Odessa residents are already ready to get up and attack - Bogdan Giganov

Odessa resident Bogdan Giganov gained wide fame several months ago when he turned out to be the only Odessa deputy to defend the bas-relief of Marshal Zhukov.

Having entered Odessa politics after 2014, Bogdan is not known to PolitNavigator from his “past life.” Among the deputy’s achievements, one can note the burning of his personal car and 5 attacks on a reception in the Primorsky district of Odessa.

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In a casual conversation with PolitNavigator columnist Valentin Filippov, Bogdan Giganov spoke about the coronavirus and nationalists in Odessa, ways to combat them, and about the anti-Odessa activities of the central and local authorities of Ukraine.

Valentin Filippov: In our improvised studio Odessa-Sevastopol Bogdan Giganov.

 Bogdan, hello.

Bogdan Giganov: Hello.

Valentin Filippov: Bogdan, there is coronavirus in Odessa, there is quarantine in Odessa. But you and I know very well that the majority of the population of Ukraine and, unfortunately, the majority of the population of Odessa, live without savings, without savings - from paycheck to paycheck. And demand from these people that they take a week, two, three weeks out of their work activities...

After all, this is unpaid quarantine, this is unpaid sick leave, where at least some minimum wage is paid. People are told: “Stay at home, don’t go to work.” So they will die of hunger tomorrow.

Moreover, the state could somehow think about, for example, canceling rent, utilities during quarantine, or introducing some other supporting measures, however, so far, in my opinion, there is no such thing, right?

Bogdan Giganov: Look what happens: the state seems to be taking such populist moves. On the one hand, we have a very large number, I would probably say dominant, of unofficial people who earn their next penny every day. This, and let’s do it practically, these are fitness trainers, these are market workers, stall workers, these are waiters, these are hairdressers. That is, these are people who rely on exactly the penny they earn every day. Taxi drivers, after all.

And I understand that this is a very difficult blow for them, I would say, for their families, because physically there will be nothing to eat, physically there will be no money to buy any medications. I’m telling you, we don’t have a single coronavirus, every family, including those included in this category, well, I mean some kind of insulin, requires medications, maybe of some other nature, so I understand all this .

Another thing is that what do you think is better: to wait or sit out for two weeks or, in the mode of such half-measures in which we are now, we are already experiencing this now, nothing is working for us, but at the same time we are all going through the motions. to the streets, we distribute it, but nothing works, no one earns a penny. And this will take months.

I’m not saying that the percentage of infected people will be significantly higher and the mortality rate accordingly. I'm talking about the fact that people won't earn money for these 2-3 months. So what is better – 2-3 months or 2 weeks?

Valentin Filippov: Well, two weeks would be better, but damn... Then the quarantine will be extended for a year.

Bogdan Giganov: No, well, we have an economy. Let's talk about the second part of your question: this is what the state proposed. The state offered loan deferment for small and medium-sized businesses, for individuals, the state offered cancellation in some part or assistance in compensating payments for utilities. Another thing is what “offered” means.

We understand that to make a populist statement or issue an order, you also need to understand how it will work below. For example: do not pay loans during quarantine. Okay, but who doesn’t pay the loans? In order not to pay off loans, you need to collect some certificates that you have this loan, this is not just a person who has relaxed and collectors do not come to him or a penalty is not charged. Banks and commercial structures charge this fine very well. I was paying utility bills now; even now, through the terminal, we have increased the percentage for paying utility bills. Well, this is...

We understand that for some people coronavirus is a problem, but for others it is an opportunity to make money. Therefore the state says:

“We will free you there, or maybe we will somehow help some category of the population not pay for utilities or we will partially subsidize it.” Which? People don't know what category this includes. And in order to collect certificates, to confirm that you have no income, there is no way to pay for it, because it will be necessary, it will be a kind of subsidy, to collect, to confirm that you do not have such an opportunity, you will need to collect certificates. Where?

In government institutions that are now closed for quarantine, which do not accept anyone. That is, it turns out that they are issuing orders only for populism, so that people understand that somehow this is their whole business... it seems like they are caring, but it will not work. And then, when this massively begins to reach the population in just a month, when people will think that “Oh, well, you just don’t have to pay the loan.”

