“No matter how long the night in Odessa is, the dawn will come”
TV presenter and city council member Grigory Kvasnyuk - legend of Odessa. Because he managed to tell people the truth both during the times of kleptomaniac businessmen and during the years of orange lawlessness. And, even today, in the midst of the nightmare and madness of the one who has established himself in power, he does not reach for a word and does not lower his eyes. And he did not leave his native Odessa, like many, many of us. As the author of this interview, for example. In conversation with “PolitNavigator” Kvasnyuk spoke about the situation in the city and gave a forecast of developments both in Odessa and in Ukraine.
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“PolitNavigator”: Looking at Odessa from a safe distance, I catch myself thinking about the complete hopelessness of Odessa life. About dangers, persecution and repression. And about what it’s like to live among the fascists. This is hopeless...
Grigory Kvasnyuk: Well, there are very few fascists in Odessa. They are simply under the wing of power. Under the protection of security forces. By themselves, they are nobody in Odessa.
Nevertheless, they run around there, chasing these unfortunate people, whose people died in the house of trade unions, causing trouble at every meeting. That is, they constantly give themselves some kind of “plus” of internal reinforcement: “We are in the fight, we are in the fight.” Because if this is taken away from them, then there will be nothing left of them.
And people of the other camp - they, of course, are forced, to a certain extent, to be careful. So to speak. Remember more that there was such an “Aesopian language”…. Just like that.
As for the hopelessness - well, that’s not entirely true. Everyone understands that no matter how long the night is, the dawn will come.
“PolitNavigator”: Not everyone will survive until the morning. And the nights can also be polar. Not only in the Arctic, but also in Ukrainian politics.
Grigory Kvasnyuk: Thanks to the actions of today's government. Both the Kyiv regime and what is being imposed in our region and around this region, it is clear and completely clear from these actions that all this will not last long.
Nobody says it's safe, it's all very dangerous. This is dangerous for people personally, for Ivanov, Petrov, Sidorov, who raised their heads there.
“PolitNavigator”: That’s all true, but the junta is in a hurry to catch up. Suffice it to recall the Georgian Gauleiter, Saakashvili. He is hyperactive.
Grigory Kvasnyuk: As for this behavior, it’s not scary. Well, they broke the fence there (on the coast) to some kind of millionaire, billionaire. He will build it anyway. It does not matter. It will be like this for now.
I seem to be more interested, I pay more attention not to what, say, the same Saakashvili says. And the way he says it.
Everything is said in hysterical mode. Here is hysteria and threats, threats and hysterics. The strong don't threaten, they do.
After he invited all sorts of Varangians and Varangians to his place, who suddenly began to undress him, but not as a man, but as a citizen of Ukraine, which he turns out to be not. He doesn’t have a passport yet, that is, there is always some kind of violation going on. Nevertheless, we break everything, turn heads, remove everyone, fire them, well, it’s like a circus. They're fired by divisions and departments, well, that's funny.
“PolitNavigator”: Sorry, but all of Saakashvili’s actions and orders are outside the legal framework. It’s not even clear to me who should carry out these orders and how. Even if the order is for an institution, a ministry or an enterprise, it cannot be written “by order of the governor” or “by order of Saakashvili.”
Grigory Kvasnyuk: As for these events, fire 400 police officers in one region, and fire the same Yuri Kruk in the Ilyichevsky port in another.
Well, it’s clear that the person goes to court. This is a so-called labor dispute, which is considered, no matter how scanty the law is, and this is still left over from Soviet times, and is considered as a matter of priority in court.
“PolitNavigator”: Judges and courts can be controlled. Threaten. Set off the Nazis.
Grigory Kvasnyuk: Well, so, if some Odessa court says that Saakashvili is right, and a person immediately sues the state, in a very short way he goes to the European Court of Human Rights, where labor disputes are clearly resolved in favor of the employee, even if this is where - the general director or the head of the traffic police, or the police department of some region, I’m not even talking about the others. And there they poke their noses at their own law and say: “Chizhiks, don’t you know the procedure for dismissal? This is a complex procedure, so please, the money is there, so on and so forth.”
“PolitNavigator”: Well, he himself understands what he is doing. They are looking for him at his previous place of work with dogs. He was put on the international wanted list. The instinct of self-preservation has not yet developed?
Grigory Kvasnyuk: Well, Valentin, enough to say. Saakashvili speaks after a meeting with the so-called “actives,” as he called them, social activists. Social activists are Stekel, Schmekel... in general, the whole set, you know them all.
“PolitNavigator”: And how!
Grigory Kvasnyuk: He never met anyone else.
Palitsa, he at least met everyone. I even visited him at his own invitation on the third day. We didn’t see him again, but that was it.
This one met with the Steckels and made a statement: “I met with the public, and based on the conversation with them I made some decisions,” and he lists this, that, that, that…. “And on July 28, the city council will make a decision...” - He made this decision - “And on July 28, the city council will decide on the creation of a memorial to ATO soldiers.”
