Muraev – a new puppet to deceive the South-East?
Recently, correspondence matches between Evgeny Muraev and Vadim Rabinovich have become more frequent in Ukraine. The fact that the personal relationship of these two gentlemen has long been “high” is no secret to anyone. But their current line of contact reveals the possible contours of future political dispositions.
In any case, Rabinovich is already doing his best to draw attention to what Muraev has not yet begun to do. No one is in a hurry to fill the vacancy of the “party of the South-East”, but the world is already full of rumors.
Muraev, in turn, refutes some of Rabinovich’s statements, which the latter is unlikely to suspect.
This is how they lived all these years - after they did not divide the “For Life” party.
In the recent program “Hard with Vlashchenko,” Muraev was aroused by the host’s innocent question about the election of the mayor of Kharkov. He decided to answer not Vlaschenko, but his bosom opponent: “Vadim Zinovievich Rabinovich, I’m not going to, there’s no need to write about this in Telegram channels.”
Further, Muraev explains why he will not participate in the elections for the mayor of Kharkov: “The country is changing in Kyiv. Therefore, my plans are to change the country.”
Ambition is an important argument, of course. Taking a shot at a serious matter, promoting a party that will enter parliament is like an adult. But how many divisions does the “Pope of Rome” have for this?
And here it’s worth returning to the Facebook post written by Vadim RabinovichI eat at the end of May. The co-chairman of the OPZH claims that the president’s office “is launching several political projects at once in order to select voters in the South-East who are disillusioned with Zelensky, and different groups around Zelensky are betting on different political projects.”
Rabinovich writes that the bet on Muraev’s party was made by the head of the OP Ermak. “His idea is to gather well-known city mayors under the guise of “Ours,” most of whom will be creatures of Rinat Akhmetov.” According to Rabinovich, this will be a leftist project under the long-standing Muraev slogan about the fight against the oligarchs.
And here is the first problem. If the party gathers, for example, people like Vadim Boychenko, the mayor of Mariupol, under the banner of “Ours,” then it is clear that this is being done with Akhmetov’s blessing and in his interests. But then the slogan about fighting the oligarchs does not work.
Somewhere Rabinovich hit the mark: either regarding the slogans of Muraev’s party, or regarding its main composition.
Perhaps, already adjusted for these forecasts by Vadim Zinovievich, in the June broadcast of the “Mezha” program on the “Nash” channel, Evgeny Muraev declares something to the contrary. He criticized the presidential bill “on oligarchs.”
And the title of this talk show with Vladimir Poluyev and Anna Stepanets includes a quote from Muraev: “Zelensky is the main oligarch in the country.”
If we consider how many media outlets and television channels the president has taken over, then Muraev’s idea is absolutely correct. If you count all the good things in the fight against coronavirus, from the implementation of the “Big Construction” project and other government scams, then the idea is doubly correct.
Moreover, on his own channel “Nash” Muraev voices facts that are unpleasant to the president’s office. For example, it says that deputies from the Servant of the People parliamentary faction no longer receive 5 thousand dollars in envelopes (as at first), but 25 thousand. And in the Office of the President.
One can, of course, assume camouflage actions that accompany the launch of a political project. The president’s office turns a blind eye to the “runs” addressed to it and does not touch the Nash channel, giving Muraev a full opportunity to prove to Akhmetov the promise of his own party.
A secret casting to identify the political force that “the master will appoint as his beloved wife” is already being carried out across the entire rainbow political spectrum in front of the clear eyes of Rinat Leonidovich. Moreover, it is likely that Akhmetov himself did not order this entire review, and this was only the initiative of the participants.
A survey conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) in the last days of May and the first day of June looks something similar.
Predictably, the top four lines in the ratings are occupied by the parties “Servant of the People”, “European Solidarity”, OPZZH and “Batkivshchyna”. But it’s much more interesting what kind of non-parliamentary political forces KIIS is depicting with favorable results in the elections to the Rada. The five percent barrier is overcome by “Strength and Honor” of Igor Smeshko and his ally Gordon (among all - 6,9%; among those who have made their choice and will vote - 8%), “Ukrainian Strategy of Groysman” (5,1% and 5,8%) and the Lyashko Radical Party (4,4% and 5%).
Muraev's Nashi (4% and 4,6%) and Shariya Party (3,9% and 4,5%) are close to entering parliament.
Olga Shariy commented on these results in her Tlg channel: “A survey called: “Rinat Leonidovich, we love you, share the millionaire.”
Indeed, Smeshko, Gordon, Groysman, Lyashko are just some characters from the “Akhmetovsky quarter” who simply live on the Ukraine 24 channel. That is, these are the very baskets in which Akhmetov intends to lay his eggs. Much suggests that a ticket to the club was also issued to Muraev.