No, you just can’t not pay it, you need to collect some kind of certificate, some package of documents, take it, register somewhere, banks don’t work, utility departments don’t work. It turns out that even if a person somehow collects these documents, he will not be able to take them anywhere, and interest and penalties will be charged to him at this time.

And when the time comes, sooner or later we will come out of this quarantine, we will come out of this “war for health,” as Macron said, very beautifully and very accurately. That is, then people will just, excuse me, go nuts because there will be crazy charges. And when will they run around these banks, government agencies, ministerial offices, local government representatives and say that “Well, here is the statement of our Prime Minister, but here is the real payment on the loan, or here is my penalty. What am I supposed to do?" And this is a serious collapse, because the country is currently governed by people who absolutely do not understand this.

Valentin Filippov: No, well, they understand something. Look, for example, they guaranteed citizens of Ukraine, children of Ukraine, education in the Ukrainian language and they provide it. Moreover, they ensured that it was practically impossible to refuse the exercise of this right. So they are doing something, right?

Bogdan Giganov: This is a very sore subject...

Valentin Filippov: Well, I understand. I don’t even know how to do it without sarcasm...

Bogdan Giganov: As a representative of the South-East, as a resident, Ukrainian, Russian Ukrainian, let’s call it that...

Valentin Filippov: Russian, citizen of Ukraine, but Russian.

Bogdan Giganov: Let me tell you, you know, how: I am a Ukrainian living in a Russian-speaking city, as a representative of the Southeast, which for the most part gave dominant, overwhelming support to the current president and his team. I am very upset that President Zelensky, who promised the population, including the South-East, to listen and hear people, he said that each region would be free to decide its own fate, we said that we would introduce such the main principle of “democracy” is that people will express their opinions, and, based on this opinion, the state will make laws.

Instead, we see that the Russian-speaking population today cannot simply send their child to a Russian school; we do not have Russian schools in Odessa. This is a very sore subject. No, sorry, but it's true. And when we were now hoping for some time that President Zelensky would veto the bill that his “servants” adopted.

Oh, well, excuse me, but when this happened just a few weeks ago, three weeks ago, it seems, he signed this law, we all clearly, you already know how, determined what kind of person he was, what was really on his mind, and that all his words with which he walked, all his slogans and promises in his presidential chair are nothing more than promises, like a political technological move.

They somehow played softly on all the politicians who came before him. You know, well, a politician, he seems to be a politician so as not to make precise and specific promises. And people believed him, because he told them exactly: “Guys, we have priorities and we will work on them. We have peace issues because we don’t want our citizens to die on one side and on the other”...

Valentin Filippov: No, wait, well, he, on the other hand, called these same citizens scum, he said: “Here, we are protecting ourselves from scum,” too, this is his quote, which...

Bogdan Giganov: Well, he didn’t say that before becoming president. When he was a candidate, he didn't say that.

Valentin Filippov: When a candidate - no, but before becoming a candidate he said this.

Bogdan Giganov: To be honest, I don’t remember such an expression...

Valentin Filippov: It's on Youtube...

Bogdan Giganov: I’ll tell you this: when a person was just a person, a simple citizen, a citizen of Ukraine, maybe in an impulse somewhere he allowed some kind of hatred. Some kind of statement for which, in principle, he should not be held responsible yet, because we don’t know, I thought so, I didn’t think so, maybe he had some kind of provocative question, I don’t know. I don’t want to think of Zelensky now as a showman, because a showman, in any case, we understand, is an actor in life. You never know for what purpose and why he said this.

But when he became a candidate, he began to think like a politician, he began to promise people as a politician, as a future leader of the state. And when the future head of state says that “We will think about peace and we have the only opportunity - these are direct negotiations. And language issues are not the highest priority, because we are all Ukrainians, there are Lviv, Frankovsk, Odessa, Zaporozhye, we all talk and understand each other, and there is no need to speculate on this. There are more urgent tasks, and there is no need to impose other heroes on us, each region is complex in its own way, each has its own heroes, let's give these regions the opportunity to choose street names, which monuments to erect, which heroes to honor. And there won’t be any problems with this during my presidency”...

