The opposition of Vitali Klitschko's fellow party members in the Petro Poroshenko Bloc is becoming systemic, so the departure of the "UDAR" party members to go it alone in the run-up to the local elections will seem like a completely logical outcome.
Sergey Levochkin
Political circles have long been abuzz with rumors of close ties between the UDAR party and the head of the Presidential Administration during Viktor Yanukovych's presidency, but until the last week of parliament, concrete evidence was hard to come by. Everything fell into place when Serhiy Lyovochkin was forced to protect his media property, Inter Media Group, which he and "Vienna prisoner" Dmytro Firtash shared with each other. The legislative initiative, which would have strengthened the powers of the National Council on Television and Radio Broadcasting to suspend television channel licenses and impose fines on violating licensees, was aimed precisely at Inter's interests. The document outlined a clear procedure for promptly responding to and blocking the broadcast of anti-Ukrainian programs or films, a common practice among Inter Media Group channels. The bill was ultimately defeated precisely because Lyovochkin's direct agents in the coalition were effectively forced to reveal their mission.
For example, not a single MP from Oleh Lyashko's Radical Party faction (except 81-year-old Yuriy Shukhevych) supported strengthening the powers of the National Council. But the vote on this issue by members of the presidential BPP faction was particularly telling, even though, according to DS, Petro Poroshenko asked members of his parliamentary detachment to support such a legislative initiative. Almost all the MPs who were part of the UDAR faction in the previous convocation of the Verkhovna Rada did not vote in favor, with the exception of only seven: Maria Ionova, Taras Kutovoy, Fedir Nehoy, and Natalia Novak. Victor Pinzenik, Pavel Rizanenko, and Yegor Firsov. In fact, it can be assumed that only these seven "UDAR" members were able to integrate into the President's political project, while the rest of Vitali Klitschko's fellow party members continue to remain a separate group within the faction and openly oppose their long-standing sponsor.
Petro Poroshenko's team has already purged all of UDAR's valuable party cadres, and even before all these upheavals, the party was experiencing a noticeable hunger for fresh ideas.
That the UDAR party's significant majority has no intention of disbanding their party and merging with the BPP became clear immediately after last year's parliamentary re-elections. "Local elections are coming up, and UDAR will participate in them independently. We must seriously prepare for the elections to achieve a decent result and not disappoint the people," party leader Klitschko declared back in late November 2014. Thus, the UDAR party's departure for independence ahead of the local elections had been planned even before the current events, but Levochkin's recent battles for Inter have significantly accelerated the process.
And here the main question arises: how prepared is UDAR for the upcoming election race to achieve a decent result, apart from the probable financial injections from the notorious "gas group." After all, the state of the party organism after almost a year of fusion with Poroshenko's political force looks, to put it mildly, not so hot. The party leader and his inner circle are forced to immerse themselves entirely in the capital's affairs, especially since the mayor of Kyiv has not yet achieved any noticeable successes. Before the New Year, UDAR's main party functionary, Vitaliy Kovalchuk, was incorporated into the President's team at Bankova Street, where he took the post of First Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration, responsible for regional policy. He was followed there by the main party ideologist, Rostislav Pavlenko (now, as Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration, he oversees domestic policy), so, although the UDAR members would like to, they should hardly count on their former leaders. And finally, the well-known party herald, Pavlo Rozenko (Read more about it in the article Pavel Rozenko. The Story of the Minister of Subsidies and Pensions) is currently busy with the important job of heading the Ministry of Social Policy (he entered the Cabinet of Ministers through the BPP quota), while prominent regional leaders Andriy Putilov and Vitaliy Chugunnikov are serving as governors of the Kherson and Rivne regions, respectively. Thus, Petro Poroshenko's team has already purged all of UDAR's valuable party personnel, even before all these upheavals, the party was noticeably starved for fresh ideas.
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