“Foreign Agent Registration Act (Department of Justice) reporting shows that authoritarian Ukrainian Presidents Leonid Kuchma and Viktor Yanukovych have poured far more millions of U.S. dollars into Washington political consultants, lobbyists and lawyers than pro-Western opposition and ruling "orange" forces. In addition to the on-going contract with Davis Manafort International since 2005, the Yanukovych administration and Party of Regions, Arnall Golden Gregory LLP and Tauzin Consultants LLC provide consultancy services to Party of Regions parliamentary deputy Petro Shpenov for the sum of $40,000 per month,” Kuzio notes.
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He quotes Washington policymaker with long-time experience working on Ukraine who explained that “far more significant for developments in U.S.-Ukraine relations than the role of PR firms has been the political and human rights situation in Ukraine and the role of Congress, including the U.S. Helsinki Commission.”
“Why are authoritarian Ukrainian presidents and governments spending millions of dollars in Washington but not in Brussels? Ukraine's leaders fear the United States while looking at the European Union in a cynical manner not believing Brussels is serious about the values it claims to profess,” says expert.
