PBD Podcast
"I Trust Putin More Than Zelenskyy" - Exiled Zelenskyy Top Insider Oleksii Arestovych TELLS ALL | PBD Podcast | Ep. 524
Mon, 23 Dec 2024
Patrick Bet-David sits down with Oleksii Arestovych for an exclusive interview about the Ukraine war, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and the powerful outside forces shaping the conflict. In this riveting conversation, Arestovych unveils secrets and reveals truths never before shared with an English-speaking audience. ---- 📕 PBD'S BOOK "THE ACADEMY": https://bit.ly/41rtEV4 💳 VT MERCH GIFTCARDS: https://bit.ly/3P28SnM 🧥THE NEW VT SWEATSHIRTS & HOODIES: https://bit.ly/4f5fnAM 🧢 PURCHASE THE NEW VT HATS: https://bit.ly/3ZFAPrH 📰 VTNEWS.AI: https://bit.ly/3OExClZ 🎙️ FOLLOW THE PODCAST ON SPOTIFY: https://bit.ly/4g57zR2 🎙️ FOLLOW THE PODCAST ON ITUNES: https://bit.ly/4g1bXAh 🎙️ FOLLOW THE PODCAST ON ALL PLATFORMS: https://bit.ly/4eXQl6A 📱 CONNECT ON MINNECT: https://bit.ly/4ikyEkC 👔 BET-DAVID CONSULTING: https://bit.ly/3ZjWhB7 🎓 VALUETAINMENT UNIVERSITY: https://bit.ly/3BfA5Qw 📺 JOIN THE CHANNEL: https://bit.ly/4g5C6Or 💬 TEXT US: Text “PODCAST” to 310-340-1132 to get the latest updates in real-time! ABOUT US: Patrick Bet-David is the founder and CEO of Valuetainment Media. He is the author of the #1 Wall Street Journal Bestseller “Your Next Five Moves” (Simon & Schuster) and a father of 2 boys and 2 girls. He currently resides in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.
Chapter 1: Why does Oleksii Arestovych trust Putin more than Zelensky?
They call me that way. I don't consider myself to be one. I've been studying psychology for many years as an amateur, but nonetheless. And so I know what a narcissist is, the definition. And it was just sort of a joke.
And I appreciate that, what you're saying. But for me, I think that you need a little bit of it to be a president. Because to think you can lead a country, you have to think very highly of yourself. I don't think there's anything wrong with that. But going back to it, so what caused the relationship to get to a point that you had to leave the country and be in exile? What led to that event?
Look, in 2008, The steps were as follows. It began in March 2022. Then later in July of 2022, I was given an interview to a very famous Ukrainian journalist, Dmitry Gordon. I openly stated there he asked me if I was going to run for president. I said yes. And since then, it was clear that the set of problems standing before Ukraine resonates with me.
And I understood that this is my life goal to help Ukraine to resolve these issues. I have my own views on those things. And after that, there was a totally crazy campaign. that was set in motion against me, inspired particularly by people surrounding Zelensky, not only by them, but also other political opponents. The systems began working against me.
Then a Russian missile hits a residential building in Dnipro, which is the second city in Ukraine by size, actually third after Kharkiv. This happened in January 2023. And in an interview, I had a daily show with the Russian oppositioner Mark Fagan. 500,000 people would watch it every time, every day.
500 000 people it was very popular and on that show live i was very tired and i misspoke when they asked me about whether it was possible to intercept the missile and i said that in my opinion i think it was a russian missile but only after it was intercepted by our defense system only after that it in turn hit the residential building so when i misspoke it was used in a huge campaign against me and they actually suggested that i what year is this what year
This was January 14, 2023. One year after the beginning of the war. They used this against me, and Yermak and Zelensky suggested to resign, leave the office at that point. It was already clear that we differ on a whole range of issues. In particular, one of them is the fate of the Russian Church in Ukraine or the Ukrainian Church of the Russian Patriarchy.
While being an advisor, I publicly spoke out in his defense also on some other issues. And so, to be honest, I was happy to leave because the totality of contradictions between me and their position was critical. in size by then. But since I was phenomenally popular in Ukraine and beyond its borders, I had a lot of invitations to all kinds of international conferences on security.
And they were not able not to send me there. I would regularly travel, go there, represent Ukraine, in my particular opinion. And then in September 2023, while I was in the U.S., our visits coincided, my visit and President Zelensky's. And in one of the programs, I was asked to comment on his visit, and I assessed it as extremely unsuccessful.
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Chapter 2: What led to Oleksii Arestovych's exile from Ukraine?
You're saying this while you're in Ukraine?
Yes, yes, yes. I said this at the height of my popularity. It was the third day, third week, rather, after the beginning of the war. And I said that they will, in the end... call me a traitor because it always happens when people put their hopes on someone and then the life happens and their hopes don't come to pass and the person they place their hope upon becomes the worst person in the world.
