On March 17, Ukraine’s State Security Service (SBU) filed a criminal case alleging embezzlement of state funds and abuse of power.
Zelenbud workers wore brass knuckles under their gloves as they helped Kharkiv supporters of the Party of the Regions, led by Mayor Mykhaylo Dobkin and City Council Secretary Hennadiy Kernes, demolish a fence behind which a supermarket construction project began.
The machinery used for destroying the fence was the property of the city’s utilities management department, and 28 locals fell victim as a result.
That is the way the mayor maintains order in a city of 1.5 million residents.
For the mayor, the case was a matter of principle – not to allow local businessmen, and political opponents from Our Ukraine at that (namely brothers Oleksandr and Vladyslav Protas), to build a supermarket on the site of a children’s playground.
Investigators recently concluded that Kharkiv city council officials illegally spent Hr 1.5 million ($210,000) of the city’s budget. Overall illegal spending amounted to Hr 2.4 million ($480,000).
Ukraine’s State Security Service (SBU) filed a criminal case on March 17 alleging the embezzlement of state funds and the misuse of state powers.
The next morning, SBU employees arrived at the mayor’s office to remove files related to the criminal case.
However because Kernes refused to sign a resolution authorizing access to the files, members of the special Alpha division were compelled to use force.
Dobkin labeled the Alpha guards’ actions a “provocation” and claimed they were the work of Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc Deputy Oleksandr Feldman, who has his eye on the mayor’s chair.
Feldman doesn’t deny the fact he would run for mayor if an election were to be held. However, Feldman claimed the conflict has nothing to do with party politics.
“I don’t care whose representative will rule Kharkiv – be it a Regions, an Our Ukraine member, or a Tymoshenko Bloc representative,” Feldmam said. “I’m fighting to rid the city of Dobkin the pathological liar and his secretary Kernes, who de facto fulfills the mayor’s functions. Our team has simply brought all of this mayhem to the forefront, in order to show the true face of the Kharkiv city administration.”
On March 19, Kharkiv’s mayor was accused of additional charges. Under the initiative of Tymoshenko Bloc deputy Hryhoriy Omelchenko, a parliamentary committee was convened to investigate the alleged link between the drug trade and Kharkiv’s government officials.
Omelchenko, who claims to have documents offering proof, refrained from commenting before obtaining the investigation results.
However in January, Omelchenko’s fellow party member Oleh Liashko, during the televised talk show “Duel,” stated, “I received a letter which claims that [Dobkin] together with Kernes cut off someone’s ears.”
The details of the incident date back to June 2006 when a Party of Regions deputy of Kharkiv’s Moskovskiy District Council, namely Oleh Medvedev, became the victim of a vendetta after the deputy apparently supplied a batch of low-quality cocaine he was dealing.
In addition to dealing in drugs and “organizing mass disruption,” Dobkin’s opponents are accusing him of land-related machinations, particularly the arbitrary cancellation of previously ratified city legislation allocating land plots.
Analysts are also critical of Dobkin’s two-year mayoral reign.
“The government has discredited itself – bad roads, leaky plumbing, elevators that don’t function, and rising prices for utilities,” said Oleksandr Romaniuk, a Kharkiv political scientist. “All the government does is sell municipal land at the highest price possible.”
The SBU scandal is just a public relations ploy to show “we are being hounded,” Romaniuk added.
“And our people are like martyrs,” Romaniuk said. “Kharkiv’s citizens are now set against this government. They think it was a mistake to elect Dobkin as mayor, and his ratings are falling.”
The city government is trying to associate itself with the Party of Regions, whose ratings remain high, and is banking on its support, he said.
However in Romaniuk’s opinion, the association will negatively influence the rating of the political party itself.
“I can’t forgive Dobkin for one thing – he was elected mayor for being a member of the Party of Regions and promised not to increase rates for utilities,” complained Tetiana Ladykina, a high school teacher. “But as soon as he was elected, rates became among the highest in Ukraine. And a trip on the Metro jumped from 50 to 75 kopecks.”
“He personally promised that the roads will be ideal,” complained Mykhailo Synytsyn, an accountant. “He even invited various companies from Donetsk. They dawdled and then just left, while we’re left with all these potholes again. It’s impossible to drive.”
Dobkin considers the preterm mayoral election an issue being pushed strictly by representatives of the Tymoshenko Bloc, who are in the minority in the City Council and don’t enjoy overwhelming support.
“We have 100 deputies in Kharkiv’s city council, 12 of which are from Tymoshenko Bloc, and of these 12, 6 are representatives of the AVEK company, the honorary president of which is Tymoshenko Bloc deputy Oleksandr Feldman,” Dobkin said.
Because of the scandal surrounding the mayor’s office, Kharkiv’s City Council was forced to present an unplanned activity report to its citizens.
A week ago, Kernes announced that more technical equipment was procured during Dobkin’s twoyear administration than during the administrations of the two previous mayors: 90 trolleybuses, 10 trams and 60 ambulances.
According to Kernes, Kharkiv’s citizens are being brainwashed by the mayor’s opponents through solicited material aimed at discrediting Dobkin in the media.
“We have evidence that shows that $30 million per year has already been spent on such intrigues,” Kernes told Novynar. “This just demonstrates what types of resources are being utilized so that one clan could plant their man in the mayor’s chair.”
Dobkin’s supporters dismiss all accusations pointed at the mayor, particularly those alleging his ties to illicit drugs.
If preterm mayoral elections are announced, there will be no lack of candidates.
Those interested include Feldman, the Protas brothers, current deputy head of the oblast state administration Volodymyr Babayev, businessman Yuriy Sapronov, deputy mayor Oleksandr Kryvtsov, and former mayor Volodymyr Shumilkin; the latter being a favorite among the citizens of Kharkiv.
On the other hand, Dobkin’s political rivals could also include the Communist Alla Aleksandrovska, and Party of the Regions members Inna Bohoslovska and Dmytro Sviatash.
Nevertheless, Dobkin himself is confident in his electoral victory, if preterm elections take place.
“The ratings of my opponents are insignificant, and I have nothing to worry about,” declared the mayor.
Furthermore, according to experts, the Regions will not give up Kharkiv so easily.
“Unlike in Kyiv, the election issue in Kharkiv will be much more difficult, if not impossible, to settle,” according to Vadym Karasiov, director of the Institute of Global Strategies.