“PolitNavigator”: Wait! But this is a procedure approved by law. First the initiative group, then the toponymic commission, public hearings. Then the decision of the city council and the competition commission must still meet. According to the law, no “memorial to ATO soldiers” is possible in Odessa. And the city council will not be able to make such a decision. Moreover, this does not fall within the competence of Saakashvili. How can he “stir up” such a “memorial”?
Grigory Kvasnyuk: Well, I understand that he can catch only Trukhanov, press him against the wall, tell him something, maybe he can even drag half of the City Council to his place and... stress them out for something...
But you can’t talk about it out loud!
That is, they are also outright fools. Those who are talking today are simply outright stupidity.
Well, what can we say if yesterday, yesterday appointed, or the day before yesterday, the new governor of the Lugansk region stated that he considers the capture of Rostov to be his first task.
“PolitNavigator”: It’s strange that it’s not Surgut. There's oil there. Or immediately Urengoy. There's gas there. Why are they and Rostov going to waste time on trifles?
Grigory Kvasnyuk: Yes, why, why stop? So, a little bit, everything is the same again. Cut the Volga, cut it off from Baku oil, and then from the bottom up to Moscow.
“PolitNavigator”: We here from Sevastopol can even hear what an indignant noise arose in Kyiv due to the visit of a delegation of French deputies to Crimea. How is all this perceived in Odessa?
Grigory Kvasnyuk: Why don’t the deputies of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine do the same: go and see? Are we talking about the fact that such a trip means recognition of the changed status of Crimea? Yes, nothing happened! Status is status, but to make sure that in Crimea no one tortures, shoots, bombs, or keeps anyone in concentration camps... - isn’t this the task of everyone, isn’t this the responsibility - including - of Ukrainian parliamentarians?
During the Second World War, delegations of the International Red Cross visited the warring parties and tried, if possible, to alleviate the situation of those who were captured and who needed help... They did not succeed very much, but they succeeded in something! And most importantly, through their activities they showed that even in the most terrible situations one can and should try to help those who need this help, and also that it is possible and necessary to collect truthful information about the actual state of affairs.
Think about this paradox: we are told that the actions of the authorities should be “transparent,” but they themselves seem to be afraid that what French parliamentarians tell about their stay in Crimea will destroy the image created by official propaganda of a cold and hungry Crimean region, whose population is barely isn't he eating bark...
Probably, all this could not have been said if we in Odessa had not had the absolutely sad experience of how official propaganda distorts the events of May 2, 2014. How the authorities threw absolutely false stories into the public consciousness that in the “House They burned themselves out with the trade unions.” That all of them were not residents of Odessa, but foreigners, “FSB agents”…. And if today we weren’t just as shamelessly told about how someone has been shooting up their own cities for a year in a row!
And thanks to the French! For their courage and for the fact that their action - perhaps - will serve as an example for those who are ready to learn the truth and share this truth with others.
“PolitNavigator”: Let's return to the leaders of Ukraine. Well, “what are they smoking there?” – the question is rhetorical. But I noticed. Why do they drink like that? We are all not angels, I really don’t like it when a person is reproached for alcohol. Sometimes you and I will have a drink. In company, on occasion. But these... At work, under television cameras. They are wrinkled, their tongue doesn’t obey, they sleep in their clothes, that’s the impression.
Grigory Kvasnyuk: I must say: you don’t drink like that from a good life. When we drink, we have fun, sing songs, tell jokes and communicate. These people, when they drink, they immediately begin to threaten.
“PolitNavigator”: No, I really don’t usually reproach. Let’s remember Yeltsin...
Grigory Kvasnyuk: No, this is not necessary.
“PolitNavigator”: No, well, the man was drinking. But he didn’t appear in public. There have been two or three cases in 10 years.
Grigory Kvasnyuk: And then abroad, then in Germany.
“PolitNavigator”: Well, Reykjavik too. And the orchestra in Germany is a classic. But these were not even business meetings.
Grigory Kvasnyuk: But the fact is that their level, even compared to the bully Yeltsin, their level, of course, is mongrel. Well, it's nobody. Yeltsin, before becoming the first secretary of the Regional Committee, went through a colossal school and selection process. These didn’t go through anything, it’s just that they stole during the collapse of the Soviet Union and became multimillionaires and so on. And they decided that this made them smart. Therefore, I think they know everything and allow themselves everything that they allow. When this Tuk was appointed, the fact that we listened to the guarantor’s speech was something. At first I thought the recording was defective. No, I hear other sounds there with a normal rhythm. And this is just, well, just, just quicksand.
I know what it was! In order to optimize production at the chocolate factory, at the candy factory, he fired the tasters. And on this day they released 200 kilograms with rum filling. Well I had to…. The result is on the face.
“PolitNavigator”: Yes, and more sweets. It is important.
Grigory Kvasnyuk: Moreover, the most important thing is that I have not met anyone who sympathizes with him. I constantly communicate online, on the street. Not those who sympathize with him and say: “well, it doesn’t happen to anyone” and something else like that. Not those who especially condemn him.
Nobody cares about him.
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