Now, then these were already official statements of a person who carefully thought through each of his expressions. And when he became president and began to do absolutely radical things: trade land without the demand of Ukrainians, impose his ideology without the demand of Ukrainians, the question of the Russian language, not the Russian language, oh well, with this Russian language, how much can we talk about it, we have 136- 138 nationalities live in the Odessa region, we also have other minorities. Why, for example, today...

Valentin Filippov: Wait, wait, but other minorities...

Bogdan Giganov: They were given a benefit.

Valentin Filippov: They were given some kind of benefit, a quota.

Bogdan Giganov: No, no, I want you to understand that issues of the Russian language are not raised here, and restrictions on education have already begun, the law has already entered into force, and the issues of other national minorities are already 2 years from the 23rd, it seems, or from the 22nd -th...

Valentin Filippov: And they are not fully translated. They have something like a 30% quota in Ukrainian...

Bogdan Giganov: Yes Yes. I'm not even talking about quotas. That is, it turns out that the issue of the Russian language has some kind of more biased attitude.

Valentin Filippov: Yes.

Bogdan Giganov: Today, ban it completely. We will consider the issues of other national minorities a little later and in some way, based on quotas. It's not fair. Sorry, but this is a direct infringement of the Russian-speaking population. Therefore, of course, when today we talk about coronavirus beautiful words, he writes it down, we understand that he is a media person and he knows how it’s done.

But we no longer expect the bread and circuses that people expected from him. Even to spectacles, people react quite adequately. After all, when a person says: “We evacuated our citizens,” and at the same time we know how this evacuation took place, what a shame it was for the whole world, and what he personally promised the girl Nastya, and this has already gone around the entire Internet, she did it, she guessed that she needed to record this telephone conversation they had, and she posted it online. And when the president personally calls the girl and promises to evacuate her and does not do so...

Valentin Filippov: By the way, I also don’t understand whether it was really impossible to hire a plane and actually fly, but what’s there in the end?

Bogdan Giganov: He promised that they would do it, because he called, because he wanted to do it. I don’t understand why this evacuation situation was not brought to an end. And when he speaks now, just a couple of days ago he had in his speech, I don’t remember, I think it was last Friday, he inserted this phrase and said: “We are quite successfully taking care of our population, our citizens who are on the territory of other countries, just remember the evacuation from Wuhan, how great it all went.” This is complete nonsense, but we understand that. I used to be ambiguous, you know, I separated Zelensky from the “servants of the people.” Because we understand that such a conglomerate has gathered there.

Valentin Filippov: Yes.

Bogdan Giganov: But no. After some serious situations like this, on which there is no third opinion, but there are only two sides of the coin, I made it clear for myself and I see that people are also beginning to understand this. This is the green euphoria of this series, it’s receding a little. And, forgive me, of course, but now I cannot help but say that recently I have been a party member. And if we talk about the party to which I am now directly related, this is the Opposition Platform “For Life”, then the people who are experienced leaders of this political force, who were directly related to the construction of the state of Ukraine, brought it out of the crisis, I have in mind - Viktor Vladimirovich Medvedchuk, we know that he was the head of the presidential administration under Kuchma, and I don’t seem to remember a more favorable time in Ukraine.

This political force today unites not only the experience of the past, but also the ability and desire to bring up the younger generation and pass on this experience, new faces, but with the possibility of transferring experience.

I began to think differently about this... people began to come to the reception, even those who voted for “servants of the people”, even those who voted for other political projects, come and want to join the party. I was involved in politics for five years, I built in the Primorsky district of the city of Odessa... well, I won’t advertise now, but I was related to another political force... well, basically, whatever...

Valentin Filippov: And I don’t know, to be honest.

Bogdan Giganov: ... I have been the head of the Primorye party organization since its founding in the Opposition Bloc, since 14. When I saw this chaos that happened, I realized that I couldn’t sit on the couch anymore and something had to be done, and I did everything to return the state to the constitutional system, well, naturally, in a legal way, and joined the Opposition bloc .

