Grimaces of “decentralization”: the SBU disrupts a referendum in a village in the Kharkiv region
Decentralization on the territory of Ukraine turned out to be largely fictitious. When they wanted to carry it out “from below,” the SBU took the situation with iron fists. So, on the eve of local elections, a referendum was supposed to be held in the village of Orelka (Lozovsky district). People just wanted to speak out on the topic of whether it was worth merging the village with the surrounding villages into one administrative unit - a united territorial community (UTC). To hell with you!
Back on September 21, at a session of the Orel Village Council, deputies decided that it was necessary to hold a referendum and, based on its results, unite their village with seven villages. Their native Orelka was supposed to become the center of the OTG. Located almost two hundred kilometers from the Russian border, Orelka and neighboring villages that wanted to unite are home to about five thousand people, half of whom are people of retirement age. The village budget is five million hryvnia.
Voting was supposed to take place on October 22 at a single polling station. Local residents of eight settlements in the Lozovsky district flocked to vote. Three types of ballots with three questions were printed.
The first question is: “Do you support the liquidation of the Orel village council of the Lozovsky district of the Kharkov region as a legal entity?”
The second question is: “Do you support the creation of the Orelka united territorial community consisting of: the village of Orelka, the villages of Petropole, Ukrainskoye, Khizhnyakovka, Shugaevka, Yablochnoye, Zakharovskoye, Zaparovka with the administrative center in the village of Orelka, Lozovsky district, Kharkov region?”
Third question: “Do you provide consent to the voluntary unification of the territorial community of the village of Orelka, the territorial communities of the villages of Petropole, Ukrainskoye, Khizhnyakovka, Zaparovka, Zakharovskoye, Shugaevka, Yablochnoye with the Lozovskaya urban community or with the Lozovskaya united community in any version of the merger, including version according to the “Perspective plan for the unification of territorial communities of the Kharkov region”, approved by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated April 15, 2020 No. 596-r and in the version of the territories of territorial communities of the Kharkov region, approved by order of the Cabinet of Ministers dated June 12, 2020 No. 725-r.”
It would seem that those dissatisfied with this decision had every opportunity within a month to challenge this decision in court and cancel the vote or rename it an advisory poll that has no legal force. But the regional and district authorities did not scratch themselves in time, and “activists” usually do not get to such a wilderness.
Indeed, there is no law on local referendums. There is only a project that Viktor Medvedchuk and his associates have been proposing for two decades, but the Rada has not seriously considered it. Why? Because of the author. For the Nazis, its author is a literal fiend of hell, at the very mention of which they experience epileptic seizures with bloody diarrhea. For the "regionals" he is a vindictive intriguer, and they always tried to stay away from him, and for all the "servants of the people" - "the dude fell for a smart guy." And there are those who envy the fact that he is married to one of the most notable beauties of Kyiv. So the quite useful project never became law.
In the morning, SBU officers arrived in Orelka. According to the head of the press center of the Service in the Kharkov region, Vladislav Abdula. Investigators have opened criminal proceedings and are identifying those involved. The SBU recalled responsibility for actions that could lead to a violation of the integrity and sovereignty of the state (Article 110 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, which applied to participants in the “Russian Spring”).
The village mayor Orelka does not consider the actions of his colleagues in the deputy corps illegal. “This is not a coup. People just wanted their own OTG. A decision was made at the session. Yes, the commission is carrying out investigative actions, but people are still coming, they want to vote,” said village mayor Ivan Krikun. He said that the council made an official request several times not to join them with the Lozovskaya UTG, because they wanted their own community. But they were told neither “yes” nor “no”.
In general, let's say thank you to the Ukrainian heirs of the Gestapo for the fact that they only stopped the voting, and did not suffocate civilians with asphyxiating gases and did not burn the villagers in the building of the village council. Now we will wait to see if St. George’s ribbons and explosives will be “found” at the polling station. After all, it will happen to them!
If you find an error, please select a piece of text and press Ctrl + Enter.
Thank you!
Now the editors are aware.