Between Independence and Interference: Zelenskyy’s Balancing Act

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, speaking at 20:32 on July 21, 2025, began with a familiar phrase — wishing the nation health — before delivering a message that signaled more than routine reassurance. 

“We are introducing a moratorium — a ban — on inspections of businesses and, in general, any interference by law enforcement agencies, regulatory bodies, and various government agencies in business activities.”

Someone, having read this good news, is probably already wiping away tears of joy.

But Ukrainian judges have long explained to me: under no circumstances should one trust speeches, statements, or addresses by President Zelenskyy — let alone his interviews.

And asking what President Zelenskyy meant when he said this or that is, in their view, to completely dismantle the institution of the President of Ukraine.

That’s why I turned to the actual text of Presidential Decree No. 538/2025:
“On the Decision of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine dated July 21, 2025, ‘On the Introduction of Legal and Organizational Measures to Impose a Moratorium on Unfounded Inspections and Interference of State Bodies in Business Activities and Stimulating Economic Growth in Ukraine.’”

It says right there in the title: a moratorium on unfounded inspections, not on any inspections or interference.

And we know very well that the necessary “grounds” will be found when and where needed.

So President Zelenskyy, true to form, has exaggerated.

This fake moratorium on inspections — with which the authorities are once again trying to fool us — is just a distraction.

The real content lies in the first clause of the National Security and Defense Council’s decision, approved by the decree:

On additional mutually agreed-upon measures to seize assets of sanctioned persons.

President Zelenskyy seems to enjoy imposing sanctions.

But the pace of robbery does not satisfy him yet, so it needs to be improved.

President Zelensky knows that there were many good things in the Soviet Union.

Repressions, for example. Dispossession.

So he brings it back into our lives.

And don’t think that dispossession will not affect each of us.

In Ukraine, they already thought so.

Until the Holodomor.

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