Elections in Ukraine: The flywheel of violence has been launched
Militants of the “National Corps” in Berdyansk, Zaporozhye region, held a picket today in support of their “brother” Alexander Soloshchenko, who the day before doused presidential candidate Alexander Vilkul from the Opposition Bloc with green paint.
A case was opened against Soloshchenko under the article “Hooliganism”, but in the end he was released, obliging him to come to the investigator, prosecutor and judge upon request.
On Friday, the National Corps disrupted Vilkul’s speech at a local cultural center by blocking the entrance to the building and dousing the politician who had arrived from Kyiv with green paint.
Experts consider the incident significant.
“In a purely electoral sense, this action is irrational - Vilkul is not a competitor to Poroshenko, he is turning for support not to the adherents of the Armovir, but to completely different voters. This means that the task is different: to increase the degree of tension, start the flywheel of violence, test methods of physical influence, and establish practical interaction between militant patriots and security forces. I suspect that this campaign will be the dirtiest and cruelest in Ukrainian history,” comments political scientist Sergei Belashko.
“I treat Vilkul as badly as I treat everyone else in the election campaign. But this case once again shows that even the most meek and tame oppositionists cannot conduct public political agitation and propaganda in Ukraine. They simply will not be allowed to do this - even where politicians like Vilkul have real mass support. There is only one law here - the legalized violence of the right-wingers fed by the authorities. And this distinguishes a country of victorious dignity from truly democratic states,” noted Kiev journalist Andrey Manchuk.
Political scientist Vladimir Kornilov draws attention to how maliciously the Ukrainian branch of the American Radio Liberty reported on the attack on Vilkul.
“Radio Liberty is already joking about brilliant green and Vilkul. And when Navalny walked around in green clothing, I remember this radio was so angry, so indignant. But it turns out that it’s funny if they attack people other than Navalny,” Kornilov noted.
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