One Step Away from Being a Deputy, or How Sergei Rudyk Saves Himself from Crime

Sergey Rudyk

The elections to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine were a success. It would have been a fitting end to the matter, were it not for the growing unrest in several constituencies. One of them is Constituency 198 in the Cherkasy Oblast, centered in Smil. Although the Central Election Commission's website, after processing 100% of the votes, had initially awarded the victory to parliamentary candidate Serhiy Rudyk, this caused obvious confusion among most people following events in the constituency. This is hardly surprising, as any sensible person would be suspicious when the gap to second place was only 500 votes, and Rudyk's campaign was far from democratic ideals.

Subsequently, a recount of the contested precincts began. Everything would have been fine, if not for one "but." Physical pressure was exerted on the head of the district election commission, apparently aimed at preventing the results from being adjusted and the winner from being rotated. Such a war over the district might have seemed a waste of time to ordinary citizens. A detailed examination of Sergei Rudyk's dossier casts these events in a completely different light.
Just a brief dive into the depths of the World Wide Web shatters this otherwise pristine biography into smithereens. A jigsaw puzzle of past lucrative positions comes together to form a coherent picture of a man who was a fixer of the old system, the one the Maidan protested in the winter of 2014.
But even after the overthrow of the Yanukovych regime, the system continued to function, placing its own people in positions of control. Thus, in April 2014, Serhiy Rudyk secured the position of Chairman of the State Agency for Land Resources.
He's long been familiar with land matters – from 2007 to 2010, he served as Chernovetskyi's deputy at the Kyiv City State Administration. This was the time of the most high-profile scandals surrounding the plundering of the capital's land.
Returning to 2014, Serhiy Rudyk, as head of the State Land Committee, continued to operate using the old methods and staff the subordinate organization with the right people. In the Dnipropetrovsk region, Rudyk, together with local regional leaders, attempted to appoint Vadym Chuvpylo, a protégé of Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Vilkul and oligarch Rinat Akhmetov, as head of the regional land resources department.
Rudyk's persistence, despite the opinions of civil society, was so tenacious that such qualities would have been very useful to an ATO fighter on the front lines. Guided by these considerations, the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast National Defense Headquarters issued Serhiy Rudyk a draft notice. But, to everyone's regret, he ended his service for the good of his country in the Dnipro-1 Battalion by abruptly deserting.
As a result, in September 2014, Rudyk was dismissed in disgrace by the Cabinet of Ministers.
Fortunately for Serhiy Yaroslavovych, snap parliamentary elections were approaching. There's no point in downplaying it: Rudyk was extremely useful to his patrons in the old regime, so they eagerly supported their lobbyist. And with the majoritarian component still intact, Rudyk's entry into the next parliament seemed a simple matter. After all, according to their logic, there was no need to develop a strong electoral platform or campaign on European principles. A handout of 200 hryvnias per vote was enough. And the constituency was bought.
However, the format of this "auction of unprecedented generosity" was chosen to be highly controversial. Rudyk gave voters in the 198th constituency a "panakhid" package, consisting of a black scarf wrapped in the coveted two hundred photos of the candidate. Perhaps this "creative" idea by the staff was intended to somehow associate Serhiy Yaroslavovich with the heroes of the ATO, but in practice, something terrible resulted.
Such campaign know-how by Serhiy Rudyk was more than paid for by sponsors. The main funding came from Oleksandr Tabalov, the first deputy of the previous Verkhovna Rada. This is all the more surprising because it was the Svoboda party, to which Rudyk ascribes himself, that literally dragged the Tabalovs by the ears and prevented them from taking the oath of office as members of parliament in 2012.
The enormous resources thrown at the district were, naturally, only expected to yield a first result. To ensure this, Rudyk was personally present during the vote count at 198 election commissions. He "reinforced" his presence by having machine gunners with their weapons cocked. At least, this is what various unrelated sources told the author.
The situation is currently at a boiling point. Just a few days ago, the chairperson of the district electoral commission disappeared with the originals of several protocols.
Rudik's "armed" approach to the vote count, as well as the gap of half a thousand, suggests that "yesterday's" winner knows the situation isn't really that rosy. And a recount is out of the question.
But Sergei Yaroslavovich simply doesn't want to lose. He has a choice: either sit under the dome of parliament or stroll through the prison yard.

Mikhail Volevoy, The country's elite

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