a means for personal gain, the victory of a man whose only asset was his popularity seemed a miracle. “People saw a Cinderella story and identified themselves with the life behind the screen,” Mr Zelensky tells The Economist.
He promised to overhaul the political system. “I have been impetuous in my drive for change, but I am not the kind of person who starts off with an exit strategy,” he says. For all his good intentions, however, he came into office lacking political experience or even a coherent plan. His presidency has been eventful, but reform has been slow and the results are mixed.
On the positive side, worries that Mr Zelensky would be manipulated by oligarchs such as Ihor Kolomoisky, who financed the TV...