It's a known phenomenon in therapy and I was able to foresee it. Today people Their attitudes towards me are very harsh and emotional. Figuratively, many people defy me, carry me on their arms and consider me a messiah and savior. And there are people who hate me and consider that I'm the concentration of evil and everything, the worst things that could happen with Ukraine.
If you were to put total amount of hours you've spent around Zelensky, where you're around him, not phone calls, physically around him, how many total hours have you spent with Zelensky?
Well, in the past, you see, the politicians, they trade in audience always. That's the main currency that a politician handles. So any audience is carefully protected.
I would see Zelensky several times during the period from 2020 through 2022, including the times when I would stay in the office, along with him and Yermak, resolving a list of specific military issues, for example, appointing Zelushny as a commander-in-chief. I did that, it was my project to appoint Deluzhny as the commander-in-chief.
And since this was a complex process, a closed-door process, we were discussing this topic in detail several times. When the war began, I was in the immediate proximity. I'm just trying to be precise. I was in the immediate proximity with Zelensky.
How many hours would you say?
It would be weeks. Weeks, yes. Hundreds of hours. Okay, got it.
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Chapter 3: How does Oleksii Arestovych describe Zelensky behind closed doors?
But he has a KGB officer inside him, and he has some traumatizing experience back from St. Petersburg times when he was Sobchak's assistant, who was St. Petersburg mayor at that time. And as they say, he was intensely interacting with criminal structures, and it left a definite mark on him. So these are the three sources that formed his personality.
He was asking to join the West with all his might. But then the revolution takes place, let's say, in 2002, when Ukraine officially under President Kuchma is taking the decision to join NATO. With the background of Chechenian campaign and Russia blaming the West for meddling and supporting Chechenian Magi heads, he took it extremely painfully.
Then the revolution in Georgia happens in Caucasus, which is a key area for him. He takes it as a Western, particularly American expansion right in Russia's underbelly. To put it that way, then, the first Maidan in Ukraine, the Orange Maidan, 2004, he takes it as a Western intelligence agency, in particular American agencies, directed against Russian influence. Then, some time passes.
And in 2007, it's his famous Munich speech where he says, declares that he's now enemies with the West. It took him seven years to get to that point. And they begin planning a definite large scale special operation against Ukraine. It comprised an entire spectrum of attacks, economic, political, cultural, et cetera, et cetera. But they were still not talking about a military decision.
Then comes the events in Georgia, 2008. Then on that background, Ukraine is emphatically brings the question before NATO and the collective West about accepting Ukraine into NATO. Bucharest summit in 2010, and the American president at the time says that we accept Ukraine into NATO. But Merkel and the leaders of Germany and France categorically refuse.
And Putin understands that this is an issue that he can never be at peace with, that from Ukrainian territory and with Ukraine's help, there will be a systemic threat to Russia's security, at least how he sees it. argue how reasonable this is, but I'm just describing the way he sees that. Then the key event was an attempt of Maidan in Russia.
It was the Bolotnaya Square, spearheaded by Navalny and other leaders of opposition in 2012, and that scared Putin to death. He understood that this colorful revolution as the West's method of action, as they took it, is already inside Russia. Then he turned Russia into an ideological state in order to create an ideology of Russian peace as a software for Russia's expansion.
And back then, the decision was taken to take away Crimea and it went on further. From Putin's point of view, he's carrying out a defense war. I think
if we talk psychologically he holds a deadly grudge against the west because he always wanted to them to like him always wanted to be part of them he was accepted into g8 and kicked out of g8 from that big eight and he's still angry and he's trying to prove it to the west with this whole war that they need to consider him and that russia has real interest that he's honestly defending
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Chapter 4: What are the key issues Oleksii Arestovych raises about Zelensky's leadership?
Putin lived through four U.S. presidents, and during this whole time he has been the president, and today we know. For example, the administration, I always underscore that you cannot say United States, collectively the West. That's exactly what I'm saying.
Because the administration of Trump's administration and Biden's administration are two different types of West and two different worldviews and systems of motivation. And he understands this. Moreover, he's trying to play with it, but he's working with the given. He's a professional intelligence officer. He has been taught to work with the given. If it's Biden, he works with Biden.
If it's Trump, he works with Trump. But he sincerely believes that a country has objective interests. independently from the last name of their leader, the size and the geographical location and real geopolitical interests. And he's always trying to appeal to that. So notice, his style is real politics.
He's always talking about real politics, real interests, and he's offering to act within those parameters and framework on the television. What did he achieve in this war? He achieved a great success. You remember the debates of Kamala Harris and Trump? There was a very curious moment in there. President Trump says to Kamala that you failed in your negotiations, your talks with Russia.