And from the year 14, I didn’t have anything like that - cars were burned, and... I don’t even want to list all this. And seven attacks, if anyone has heard somewhere about attacks on the reception of the Opposition Bloc, this is all about my reception, all about one address on Pirogovskaya, so I know how people react to the offer to join the party. I’ll tell you that in a week, we’ve literally had a regional conference for a week or two, and we’re working in such a light mode, neat, because quarantine has been introduced and we’re not violating it, I have people on Facebook just wanting to join a party of young people, well, I don’t know, there are several dozen already.

And if we say today that the main theses that united us are to lead the country out of a deep crisis, to return the long-awaited peace to the country, then, among other things, everyone has their own vision of this process. But when we talk about the fact that someone should lead in this process, we must also understand that there are people who can succeed, and there are people who want to, but they are very far from this process, and they in no way, no matter how much they want, they will not be able to implement this.

Therefore, of course, now people clearly understand that the only person who is able to somehow set up these peace negotiations today... is this group that has now been organized, I would say, interparliamentary, just recently there was also a trip to Russia, and these inter-parliamentary groups will now be there, France, Germany will also be involved there, Russia supported it... I hope that these very associations will give some desired result, when there are direct negotiations, only direct negotiations, with each other. All of us, if we talk about the conflict in Donbass, we are Ukrainians, and...

Valentin Filippov: Well, no, I don't agree with you. I deeply disagree with you, I will explain to you. I am Russian. I am a citizen of Ukraine, but I am Russian. We are not Ukrainians. We are citizens of Ukraine, but...

Bogdan Giganov: Wait, we are Russian Ukrainians, right?

Valentin Filippov: No. I am Russian, I am not Ukrainian. And there are millions of us. I am Russian, and now you say “Russian-speaking”, but I don’t agree with you. We are Russian cultural, except for everything. Because not only language, not only language, but our monuments, Catherine II, Duke. Duke, he is ours, Russian. Do you understand? Zhukov, he is ours, Russian.

Bogdan Giganov: I understand you.

Valentin Filippov: Therefore, there is no need to say “Ukrainian”. A citizen of Ukraine - yes, but not a Ukrainian.

Bogdan Giganov: Look, I feel about this, you know how? With such a simple example. I have brothers, siblings. We lived together, we lived together for a very long time, well, like any other person who grew up, we understand, until some kind of adulthood, and we separated. Everyone has their own family. We support each other in difficult times, we have common values, common desires, common parents, in the end. But everyone has their own family. We have one culture, we are one family, we sincerely rejoice at each other’s victories and empathize with each other’s defeats, we gather together for the holidays. Well, and so on, you understand my point. But, nevertheless, everyone has their own family.

Valentin Filippov: Everyone has it.

Bogdan Giganov: In this case, Russia is an older brother for me, I spoke about it and did not hide it. But we each have our own family.

Valentin Filippov: Yes, but you just didn’t explain to me why you are now not Giganov, but, for example, Giganenko. You're not Giganenko, are you? You are Giganov.

Bogdan Giganov: No, I am Giganov.

Valentin Filippov: Although you have a different family from your brothers. You live in the city of Odessa, this city has its own history. Yes?

Bogdan Giganov: Certainly.

Valentin Filippov: There are, so to speak, sons of this city that you can be proud of. Yes? And because this city is located administratively on the territory of Ukraine, administratively, the residents of this city do not become Ukrainians, and their history does not change, the history of the city does not change.

Bogdan Giganov: No, I don't agree with you.

Valentin Filippov: And the people who built this city, they don’t suddenly change, it doesn’t become clear that it turns out it wasn’t Langeron who built this. Still Langeron.

Bogdan Giganov: I don't agree with you. For one simple reason. We have a passport, it clearly states that a person born in Odessa is Ukrainian by nationality.

Valentin Filippov: No. Excuse me, please. I want to correct you. Nationality is not indicated in a Ukrainian passport. You can see.

Bogdan Giganov: Okay, yes, I agree. Hulkiness.

Valentin Filippov: Hulkiness. Therefore, I don’t argue with the hugeness, but, excuse me, everyone has their own nationality. And everyone has their own culture. Is it true?

Bogdan Giganov: And then I’ll remind you that it is on the territory of the Odessa region that this is the most multinational...

