The hottest race on these elections in Kyiv is expected to be in Obolon district 217 where the popular commander of the Azov Battalion, known for his ultra-nationalist views, is running against former Party of Regions deputy and controversial construction company manager in a company of other 26 candidates.
Self-nominated
candidate Andriy Biletskiy is a commander of Azov, interior ministry special
police regiment based in Mariupol and involved in anti-terrorist operation in
the south of Donetsk Oblast, controlled by Ukraine. His battalion conducted several
successful military operations, including liberation of Mariupol from
Russia-backed separatists in early May.
Biletskiy’s
agenda for parliament is brief and consists only of three sentences: “Strong
nation! Honest government! Powerful state!”
Kharkiv
resident Biletskiy is also a leader of the ultra-right organization Patriot of
Ukraine and spent more than two years in jail for trumped-up charges widely
believed to be political persecution by former President Viktor Yanukovych. He was
released only after EuroMaidan Revolution and Yanukovych’s flight to Russai. After that
he decided to go to war and founded the Azov Battalion.
There are
questions, however, about Biletskiy’s ultra-nationalist views, which he laid out in
an article outlining the ideology of the Patriot of Ukraine as racial social
nationalism for Ukrainians. Quotes from this article became viral on the internet ahead of the
Oct. 26 vote. For example, “…treatment
of our national body should begin with Racial cleaning of the Nation,” “The historical
mission of our Nation, in this critical century, is to head and lead White
Nations of the whole world in the last crusade for their existence.”
Despite
large number of candidates in this district, for those who support patriotic
forces but far from ultra-nationalist views, the alternatives are scarce.
Maidan
activist and adviser to the interior minister, Zoryan Shkiryak, was nominated by
Arseniy Yatsenyuk’s People’s Front but withdrew in favor of Biletskiy.
The Bloc of President Petro Poroshenko, the leading party according to polls, did not nominate any
candidate in this district. Lviv Oblast resident Volodymyr Kozak, a member of
Poroshenko’s party, is running as self-nominated candidate and is not
considered a strong contestant.
Incumbent
member of parliament from this district Oleksandr Bryhinets could have won in
his constituency again. Instead, Batkivshchyna party nominated in this district less famous Volodymyr Starovoyt, counselor at
the Styl-Invest investment company. While Bryhinets in running under Bloc of Petro Poroshenko’s party list.
In this
district there are candidates from Oleh Lyashko’s Radical Party, Anatoliy
Hrytsenko’s Civil Position, Sergiy Tigipko’s Strong Ukraine and the Opposition
Bloc, among others. One of 16 candidates registered in these elections under
name Darth Vader in honor of a famous movie character is also running in this
constituency.
Meanwhile
the front-runner, apart from Biletskiy, is considered to be
Vadym Stolar, the business development director at Kyyivoblzhytlobud, a
construction company. To make voters’ choice more difficult there are also two
candidates named Vadym Stoliar, with one letter different in their surnames from
Stolar.
Stolar was
elected to Verkhovna Rada in 2007 under the party list of the Party of Regions
but in 2012 elections lost in this district to Bryhinets.
Stolar was reportedly
a co-founder of a company which was a part of Elita-Tsentr, an infamous
construction group of companies that cheated dozens private investors in Kyiv.
Stolar many times denied his involvement in this housing scandal. His name can
be found on a table that hangs on the building of Museum of Kyiv. It reads that
Stolar and another businessman granted this building in downtown Kyiv to city
community. But in fact, Stolar and his partners intended to build a skyscraper
in historical party of the city on the spot of the green zone. When local
community started protesting the construction was stopped and the premise, that
never became a high-rise, was transferred to the city.
Point
number one in Stolar’s agenda is well-equipped strong professional army which
can provide peace and security. Point number two is patriotism.
“Patriotism
is a base for development of any state,” Stolar’s electoral program reads. “It
is also important to support a bold initiative of the new Ukrainian government
that adopts responsible decisions in a confrontation with a strong enemy.”
Election watchdog
OPORA reported on Oct. 17 that candidate Stolar laid asphalt, painted fences,
installed new post boxes, supplied soil for flowerbeds, fixed playgrounds in
his district. These facts with exact addresses were listed in Stolar’s
promotional leaflets. OPORA said such actions can be viewed as an indirect vote
buying. But Stolar’s representatives replied to OPORA that all addresses need
to be checked as it could be a provocation against their candidate.
Election
campaign in this district has not been without a scandal.
On Oct. 22, unknown men made graffiti on asphalt and walls in which they combined fascists
swastika and xenophobic expressions with symbols of Azov Battalion.
Representatives of Azov arrived on the spot to stop the hooligans but were
beaten by two dozens of strongly built men. Police detained violators and found
traumatic weapons with them. The same day Biletskiy gave a press conference
together with interior minister advisor Anton Herashchenko and blamed Stolar in
black PR campaign against him and his battalion. Stolar’s representative told
OPORA that “Stolar is a very decent man and all these are dirty provocations.”
Oksana Lyachynska is a Kyiv Post staff writer.
