Following In Poroshenko’s Footsteps: Zelensky Hired US Lobbying Company To Improve His “Authority” In America

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky allegedly hired a US lobbying company called Signal Group Consulting to forward his interests within the US, RT reported.

This was shown in an alleged agreement, published by the US State Department on April 24^th, several days after Zelensky won a landslide victory over Petro Poroshenko.

The RT reportedly got access to the document and read it.

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There were reports that Zelensky’s team had an agreement with US lobbyists leading up to the election on April 17^th, but representatives of the candidate denied them, saying they were a wave of misinformation leading up to the vote.

“Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA) records identified by the Center for Responsive Politics and made public by the Justice Department on April 17^th reveal that the firm behind the filings is Signal Group Consulting, a fully-owned subsidiary of Washington law firm Wiley Rein.”

“In connection with another wave of misinformation spread in the media on the eve of the second round of presidential elections in Ukraine, we officially declare: the team of Volodymyr Zelensky did not attract any lobbying companies or agencies to organize the visit of our representative to the USA. We do not have a contract with Signal Group,” the message said on the Zelensky team’s Facebook page.

According to the document, the Ukrainian President used the US lobbying company to organize meetings with US officials in Washington. The contract with Signal Group Consulting was worth $60,000.

Marcus Cohen was indicated as the representative of Volodymyr Zelensky, and the contract would remain in effect until May 31^st, 2020. The contract was also allegedly shortened to last until May 1^st, 2019.

It was indicated that the contract could be continued with the written consent of both parties.

“Fulfilling the terms of this contract, both Marcus Cohen and Volodymyr Zelensky, the Servant of the People, who signed the text, confirm and guarantee that Marcus Cohen is duly authorized to act on behalf of Volodymyr Zelensky, the Servant of the People,” the document of April 24^th that RT saw stated.

Lobbyists were assigned tasks such as developing a program for public relations and relations with the government, organizing relevant meetings, introducing Zelensky and his team to the American media, assisting in conducting interviews and establishing contacts with think tanks, and advise on building relations with the press and authorities in the US.

Other expenses for work in social networks, creating a digital strategy, websites, search engine optimization, etc. should be paid separately.

Earlier, in the first half of April 2019, photographs of another alleged contract between Zelensky and Signal Group Consulting was published. This one was dated April 12th and it covers the exact same information that RT said it saw on the contract dated April 24th.

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The head of the Department of Political Science and Sociology of the Russian Economic University “G.V. Plekhanov” Andrey Koshkin said that according to him the contract showed that Zelensky was eager to be recognized quickly in the US so that he could quite obviously continue Petro Poroshenko’s agenda.

The Zelensky team denying the existence of the contract, on the other hand, showed the lack of experience in politics that the new president had.

As Prof. RUDN, a political analyst Yury Pochta, noted in a conversation with RT, the use of lobbyists in the United States is a widespread practice, and foreign politicians and businessmen often use their services.

According to him, it is unclear why Zelensky’s team wanted to hide the fact they hired a lobbying company.

“In fact, Vladimir Zelensky will have to make a lot of effort in order to build his reputation in the United States. A serious problem is that as a politician he is not known to anyone, so Zelensky has to use additional means to improve his reputation. Apparently, his team considered that it was a kind of discrediting phenomenon, which was not very favorable for the Ukrainian public, and they tried to hide it,” the expert concluded.

It is quite possible that Volodymyr Zelensky would take part in meetings with US officials in the near future, and surely enough, the Presidential Facebook page claimed that US President Donald Trump had invited him to Washington.

“President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky is grateful to the President of the United States of America Donald Trump for an invitation to make an official visit to Washington.

The Head of State also emphasizes that the draft law “On Supporting Ukraine to Protect Its Independence, Sovereignty and Territorial Integrity”, presented at the House of Representatives of the US Congress, is an important signal of a strong strategic partnership between the two countries.”

No other details of the supposed meeting have been provided, and neither Washington, nor the White House, nor Donald Trump himself, have confirmed that there was an invitation.

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