Valentin Filippov: Yes, 134, and according to the Soviet census, 2 Japanese are still living.

Bogdan Giganov: So, this is the very thing... That is, for myself, I consider Odessa to be the cultural capital, because we all get along, we are all brothers, we are all Odessa residents.

Valentin Filippov: Yes.

Bogdan Giganov: And first of all, even to smooth out this dispute, no matter where you are abroad on the territory of any state, when you say “Ukraine,” many do not even know where it is. When you say some other city somewhere in Ukraine, they don’t even know. But when you say “Odessa”, you don’t need any more explanations. And in fact, I can even now, somehow, you know, sum up this topic, that we are talking to you now... it seems like we even have some kind of dosage of discord, a small one...

Valentin Filippov: No.

Bogdan Giganov: Well, it seems like there is a disagreement on some idea, let’s do it that way. Well, I don’t know how to say this correctly, let’s do it this way, an argument, an easy argument.

Valentin Filippov: Yes.

Bogdan Giganov: I say one thing, you say another. And at the same time, I treat you very well.

Valentin Filippov: Yes.

Bogdan Giganov: We continue to communicate, I don’t close the monitor and you don’t scold me either. Yes? Somehow you and I are now finding some common ground, someone gave in to someone on something, someone insisted on something. This suggests that this Odessa-ness is really manifesting itself here, because so many multinational ethnic cultures cannot coexist in the region in any other way.

Valentin Filippov: You know, yes, indeed, they don’t get along in other territories, in general. Yes, I know.

Bogdan Giganov: Yes. It's different there. I don’t want to do such anti-advertising now either, it’s still wrong.

Valentin Filippov: No, but why anti-advertising? I really noticed that in many other regions, fraternities immediately appear based on nationality, they immediately...

Bogdan Giganov: Yes, there is such a thing. Even now I was in Bukovina in winter, I received a lot of positive things from visiting our, so to speak, Carpathian ski resort, but there was also some negative national character, it was, it was. Well, they approached us, frankly, that is, they directly expressed this... I don’t even want to tell you what they told us now... but it was uncomfortable, in some places even dangerous. That’s why in Ukraine, well, again, understand, every family has its black sheep, we understand that.

Valentin Filippov: Aren't there a lot of freaks, huh?

Bogdan Giganov: Listen, where are there few of them? And now...

Valentin Filippov: Yes, well, let’s say there are a lot of them everywhere. Why did they end up in power?

Bogdan Giganov: Well, let's just ask each other what it means “why are they in power”? Don’t you know why they ended up in power?

Valentin Filippov: I know.

Bogdan Giganov: I can just say directly that the only prescription from all these guys is to change, let’s call it, the agenda now in Ukraine. This is simply to leave them without funding and a government roof. That's all. There will be no more conversations, no more rallies, no more of these provocations. None of this will happen, because people will live by completely different values. They were nobody before, and that’s how they will remain nobody. There was a period of six years of unrest in Ukraine, where they felt like someone, where they were taken into account, but Ukraine is now very much moving away from this, we understand that...

Valentin Filippov: You think?

Bogdan Giganov: ...children of the revolution, well, one way or another...

Valentin Filippov: The revolution must devour them.

Bogdan Giganov: Yes. Therefore, now the agenda is completely different. I said that after coronavirus the world will not be the same. There will be a completely different world order, global standards, different alliances and principles. I see that where are these nationalists and patriots now? No orders.

Valentin Filippov: So wait, there will be orders now. Now they will introduce a strict quarantine, order the nationalists to go around the streets and chase people, and that’s all. Here's your order. This is on the one hand. But on the other hand, you know, you suggested this headline to me: “Odessa will be saved by the coronavirus.” Well, it sounds the same, you will agree.

Bogdan Giganov: In Odessa, of course, it’s humorous, but everything is actually very sad. And I would like this to end quickly.

Valentin Filippov: Fine. I have another question for you. Since we don’t have such tension here with the coronavirus... well, apparently people are somehow more lenient, maybe the authorities somehow don’t take advantage of this much, the media don’t hype it much... Still, we have other questions for Odessa here. Here is your opinion, I see that you are, in general, an optimist, in fact, since you only took up politics in 14, that is, you have less experience, so you are an optimist.