If it had been me, the war would not have started. It's a very free paraphrasing of what took place. So she's losing it for a second. And then she says, in a very free paraphrasing as well, she responds, why do we even have to speak to people like Putin and the rest of them? And that's the thing that Putin always feels, and it touches him very painfully.
And he demands, he wants for others to speak to him on the same level, like equals. So his interview with Tucker is his attempt to prove why they need to talk to him as an equal. And he's talking about a multipolarized world, not just the United States who had usurped the power and were telling everybody else how to live. So in this war, he's posing as the representative of the Global South.
He tried to put China India and BRICS and the Arab world on his side. So he's showing them like I'm the person who is capable to stand against the West, this new colonialism that they're promoting. So he's discussing those terms. For you, I'm the defense against that. And the summit in Kazan, when his political isolation was torn apart and tens of world leaders joined him.
So that's the culmination of this war of 2022. He It's showing that I managed to be this ram from the global south and to force the West to face this new political reality where the world is not single polar anymore. And that it doesn't matter who the president of the U.S. is, even though things change after Trump.
Yeah. So to me, I just I just had Rob pull up a report to see when's the last time President Biden spoke to Putin. The fact that President Biden haven't spoken to Putin since February 12th of 2022, that's almost three years, that doesn't make any sense to me. That doesn't make any sense to me that you don't speak to him. But let me go back to understanding the profile of Putin.
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Chapter 5: How does Oleksii Arestovych assess the military situation in Ukraine?
But I don't have even the least of data and suppositions of what happened there. I do not know at all.
You don't? I don't know. Okay.
All right. I know what I don't know. Okay, maybe let me ask another question on this. What chance do you think it was Russia behind Nord Stream Pipeline?
That Russia themselves exploded then? Yes. I think that's non-existent. They would be the last people interested in that.
Okay, zero. Okay, no problem. What percentage, speculation, purely speculating, that Ukraine was behind it?
Well, I would allow that it could be Ukraine, 20%.
Okay. How about US influencing UK?
I think that, let's put it this way, NATO state, 80% that they're somehow this way or the other are involved in this story. Obviously, it was not Germany, which is the least interested party.
Okay. So, will we ever find out
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Chapter 8: How does Oleksii Arestovych view the future of Ukraine's political landscape?
And the Russians were really lost and confused in those talks. They were going to big concessions. And plus the emotional trauma from the Bucha. And it was a big mistake strategically to continue the war. Huge mistake on the Ukrainian side. What happened exactly? I'm just here in the realm of suppositions, assumptions when I'm answering this to you.
Yeah, so I'm going through a timeline right now. Okay. So right here, February 1st, 2022, they meet. The biggest security crisis Europe has ever faced. Okay, great. April 9th, 2022, a surprise visit. Johnson meets with Zelensky to demonstrate solidarity while the conflict is taking place.
During the meeting, he pledged to continue assistance, military, including 120 armored vehicles, new anti-ship missiles, as well as an additional $500 million from World Bank leading to Ukraine. June 17, 2022, Johnson returns to Kiev to meet with Zelensky for a third time, where he announced a major training program for Ukrainian forces aiming to have training up to 10,000 soldiers every 120 days.
This initiative was intended to bolster Ukraine's defense capabilities. Okay, great. Then... September 6th of 2022, he steps down. Boris Johnson. If you want to pull up when he steps down, Rob, that's September 6th, 2022. The date is what I have here. Okay. So when he steps down, if you just type in Rob, all you have to type in is when did Boris Johnson step down? Right. There you go.
September 6th, 2022. No problem. So he's out of the picture. Then you have a Liz Truss. Okay. Okay. Liz Truss comes in during this time, and I'm so curious to know what you're going to say because I'm trying to find a timeline here. Liz Truss, when North Stream Pipeline took place, can you type in when North Stream Pipeline happened, Rob?
If you just type in North Stream Pipeline event, North Stream Pipeline event happened when? Okay, so this is getting very interesting for me. Very, very interesting. When did Boris step down? September 6, 2022. When does Nord Stream Pipeline happen? September 26, 2022, three weeks later, okay? Who do they blame? Russia. What does she text? It's done.
OK, then Wall Street Journal comes out with this article. If you want to pull this up and Americans are like sitting there saying, you know, you know, and by the way, for the audience that's watching this, you can pull up and see who Liz Truss is so they know who Liz Truss is.
Rob, if you can just Google and see who Liz Truss is so we can explain to everybody who Liz Truss is and the audience tracking. So she was the British politician who served as prime minister of UK for one month. Literally, folks, one month, September to October 2022. So then she texts, it's done. Then Wall Street Journal comes out with this article September 28th.
We're supposed to believe a drunken evening, a rented yacht, the real story of the North Stream pipeline sabotage. A private businessman funded the shoestring operation, which was overseen by top general. President Zelensky approved the plan, then tried to unsuccessfully call it off, but it was too late. Are we really supposed to believe this story?
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