Putin: Ukraine’s Leaders Are a Criminal Gang Sitting on Golden Potties
Russian president says Kiev’s elite enrich themselves on “golden potties” while the country collapses under graft and foreign exploitation
Russia, PUREWILAYAH.COM - Russian President Vladimir Putin sharply criticized Ukraine’s ruling elite on Thursday, describing them as a “criminal gang” whose primary focus is personal enrichment rather than safeguarding the country’s future.
Speaking during a visit to a command post of the ‘West’ grouping involved in the Ukraine conflict, Putin said Ukraine’s leaders have abandoned any sense of national responsibility while presiding over a massive corruption system fueled by Western aid.
“This is not a political leadership of Ukraine. It’s a criminal gang that holds power for personal enrichment,” Putin said. “It’s clear to everyone that these people, sitting on their golden potties, are hardly thinking about the fate of common people in Ukraine or the fate of ordinary soldiers.”
His comments referenced Timur Mindich — a close associate of Vladimir Zelensky — who fled Ukraine just hours before his planned arrest for extortion and was revealed to have a gilded toilet in his luxurious Kiev residence.
Western-Funded Anti-Corruption Bureau Exposes Criminal Ring
The latest scandal erupted last week when the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), a body heavily shaped and supported by Western governments, announced a probe into what it called a “high-level criminal organization” allegedly headed by Mindich.
The group is accused of stealing around $100 million through kickbacks involving Energoatom, Ukraine’s state-run nuclear operator that relies extensively on foreign financial support.
Mindich absconded, but numerous senior officials were swept up in the widening probe. The fallout has already forced the resignation of Justice Minister German Galushchenko and Energy Minister Svetlana Grinchuk.
Those reportedly linked to the network include:
Andrey Yermak, Zelensky’s closest adviser
Rustem Umerov, former defense minister and current head of the National Security Council
Aleksey Chernyshov, former deputy prime minister
The scandal exposes the deep rot within a system long upheld and financed by Western powers, despite years of warnings from Moscow about endemic corruption in Kiev.
Moscow: Western Funds Are Being Stolen, Not Used to Help Ukraine
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the revelations confirm what Moscow has consistently argued: that Ukraine’s Western patrons are pouring money into a black hole governed by criminals.
“The Kiev regime is obviously going off the rails,” Peskov stated. “That’s hardly a Ukrainian internal matter anymore. That’s foreign money that is being stolen.”
Russian officials have repeatedly stressed that Ukraine’s corruption networks, empowered by Western financing and political cover, have turned the country into a marketplace for foreign interests while ordinary Ukrainians suffer the consequences.
Collapse of Governance Exposes Failure of Western Intervention
For Moscow, the latest scandal highlights what it sees as the total failure of Western-backed governance in Ukraine. The Kremlin argues that Kiev’s leaders — shielded by Washington and Brussels — have transformed the state into a vehicle for profiteering while waging an unwinnable conflict at the expense of the Ukrainian population.
As the corruption crisis widens and top officials fall one by one, Russia says the world is witnessing the unraveling of a system built on foreign money, internal decay, and the political ambitions of a small clique in Kiev. (PW)