Why are Donetsk players counting on Dmitry Shvets?
The illusion that anything could change in our country didn't last long. It was a brief moment of confusion, as if the moment of long-awaited transformation had finally arrived. But when you look at the lists of candidates for deputies, everything immediately falls into place. The same old faces are in the running. The only difference is that the cunning oligarchic clans decided not to run independently, but to nominate "trusted individuals." In the 81st electoral district, that "trusted individual" is none other than former Party of Regions member Dmitry Shvets. These parliamentary elections are unlikely to have any significant impact on the country, but they will certainly determine a great deal regarding the division of spheres of influence. The Donetsk clan, driven out of its fiefdom by separatists, is seeking a new haven, and Zaporizhzhia offers the most realistic alternative to its native Donetsk waste heaps. But how do they enter the region? They need support, preferably at the parliamentary level. And what could be more convenient than bringing their own man into the building under the dome, someone the voters won't suspect? Someone from the shadows, someone who hasn't been particularly vocal, but has always been "one of the gang"? The Akhmetov brothers have found just such a man – the ambitious businessman Dmitry Shvets, who has a long history of mutually beneficial relations with the Donetsk clan through corporate raiding. Today, it's time for Dima to recoup his investment and return his patrons to power. The task is not simple – we need a legend, a believable story about a successful Zaporizhzhia businessman who has succeeded in the city and will now surely succeed in the region as well. District 81 was not chosen at random. Shvets is little known here, and he could write his candidacy from scratch. That's one thing. On the other hand, the Donetsk people have ambitious plans for this district, and it's up to Shvets to bring them to fruition. Judge for yourself: the Veselovsky, Mykhailivsky, Pryazovsky, Prymorsky, and Yakymovsky districts of the Zaporizhzhia region are a gold mine of agricultural potential. Large Ukrainian agricultural holdings have long been eyeing it, eager to buy up the farmers' land. But they shouldn't bother – the spot has already been claimed by the "Donetsk guys," who know perfectly well where to invest. Today, money is being actively invested in Shvets, and tomorrow Shvets will help the guys with plots of fertile land. The guys need to get by in difficult times. To completely dispel any doubts about Shvets's "talents," let's recall this piquant fact from his biography: his membership in the supervisory board of the Khortytsia National Reserve, a sacred Zaporizhzhia landmark. It was during this position that Shvets and his partners repeatedly found themselves at the epicenter of scandals related to land seizures on the island. When Maksym Ostapenko's corruption schemes began to surface, the director of the Khortytsia Nature Reserve had his car blown up and burned, as a warning to keep quiet. Do you recognize the Donetsk signature of Shvets's patrons? You ask, what about the enterprises? Well, that's Shvets' strong point. It's no wonder he and Boris Shestopalov are considered Zaporizhzhia's main raiders, who once seized everything in sight. The city is overcrowded—the region's time has come. In Tokmak alone, there are several dozen profitable enterprises that could be put to good use by the Donetsk common fund. Don't know how it's done? I'll tell you. In 2006, the State Property Fund signed a purchase agreement for 93,45% of the shares of the Zaporizhzhia Gamma plant with the local JSC Radio Krok Company, owned by Dmitry Shvets. This occurred following a tender for the sale of state-owned shares in the company, held on February 15, in which the Zaporizhzhia bidders easily beat out the little-known Kyiv company Pyataya Milya, offering 13,8 million hryvnias for the plant, with a starting price of 13,74 million hryvnias. The plant boasts a unique, full-cycle semiconductor manufacturing facility and was once a leader in the production of discrete devices and integrated circuits, particularly for video equipment. Considering Dmitry Shvets controls Domotekhnika, one of Ukraine's largest electrical appliance retail chains, he needed Gamma to manufacture video and audio equipment. He wanted it, he got it. A few bulging suitcases, stowed where they belonged, and the matter was resolved. And so the business empire, integrated with the Donetsk clan, grew. Can you imagine what would happen if Shvets became a member of parliament? State property would be auctioned off without any due process, and private companies would be simply strangled by the courts and harassed by special inspections. And what about utilities? All the Zaporizhzhia schemes for privatizing office space, floors, and entire buildings will be put on stream. Fortunately, Shvets has experience. And quite a bit. Not a single lease agreement signed by his company, Radio Krok, was without a catch. So, will Zaporizhzhia become the new home of the Donetsk clan, or are we truly capable of protecting our families from gangster abuses? Did we overthrow the dictator Yanukovych so that a year later his henchmen would be in the Verkhovna Rada? Will we continue to be obedient cattle, easily swayed, or will we finally realize that we are citizens and will carefully read not only the candidates' platforms but also their less-than-stellar biographies? They think that by hiding behind their puppets, we won't recognize them and won't give a chance to truly new politicians with clean reputations, but will once again prefer the "sowers" of districts that the people hadn't even heard of before the elections. But we have no right to make another mistake—the future of our children is at stake.
