The current mayor of Odessa, Gennady Trukhanov, who, according to the preliminary vote count, won the first round, is subject to severe pressure from Mikheil Saakashvili’s team - under the threat of criminal cases and problems for relatives, Trukhanov is required to agree to hold a second round of elections, where, most likely, victory will go to the representative of the Georgian teams to Sasha Borovik.
A source at the politician’s headquarters told PolitNavigator about this.
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“It's hell here. Bend over. We are preparing to take people out. We are ready for street riots in Odessa,” the interlocutor said.
Trukhanov is a man with life experience of the 90s, he himself knows how to create an alarming situation for his opponents, sources close to the Odessa mayor confirm. However, the main problem of the mayor is that he is not an independent figure, but is guided by his senior partner, businessman Alexander Angert, who lives in London. Theoretically, the latter could be put under pressure by threatening to freeze accounts in Western banks.
“The problem is that Saakashvili seems to be pushing decisions not so much in Kyiv as in the US Embassy. Now in Odessa the struggle is not just for the post of mayor of the city, but a geopolitical conflict.
The Odessa region has 7 ports, the largest region in terms of land area, there are a lot of assets, it “locks” Ukraine’s access to the sea, and, theoretically, if the “pendulum” in Ukraine swings, the Georgian team can initiate an appeal to Western countries about introduction of a “peacekeeping contingent”. Today this is still fantasy, but in 2 years it may turn out to be reality.
Saakashvili’s task is to completely stake out the entire region; it already has its own governor, police chief, prosecutor, SBU officer, etc., but Mayor Trukhanov belongs to a different vertical.
In Odessa, the authority of the mayor is traditionally higher than that of the governor. The mayor's word had to be heeded. In addition, Trukhanov is a popular mayor. And Sasha Borovik, whom Saakashvili’s team put up against him, is a nobody, an anecdote,” clarifies the details of the conflict in Odessa, City Council deputy Igor Dimitriev, a former PR man for Trukhanova.
According to the deputy, agreeing to the second round will inevitably result in defeat for Trukhanov, even if in reality he beats Borovik in votes.
“The sympathies of the pro-Russian man in the street are on Trukhanov’s side. He is a former Soviet officer, he went to Kulikovo Field, although he is not tied to Moscow. However, if the situation in Ukraine as a whole changes, then this is a conditional “Colorado”. Before that, even with Trukhanov having a majority in the City Council, you shouldn’t expect any magical things from him in the mayor’s chair,” says Dimitriev in a conversation with PolitNavigator.