Elections will be held in Donbas cities liberated by the Ukrainian army. Klyuyev, Bakulin, and other notorious Party of Regions members could become MPs..
Just a month and a half ago, fierce fighting raged to liberate Severodonetsk from LPR militants. Then, step by step, despite sustained losses, Ukrainian soldiers managed to retake Rubizhne, Severodonetsk, and Lysychansk. The Ukrainian flag was hoisted on the administrative buildings of these towns.
At the end of October, unlike in militant-controlled cities, snap parliamentary elections will be held here. The population will be able to elect their own majoritarian candidates.
Among the contenders for the parliamentary seat is former head of the National Anti-Corruption Committee (NAC), Yevhen Bakulin, who is running in the 106th constituency, centered in Severodonetsk. Why does he need a parliamentary card? Bakulin simply hopes to avoid criminal liability.
Six months ago, he was detained by Ukrainian law enforcement as part of an investigation into corruption in the gas industry. A few days after his arrest, Interior Minister Arsen Avakov stated that the damages in three criminal cases alone were estimated at $4 billion and promised the public an open trial. Bakulin's likely escape from prosecution became clear back in April, when he was released on 10 million hryvnia bail. Immediately after his release, the former head of the National Antimonopoly Committee (NAC) left for Israel, ostensibly for medical treatment.
In September, Hubs learned unexpectedly from industry sources that the Prosecutor General's Office had closed the case against Bakulin, which had occurred back on September 11. And, unlike the arrest itself, which attracted the attention of dozens of Ukrainian television channels, this process was entirely private. Following the public outcry over the case's closure, the Prosecutor General's Office hastened to reopen it. However, Hubs' sources within the ministry doubt this will change the situation. "The case could be closed again when public interest wanes," said a Hubs source at the Ministry of Energy.
Why did Bakulin decide to try his luck in Severodonetsk? Bakulin became head of the NAK through a quota from the so-called RUE group—oligarch Dmytro Firtash, former Energy Minister Yuriy Boyko, and Viktor Yanukovych's Chief of Staff Serhiy Lyovochkin. Firtash controls the city's largest enterprise, Severodonetsk Azot. For Boyko, Severodonetsk is also practically his hometown; he controls the local NPO Association Stekloplastik. The votes of the employees of these two enterprises will be quite sufficient to secure Bakulin's victory and his coveted parliamentary immunity.
This example is far from isolated. In the territories liberated by Ukrainian troops, there's no shortage of candidates running for majoritarian seats. The favorites are candidates who control large industrial enterprises. A bad reputation or membership in the Party of Regions, which has lost credibility even in its home regions, is no obstacle. The majority of voters in the eastern regions are completely apathetic toward the upcoming elections. According to the Institute of Social and Political Psychology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, up to 40% of residents in these regions do not plan to participate in the elections at all.
Hubs decided to find out which other Party of Regions members could become MPs in settlements liberated by the Ukrainian military.
Donetsk region
The first major city to be liberated in the east was Sloviansk. Thirteen candidates have already registered there, ready to compete for a seat in parliament. There is no clear frontrunner or established politician of any caliber.
The story is somewhat different in other districts where Ukrainian power has recently returned. In District No. 46, centered in Artemovsk, Serhiy Klyuyev, brother of former Deputy Prime Minister Andriy Klyuyev, is running for parliament. He faces no worthy challenger. The only potential competition for Serhiy Klyuyev is perhaps another local businessman and former Party of Regions MP, Dmytro Reva. However, he does have a major advantage. Artemovsk is home to the Klyuyevs' businesses—a non-ferrous metal processing plant, the Vistek machine-building plant, and others. Their employees are the primary electoral base that Klyuyev can count on.
District 48, centered in Kramatorsk, has the most candidates. As of Sunday, September 28, 15 applications had been submitted. The clear front-runner is Sergei Bliznyuk, son of Party of Regions deputy Anatoly Bliznyuk, a former Minister of Housing and Utilities. The Bliznyuk family controls one of the largest industrial enterprises in Kramatorsk, the Kramatorsk Heavy Machine Tool Plant, and is a co-owner of the Energomashspetsstal plant (the main shareholder is Russia's Rosatom). Bliznyuk will face competition from his business partner, another shareholder in Energomashspetsstal, Maxim Efimov.
District No. 49, centered in Kostiantynivka and Druzhkovka, is also being targeted by well-known and influential figures. Among them is Denys Omelyanovich, a member of the Party of Regions faction. He is the honorary president of APK-Invest (one of the largest pork producers in Ukraine) and a business partner of Borys Kolesnikov. By running in this district, Omelyanovich successfully covers the residence area of his own agricultural company's employees—their main production assets are located in these towns. This already helped him secure a seat in the Verkhovna Rada in 2012.
What will Omelianovich do in parliament if he gets in? A month ago, for example, he registered a bill in the Verkhovna Rada on benefits for agribusinesses located in the ATO zone.
Another candidate in this district is Valery Panasovsky, deputy director of the New Technologies Foundation, controlled by the well-known Yuriy Ivanyushchenko. The district was also chosen for a reason – it is where the Party of Regions' coal enrichment business is located. Also running in the 49th district is Oleg Shevchenko, the former head of the Aviant plant and owner of the Konstantinovsk-based Spetstekhsteklo A plant, which specializes in the production of aircraft and specialty glass.
Another incumbent MP from the Party of Regions is running in the 52nd district, centered in Dzerzhinsk. Igor Shkyria – founder of the multi-industry Ilitash group of companies (concrete and building materials production). Shkirya won this constituency in the previous elections as well. It's unlikely he'll face any competition this time around.
Lugansk region
In the Luhansk region, thanks to the liberation of Lysychansk and Pervomaysk, elections will be held in the 107th district. Serhiy Dunayev, an incumbent MP who left the Party of Regions faction, is running for the second time. Dunayev, like Omelyanovich, clearly understands why he wants to be a member of parliament. In August of this year, he registered a bill in the Rada, "On Certain Issues of the Lisychansk Glass Factory Proletary Debt," proposing to write off the entire debt of the company as of June 30, as well as compensate for the losses incurred by the plant as a result of the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO). Dunayev controls 60% of Proletary's shares.
In neighboring Rubizhne, independent deputy Yuli Ioffe is running. He left the Party of Regions faction after the well-known events. Ioffe is the owner of the local DV Oil and Gas Production Company, and a business partner and longtime acquaintance of Yuriy Boyko. Together, they founded a local charitable foundation, which has been cultivating potential voters for years. In 2012, this helped Ioffe become the deputy in this district.
Valeriy Moshensky, the owner of the Kyiv bridge construction company Mostobud, was unlucky. For years, he had been overseeing a district in Krasnyi Luch, which is currently under militant control. For this reason, he was forced to relocate to Stanytsia Luhanska. It's not as if all is calm there, but for now, the area is under the control of the Ukrainian military.
In 2012, Yanukovych's closest ally and member of the hunting club, former head of Avtodor, Volodymyr Demishkan, ran in this district, but nothing has been heard from him for six months.
hubs
Subscribe to our channels in Telegram, Facebook, Twitter, VC — Only new faces from the section CRYPT!