Bogdan Giganov: I'm not an optimist, I'm a realist-idealist, I would say so. I see a specific goal, and I systematically achieve it.

Valentin Filippov: Realists buy cartridges.

Bogdan Giganov: Well, not without it.

Valentin Filippov: So we talked about Russian cultural people, about Russian speakers, about our history. They remembered Zhukov, Ekaterina, they remembered schools where teaching is not conducted in their native language, right? By order of the President of our new old clown...

Bogdan Giganov: Not only by order of the president, I would like to add, and with the support of local authorities. Local authorities, I, as a deputy of the Odessa City Council, I clearly know what the executive authorities are doing in the city today, this is... well, I don’t even want to swear.

Valentin Filippov: Well, that means they were given this condition.

Bogdan Giganov: Listen, let’s do it this way, what does “set a condition” mean? Well, you are a leader, a senior leader...

Valentin Filippov: Yes, when the courts hold you like this, so there. Should we trade land or should we defend the Russian language? Excuse me, I...

Bogdan Giganov: Well, everyone has their own choice. I'll tell you, everyone has their own choice. And when you are faced with such a choice, when they are strangling you by the throat, come out and say honestly, “They are strangling you by the throat, they are forcing you to do this, this and this.” And it doesn’t matter what the consequences will be.

Valentin Filippov: So this is important.

Bogdan Giganov: It is important that you are honest with the people who elected you. And if you try to flirt with both those and those and those and just get away with it, but stay - this is a deception.

Valentin Filippov: Yes

Bogdan Giganov: Deception, first of all, before yourself and before those people who hoped for you. Therefore, here I am ready to argue with you.

Valentin Filippov: Well, I remember our deputies, I spent quite a lot of time among them. For me, after the 14th, so I generally... I remember how they were just hiding in the 14th, so that God forbid they would not get dirty, because you never know what would happen next, although then in the winter of the 14th it was still unknown, how will it all end? But when land issues are on the agenda, we immediately have a full quorum, we all vote, we all speak.

Bogdan Giganov: Yes.

Valentin Filippov: As always, Gurwitz left land issues until the end of the session so that people would not disperse. And after land issues, everyone just goes home. All. Well, we know.

Bogdan Giganov: I don’t want to comment on this, at the last session, when there was already quarantine, I even called out that “Friends, if we are asking people, and we are asking people, there was an order from the city mayor to introduce quarantine measures, and we called for consciousness, Well, friends, let’s take care of it for a while.” We just schedule a session, just a few days ago there was one, and it was full, 150 or 200...

Valentin Filippov: Land issues. What did the President of Ukraine say? What did the President of Ukraine say? It is necessary to introduce anti-coronavirus measures. And among these measures he cited what? Accept the land market and take out a loan from the IMF. Well, that's why this is all. Yes? We know what they are doing there.

Bogdan Giganov: What they are doing now clearly shows why they came in the first place. Well, in simple words.

Valentin Filippov: Yes.

Bogdan Giganov: Not in order to lead the country out of the crisis, not in order to meet the needs of the population, both material and ideological. We understand that ideology, to some extent, also worries most people. Well, when these guys came with stories that “Mi is a virok for the previous president,” well, that is, this was clearly said by Zelensky at the debate, and people believed him, they really saw it as a sentence.

But it turns out that no such conversations are taking place anymore, no one is in prison, no imprisonments. Well, this was the main thesis: “Spring will come, there will be plantings.” Land – referendum. What else? Peace... Well, I don’t see the desire. What else did he have? Questions of ideology. Well, actually, too. How was it possible to dismantle the bas-relief of the great man Marshal Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov from the building of the regional military registration and enlistment office by activists who are under criminal charges for the burning of Odessa residents in the House of Trade Unions? How? I just can't wrap my head around it.

This means that the Ministry of Defense is turning to the activists who killed people on May 2, and there is a lot of evidence of this, and they are now in the courts, all these cases are being addressed to them and they, in general, are doing it as contractors of the Ministry of Defense... Already Well, under Zelensky, not under Poroshenko, I would still understand that if it had been under Poroshenko, I probably wouldn’t even have gone out, because I think, “Well, what do you want from these idiots?” But under Zelensky, he’s already alive, as they say, you know?

