Center deputy, insiders allege, was drafted into Medvedchuk's party under threat that his father would stay in jail
Weeks after dumping a pro-presidential parliamentary faction and to join a new centrist group, Kharkiv-native Mykhail Dobkin switched back to another pro-presidential faction after facing what colleagues call pressure from the highest ranks of Ukrainian power – and to save his father.
Parliament speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn announced June 2 that Dobkin had quit the diverse Center faction, composed mainly of deputies elected on single-mandate tickets, and joined the influential Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (united), headed by Presidential Administration Head Viktor Medvedchuk. Prior to joining the Center group, Dobkin was a member of the pro-presidential Democratic Initiatives faction.
Dobkin has so far declined comment, but his decision to join SDPU(u) sparked protest amongst deputies, some of whom alleged that forces close to the Presidential Administration used brute force to intimidate their colleague by arresting his father, who resides in Kharkiv.
“His father was released just as he announced his entrance into SDPU(u),” hollered Our Ukraine member Volodymyr Yavorivsky in parliament after Lytvyn announced Dobkin’s decision.
Yavorivsky, who is also head of the Ukrainian Writer’s Union, did not elaborate as to who arrested Dobkin’s father, nor could he explain the reasons for the arrest.
Dobkin was unavailable for comment, and his press service said they would not answer questions until Dobkin could be reached.
In an interview with the Glavred.info Website, Center faction leader Vasyl Havrylyuk accused the Presidential Administration of using pressure to coerce Dobkin and other deputies into switching alliances by joining the pro-presidential camp.
The press service of the Presidential Administration also declined to comment on the allegations.
SDPU(u) member Volodymyr Shepetin, also a Kharkiv native, said he did not know anything about any pressure imposed upon Dobkin, though he welcomed his arrival into the faction.
“I think this will be a good addition to our faction,” Shepetin said.
Stanislav Kosinov, another member of the Center faction from Kharkiv, said it was too early to know exactly why Dobkin left his faction, as “Dobkin has not publicly stated why,” though he and other members of the Center faction suspect Dobkin might have faced the same kind of pressure many deputies are facing.
Kosinov said his Center group presented a declaration in parliament June 2, saying that their deputies were being pressured into joining pro-presidential factions.
Asked if the pressure involved tax investigations specifically targeted at individuals close to deputies, Kosinov said: “You know what kind of pressure.”
