“Our biggest problem is populism”. MP Inna Sovsun on the work of the parliament, her husband in the army and hate speech

How Inna Sovsun got to the Parliament

I was born and raised in Kharkiv, in a Ukrainian-speaking family. It was the 1980s and 1990s. And at a very early stage, from the time I was in kindergarten, I had a question: why am I being bullied for being a Ukrainian-speaking child?

I have many stories from kindergarten, from school, where I could not speak Ukrainian. And I started to wonder why it happened. I was born in a country that was then called the Ukrainian SSR, and people laughed at me because I was a “khokhlushka” (derogatory term used by Russians to call Ukrainians — ed.).

In fact, this is what initially sparked my interest in politics. And then I got a bachelor's degree in political science from Mohyla Academy. I studied abroad and worked in the public sector after returning. I also taught at Mohyla, and the then rector Serhii Kvit knew me, and in 2014 he invited me to the position of First Deputy Minister of Education and Science.

I left the ministry in August 2016. And after President Zelenskyy dissolved the parliament, I was asked through my friends if I would like talk to Sviatoslav Vakarchuk, because he was forming his own political force to go to the parliament. I checked who he was going with, what kind of people they were, and realized that they were close to me.

Was there any disappointment with The Voice?

I do not think I have done anything to the detriment of the state. And this is the main measure for me. This whole story with internal quarrels — I tried to stay away from it as much as possible. I said that I would not participate in this filthy business, because it is not worthy and we did not go to parliament for that.

I understand why it was unpleasant for people to watch. It was unpleasant for me to watch as well. On the other hand, despite all this negativity, I am sure that we have never sold a vote. No one has ever come up to me and said: “Inna, we made an agreement, we will get something for this, but we need to vote for this, which you don't really want to, but you have to.” I never did. And despite all the negativity, I think this is actually an achievement.

Populism

Everyone wants to talk only about complex things, not about solving the issue. It's turning into a celebration of populism, which we can't afford, especially now. We are not in a situation where we are looking for those in fault. We are in a situation where everyone who is more or less sane and ready to defend the country needs to unite.

I see how populism has corroded our state capacity. And this is our biggest problem now — the inability of the state as a whole to develop adequate solutions and respond to the challenges we face. I see this in both the parliament and the government. This is a disaster.

Mobilization of husband and hate speech

Sasha and I are not officially married, but we have been together for a long time. He mobilized on the first day of the full-scale invasion. I understood that he would go to serve because he had served before — in 2014, 2015, 2016. We didn't even discuss it — it was a return to service for him.

I didn't plan to make a big thing out of it. In particular, because it is a trivial issue of security for him. I still don't write much about it.

I first spoke about this publicly when the first wave of hate was rising that MPs and their families should serve. Everyone thinks that everyone is the same in the Verkhovna Rada. But in fact, there are those who serve in the Verkhovna Rada as well.

There is Roma Kostenko, who is serving, and Roma Lozynskyi, who served. There are several female MPs whose husbands or boyfriends are serving. And we were very affected by this. And I thought, why do I have to endure this hate at the same time as I'm sitting here worried about the man I love? And then I wrote the post. The funniest comment was: “Why doesn't your son serve?” Although in fact my son still goes to school.

Reservation

I think that the government has done a lot of damage by even discussing the idea that those with higher salaries will automatically get reservations. It's like saying outright that if you have little money, you go to serve, and if you have a lot of money, the rich don't serve.

I think it's an idiotic proposal, because it would tear society apart enormously. And in times of war, we need to stick together as much as possible and unite as much as possible.

Broadcast with Maliar and demobilization

I received many comments. People wrote: “thank you for saying that to Maliar”. In fact, it was a traumatic experience, it was difficult, and it's not an experience I would have wanted to happen to me, but it did happen. But when a lot of people started writing to me, it was an increase in my responsibility in this topic. I can't pretend now that it didn't happen.

At some point, you can't keep silent. I didn't make a big deal out of it or anything, but I understand that if I keep silent about it now, there will be no possibility of demobilization after a certain period of service. I don't see anyone else in the parliament who is as concerned about this as I am, and there are several other women whose husbands or loved ones are also serving.

I know how hard it is for those who are waiting. I feel that with each new month of waiting it gets harder and harder for me. It's a very strange feeling, as if you are stretching and becoming a taut string. And the longer you stretch it, the more it resonates, and the more you are affected by any little things.

And some of the messages I received from the military also scared me a lot. There are soldiers who write that they are so tired that they are thinking about suicide. I am not saying that these messages are super representative. But the fact is that we have let people down who saved the country when no one else did.

I'm sorry, but we were saved not by the Verkhovna Rada in the first weeks, not by the president, not by the government. We were saved by those boys, girls, men, and women who went to the Territorial Recruitment Center and mobilized. And now we, as a state, have brought them to a state where they are so desperate that they are thinking about suicide. How is this even possible?

Three comments on demobilization

Comment 1. What if the war lasts for 10 years? Will the same people be fighting? Is it fair that someone's children do not see their father for 10 years, while someone else's children live at home with their father all the time? And what if it's another 5 years? Are you seriously saying that the same people will be fighting?

Comment 2: Obviously, demobilization in terms of a sharp reduction in the number of troops is impossible. But it is possible, after some people have served now, to recruit new ones, train them, organize coordination, let them serve with those who have already served. It's just that all this is an additional administrative and organizational burden for the command, which is very difficult for them to bear. The easiest way for them is to have those who have already been trained fight. That is why they minimize the amount of effort on their part.

Comment 3. We are a democratic country governed by political authorities elected by the people, not by the military. It is very dangerous when we start making civilian decisions with reference to the military. Despite the state of war, we remain a country that has said that we are moving towards NATO, we have a civilian defense minister, we have a president who is elected by the people who leads the army. It is their task to develop a system to replace those who have already served for a certain period of time.

Show me what the president said about mobilization? Nothing. What did the Prime Minister say? The Prime Minister said: “Don't worry, we don't need to mobilize 500 thousand people.” That's great, that's good to know. You told the soldiers who have been serving for two years that no one will replace them. There is no other explanation for this statement.

Demobilization has become a toxic topic, and everyone is afraid of hate in the comments. I'm even ashamed to voice it.

Obviously, I will work on this. I hope that we will be able to work with analysts who will develop this, but we will still need to raise this issue politically.