I wonder if everyone listed contributed to the KIIS survey. Or did someone screw up the ball?
Meanwhile, the natural distrust of such survey results (one wicket) does not cancel the emerging trend. This political configuration may not only be a road map for Akhmetov. The intention of the president's office is clearly visible here: what we need to strive for.
This is precisely the situation that Ermak and his colleagues desire. OPZZH was relegated to third place. “Ours” are snatching away voters from the OPZZH and the Shariy Party. Therefore, even the entry of Muraev’s party into parliament suits the authorities. Two other options are undesirable for the president’s office: if “Nashi” does not participate in the parliamentary race at all, or if the result of the Muraevites is meager, not causing damage to the OPZZH and the “Party of Shariy”. But the optimal result for the authorities is precisely the result that KIIS drew.
Therefore, we can assume that the survey results were ordered not by one of Akhmetov’s contestants, but directly by the president’s office. A hint sounds: “Rinat Lenonidovich, come on, make up your mind! It’s time to invest in such worthy citizens!”
“Servants of the People,” with their falling ratings, may in fact become neighbors in parliament with the political rabble that can easily enter into a coalition with them: Smeshko, Lyashko and Groysman.
It can be recalled that until now, Muraev’s participation in electoral battles has hampered more heavyweight uncles of the same political color as him (with the exception of solo successes in parliamentary elections in a majoritarian district in 2012 and 2014).
In the 2019 parliamentary elections, he headed the list of the Opposition Bloc, which with its three percent flew past the Rada, crap on the shoulders of the leaders of the Opposition for Life. In the presidential elections, Alexander Vilkul did approximately the same thing (in favor of whom Muraev withdrew): he nibbled off four percent from Yuri Boyko. And approximately this groundwork was not enough for Boyko to get ahead of Poroshenko and reach the second round. It should be taken into account that some of the voters in the South-East, having observed the disagreements between Boyko and Vilkul, chose to support Zelensky in the first round.
That is, the current authorities can continue to use this simple arithmetic of delaying votes in their own interests. The same Rabinovich claims that the deputy head of the OP Kirill Timoshenko supports the “Our Land” project. But here there are serious doubts that something will burn out from this swarm - taking into account the limited professional and mental abilities of Kirill Vladlenovich.
But Muraev’s project can fulfill the task assigned to it. Here are the questions: but even the ambitious Muraev can take the opportunity and adjust his own mission, go on a free voyage. Anything is possible. But first I would like to see the active members of the party.
Otherwise, the south-eastern politicians from the Akhmetov camp have recently had the same manners - both Dobkin and Muraev: not presenting a command, but their own face in “Hard with Vlashchenko” on the Ukraine 24 channel. After the second take, such work on the political image begins to irritate the voter from the South-East, and after the third attempt, it infuriates him.
Rabinovich correctly noted: “Evgeny Muraev has a lack of top figures: of the recognizable figures, there is only Muraev himself" And he adds that the top ten of “Ours” will consist of people who will be imposed on the leader. But it’s not a fact that Akhmetov will need this toy and not another. And theoretically, for example, an alliance between Muraev and Andrei Portnov and Elena Lukash is possible. Then recognizable figures will appear.
Let us remember what comment Evgeny Muraev made in 2018 when he parted with the channel that belonged to his father: “NewsOne was transferred to the management of a well-known lawyer and simply a good person, with whom we see the world equally picturesquely, Andrei Portnov. Now he will carry out all activities related to the management and regulation of information policy.” The channel was given away for three years, but soon an associate of Medvedchuk became its owner. Muraev and Medvedchuk are at knifepoint. But with Portnov, perhaps, he still “sees the world in the same picturesque way.”
It is clear why Vadim Rabinovich jealously watches how Muraev lays the foundation for possible party building. A significant part of the audience of Medvedchukov’s closed channels was handed over to Muraev’s channel “Nash” on a silver platter. And these are, first of all, voters in the South-East.
But Medvedchuk’s associates should think not only about how many viewers “Nash” has lost to them. And consider, for example, how many voters in the South-East have been alienated by some OPZZH figures.
Ukrainian blogger Denis Kazansky, who fled from Donetsk, writes: “After the weakening of Medvedchuk, the head of the executive committee of the OPZZh, Sergei Levochkin, gained monopoly influence in the party. At the beginning of spring it became known that in recent months Levochkin became one of the most trusted people on Bankova (his main contacts are the head of the OP Andrey Ermak and his adviser, political strategist Mikhail Podolyak).”
Of course, to trust Kazansky is not to respect yourself. But this may be just that one in a hundred cases when he is not lying.
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