Valentin Filippov: Don’t you think that he’s the same clown, that he’s the same actor, that he’s just at work? He's just at work, he has a script...

Bogdan Giganov: I think that now it’s clear who set it up and what his goals and objectives are.

Valentin Filippov: Well, smart people told me even before the elections that he would sell the land and do nothing else.

Bogdan Giganov: Well, let’s put it this way, smart people are not smart, but in any case, there was little choice between Poroshenko and Zelensky. I also said: “Friends, let’s vote for Zelensky, not because he is Zelensky, but because we already know what happened under Poroshenko.” But we had no idea what would happen under Zelensky.

And this is the fact that in broad daylight, activists in quotation marks, criminals to be more precise, under contract from the Ministry of Defense, are dismantling a bas-relief of a person who is directly related to Odessa. After all, the task here was not to impose the rules of decommunization on anyone. The question is not about decommunization, but about the fact that this person has a direct connection to our city, this is not Franco, who has never been here... he lived and worked here.

Even if you don’t recognize him as a hero, do you recognize that he lived and worked here? You admit it. Well, then that's the story. So what are you doing then, you bastards? You see, the moment here is that this was a provoked action, and why it was done, I don’t understand. I think that they wanted to remind themselves in this way.

And there is also an assumption that this was a desire to show the local authorities to Kyiv that all processes here are controlled, because all these activists are currently in the service of the local, let’s call it that...

Valentin Filippov: Well, from here, from behind the curb, the first thought was that Trukhanov was playing a card a la Kernes. And when you spoke out in defense of the bas-relief, they said something about you that “Oh, apparently they are preparing a new mayor of Odessa. That this is Zhukov’s protector...” But now it’s clear that no.

Bogdan Giganov: I am absolutely not Trukhanov’s person...

Valentin Filippov: But we don’t know here

Bogdan Giganov: I was always in an ideological struggle with him... You mention land issues, for example, which means you understand how the Odessa city council works. I haven’t had a single vote during my entire tenure, not only with the “Trust in Deeds” group, which belongs by right of ownership to the Odessa mayor, because when they want, they get together and do what they want, such a closed club of interests... not a single vote with them. All my votes do not disagree with my inner convictions.

I supported land issues extremely rarely and not as a bloc, when both good and bad were there, land in Arcadia should be allocated, and land would be allocated for some kind of social sanatorium. No, I don’t have this even once, not on any issue. I am ready to report on every vote...

And how many activists, what kind of war I have with them, no one could show anything. They burned my car because they blocked the construction of the 411th battery, again. Well, you’re an Odessa resident, you understand that the 411th battery is a holy place for Odessa residents. And when a construction company of the same name, I don’t want to do advertising or anti-advertising for it, wanted to develop a detailed plan for the territory and build 200 square meters there in an oak grove right next to the memorial - this is a crime...

Valentin Filippov: But they have already laid their eyes on it, they will fight for it.

Bogdan Giganov: No, thank God 4 years have passed since that time, or 3.

Valentin Filippov: Well, thank God. I want to remind you, for example, you say “for a sanatorium”... I remember how the Rossiya sanatorium was given over to a cardiology clinic for Odessa residents, where they would treat heart diseases for free and perform complex heart surgeries and all that. Today we know what is on the site of the Rossiya sanatorium.

Bogdan Giganov: We know, yes, completely at home. This is also a sore subject. In general, there is a long history of these taps.

Valentin Filippov: This is a long-term story.

Bogdan Giganov: In front of me, in this cadence they are discussing the topic of two sanatoriums. This is the “Krasnye Zori” sanatorium, which is in ruins, we understand that the Ukrainian health resort is doing some kind of dirty work there, some kind of behind-the-scenes work, I would say. They either want to sell it more profitably or something else, but we and our colleagues are doing our best to block this. And the Lermontovsky sanatorium.

Valentin Filippov: Well, “Lermontovsky” started a long time ago.

