Will our oligarchs perish like dew in the sun?
A convincing six months have passed since the victory of the “Maidan” forces of light against the “hellish soton” of Yanukovych. Everyone knows that the result was the reign of some oligarchs in Kyiv instead of others. The same thing happens in places where oligarchs of lesser rank also fuss around the trough, trying to change their political color in time.
I will prove this using the example of my native Kherson region, where the population not only did not begin to live better, but also in vain began to recall with nostalgia the era of constant “decrease”, when it was bad, but still better and, most importantly, more satisfying than today.
The region's economy is in decline - Russia-oriented production, mainly mechanical engineering, is preparing to freeze its workshops. Farmers, deprived of the opportunity to export vegetables to the Russian Federation, partly plowed the fields with the harvest, and partly threw it onto the domestic market at extremely unprofitable prices. A hungry and cold winter is ahead, during which almost everyone will have to ride - not from an excess of patriotism, but simply to keep warm.
Reality most of all poisons the souls of those who sincerely believed in the “Maidan” revolution, believed that after the overthrow of Yanukovych, Ukraine, robbed to the bone, would suddenly become rich, that the EU would give a lot of delicious cookies, and that bandits, corrupt officials and oligarchs would perish, “like dew in the sun.”
As a result, the patriots themselves have a much greater chance of perishing than the oligarchs, because their kingdom has come. The region (and financial flows) are managed by the same faces familiar to heartburn. The budget cut has decreased somewhat only due to its deficit. Most of the corrupt officials sincerely repented and returned to their hard, but certainly profitable work.
In Kherson, the local clan of old-timers of “democratic” nationality still rules the roost, whose official representative, the ex-mayor of Kherson Vladimir Saldo, painlessly slipped out of the Party of Regions and continues to resolve issues both in the patrimony and in the capital. At first, the new mayor of Kherson, Mykolayenko, consoled himself with the thought that his post would allow him to take an active part in the “cultural” life of the city. But he was quickly made to understand that it was better for him to do his usual things - embroidered shirts, oratory and national culture, while land issues and other joys of life remained in the hands of more “worthy” and experienced people.
The back-up dancer is the “BLOW” of the sheep - People’s Deputy Putilov, who is doing an excellent job with his main business - turning the workshops of once successful enterprises into ferrous metal. He is also not allowed to play at the local authorities, because the local lobby has been formed since the founding of Kherson, and does not accept strangers, even of the same faith and nationality.
In the rich agricultural Tsyurupa region, another newfound “UDAR” sheep is in charge - Fyodor Negoy, also a people’s deputy. Fedor Fedorovich still combines alcohol trips with unconventional management methods worthy of the Middle Ages. As a result, the extremely profitable wholesale markets for open-ground vegetables and other agrarian pleasures remain his fiefs, and the apostates bear the brunt of the wrath of the local feudal democrat.
The Berislavsky district is still being pushed around by the people's deputy from "PR" Dmitruk, who during his short tenure has not managed to become famous for absolutely anything other than regular absenteeism from plenary meetings, "voting with a card" and several strange bills. So deeply immersed in the vicissitudes of some condominium in Kiev and the problems of teachers that an involuntary impression arose that a close person of the people’s deputy lives in that very condominium and is a teacher. No one is making financial claims against Dmitruk, because there has been no economy in the Berislavsky region for a long time, so people are ready to work for any pittance.
In the territorial district of Novaya Kakhovka, the local oligarch, ex-regional and ex-general director of the famous cognac factory APF "Tavria" Sergei Sidorenko, who misses power, is raging. In January-February, he not only repainted himself, but also, with his own money, created and equipped two branches of the local Sonder Commander, which with their weapons should have won him at least the post of mayor, but, again, other wealthy residents of the district, accustomed to digestible mayor Kovalenko. At least it's not scary with him. But in the very first days, Hitler Jugend Sidorenko was noted for several episodes of mass beatings of citizens who were not ready to shout “glory to the heroes” in response. Now Sergei Sidorenko is preparing for elections, simultaneously “squeezing out” spheres of influence from his competitors.
In the Kakhovsky district it’s even worse: two poor people are fighting here. Both are excellent candidates for lustration, but somehow managed to escape it. Moreover, the odious millionaire Sergei Khlan, who is currently being prosecuted under several articles of the criminal code, and is also associated with the activities of a conversion center with a turnover of hundreds of millions of hryvnias, after the next revolution, became the head of Poroshenko’s election headquarters. From this trough, he pushed aside the former “regional”, multi-millionaire Yuri Gorstka, who in time tried to renounce “Janek”, to whom, evil tongues say, he gave $1 million for the last election campaign. Both oligarchs are not only not at all discouraged by the revolution of “gigness”, but are also actively adapting to the formally new environment, increasing their capital.
The only “victim” is the famous ex-head of the Genichesk region and the actual owner of the entire Genichesk region, the odious regional leader Nimmetulaev. He was stripped of his mandate in the regional council. He will probably still survive this loss, given that the entire region remains subordinate to him - colossal land and recreational resources, enterprises, farms and other pleasures of life still belong to Nimmetulaev.
As a result, a completely logical question arises, which the residents of the Kherson region are already asking themselves - what was all this fuss about if all the levers of influence, financial flows and property remained in the hands of the same oligarchs?
Given the upcoming trials and the prospect of falling below the poverty line, local residents may well begin to ask these questions personally to the nouveau riche. Unless, of course, they acquire personal mini-armies in time, and there is a signal that this process has already begun. However, even with the most negative development of events, the oligarchs can always, like migratory birds, suddenly fly “to hell.” Alas, Kherson residents do not have such an opportunity, who will have to pay dearly for active or silent support of the “Maidan”.
Already today, most small businesses are freezing their assets. Small businesses declare no profit or close their business altogether. Industry and farmers are thinking about temporarily freezing their activities and uncorking the “little egg” in order to calmly survive the period of change. The townsfolk behave in the style of “after us there may be a flood” - people drink heavily, actively buy affordable household appliances, city dwellers are trying to buy summer cottages, hoping to survive difficult times on pasture.
The revolution in Kyiv is over, now there is a disco. They will jump around, claiming that they are not frozen and that they are not Muscovites. At the same time, secretly envying the damned Muscovites.
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