Bogdan Giganov: We swore, fought, whatever we did there, and went to Kyiv, something else... They gave it to the soldiers. The warriors say: “We will not build it up, we will develop it.” Why did the soldiers have a sanatorium? “We will treat ATO soldiers there.” Only not a single ATO officer there underwent any rehabilitation, I was now dealing with this issue. A small piece of land has been beautifully cut off, the trees are already starting to be cut down. This is what our Ministry of Defense does. Do you understand?

Valentin Filippov: Yes.

Bogdan Giganov: And it’s all very sad. When you are alone, well, at most there are 3-4 of us, maybe 5, people who are not ready to put up with it, it is very difficult. And when, for example, we remembered, I will again give an example of this bas-relief, because the second one was also dismantled.

Valentin Filippov: Yes.

Bogdan Giganov: If in the first case there was still, as you understand, a document, because it was signed directly by the balance holder, and it is the Ministry of Defense that signs the dismantling document. That is, he signs it to these activists, there was some kind of legal background, it was impossible to fight with them.

In the case of Novoselsky, the last bas-relief that was demolished, it seems, a month or a month and a half ago, there really could have been a fight there. I was there alone. There were 40 or 60 of these activists, pushing and doing whatever they wanted. Not only was there not a single representative of the authorities, there was not a single person who wanted to help in any way. Then, of course, everyone came to the reception. They came and expressed a desire to help... “Unfortunately, I didn’t know.” Well, you know what it’s like to wave your fists after a fight.

On the other hand, I understand, maybe I don’t want to blame anyone, I understand that it’s hard when you see these bald faces with swastikas, it’s hard, of course, to make a decision to go fight with them.

Valentin Filippov: You can fight with them, but then they’ll put you in prison.

Bogdan Giganov: Here, here, here. And I’ll tell you, now even when there was a regional OPZZH conference on electing leaders, when these idiots began to simply block the entry of activists, leaders, etc. etc., how did it happen? I received, well, probably five calls from our local good, powerful security agencies: “Let us come and break them all.” I say: “Guys, you can’t do this, you understand. First, we will have a provocation of some kind of serious brawl. Plus there were about 60-70 of them there. The same wall-to-wall approach can lead to some disastrous consequences. Next, you understand that it’s not them who will be closed, but you who will be closed.”

And, despite my excuses that I talked to these people, that it is not necessary, that it is not necessary, that it is not necessary, many of them still came. And in the end there were, well, not to lie, about 100-120 people. These are just people who, yes, were related.

That is, this, you know, is not like before, there, they drove away the titushki, something else there... No, this is not this scenario. And it’s good that the police were there, because we immediately began to disturb the police and say: “Guys, an uncontrollable process is going on, to put it mildly, come, please, help, because it may happen that the residents of Odessa are just... here it’s all throat... they’ll just knock you on the head and then you’ll go around being offended that someone there will lose a chair.” Therefore, everything is very ambiguous with these comrades, but the fact that there are people ready to just get up and attack is 100%.

Valentin Filippov: The ataman is missing... Do you know? There are few real violent ones... You be careful there, because really, how do they fight this? Atamans are removed.

Bogdan Giganov: I'm not violent, and I don't invite anyone.

Valentin Filippov: And then there are the people themselves... Remember this Forest Gump or whatever his name is? He ran somewhere, and a whole crowd was already running after him.

Bogdan Giganov: Yes. This is a problem for him too. Therefore, a party is needed, because there, well, there seems to be no time to engage in some kind of collection of movements. But I remember the same Forrest Gump. He ran and everyone ran after him. He stopped, left - everyone went away, they didn’t know what to do.

You see, it shouldn’t be like that either. There must be a structure. That’s why the only party that I’ve now paid attention to that more or less does this somehow systematically is the Opplatform. And the people are understandable, and the principles and ideas are understandable to everyone. And people are starting to catch up, I mean it seriously. This is very strange, but I have not seen such a desire, such a number of people, to join the party in all 5 years.

Valentin Filippov: Fine. Thank you so much, good luck there, take care of yourself. And God grant that everything can be resolved peacefully somehow rationally, with the help of dialogue. Both in the city and in the country. Yes, and maybe on our continent.

Bogdan Giganov: Good luck to you, thank you and don’t get sick.

Valentin Filippov: Bye Bye.