I happened to be among the first visitors of Mezhyhirya on Feb. 22, just hours after Yanukovych fled the country. Walking among the throngs of my countrymen who arrived to the scene after the disgraced president’s escape felt like a victory. But it was merely a fragile breather before the dramatic events in Crimea and the Donbas began to unfold.
For many people, including myself, the fate of the former presidential estate, is symbolic of what will happen to Ukraine as well. In a way, the country faces a choice between transparency and shadiness, integrity or resorting to old corrupt schemes, giving the society an opportunity to act, or re-launching the same crony capitalism economy that has been the trademark of the country.
Since February, the legal status of the residence has been in limbo. After a political resolution on nationalization passed by the parliament on Feb. 22, no concrete steps have been taken to upgrade its legal status, despite the fact that the Cabinet was mandated to take further decisions.
It does not mean that the estate was in a mess, but no thanks to the government. Activists of Automaidan, a mobile offshoot of EuroMaidan Revolution, took care of the residence from the moment it was abandoned by Yanukovych’s loyal guard. They did a reasonable job at preventing mass looting, and maintaining it in good shape.
In fact, the place quickly turned into a public park that has become a favorite weekend spot for the Kyivans and a popular tourist destination.
Activists started the sale of tickets – dubbed “charity contributions,” as there’s no legal entity to collect the proceeds – ranging from Hr 20 (general admission for adults) to Hr 200 for a guided tour to Honka, Yanukovych’s newest and most luxurious mansion. Given its popularity, the estate is now capable of financing most of its operating expenses. With a comprehensive business plan in place, the place is likely to be self-sustainable, according to Denys Tarakhkotelyk, the commandant of Mezhyhirya who has led the initiative.
But things have not been all rosy in the past few weeks. First the prosecutor general issued a controversial order that the estate was evidence in a criminal case against Ukraine’s former president, and thus needs to be vacated, frozen and sealed.
Meanwhile, Agriculture Minister Ihor Shvayka came up with an initiative to appoint a state company under his watch to run the estate. This way, Shvayka argued, he could attempt to keep the place still open to the public.
This scenario poses several major risks. Government-controlled companies are not exactly an epitome of transparency and efficiency. But even assuming that this case would be different, allowing a state-run enterprise to take control over Mezhyhirya without a prior inventory is – if not a license to steal – a temptation that would be hard to resist.
As if to give those doubts more flesh, the local health authority periodically makes attempts to close the residence, citing potential danger to visitors coming from poor upkeep of the animals.
If Mezhyhirya is taken over by a state enterprise in a non-transparent manner, it would not be surprising to see that the entire residence or some parts of it closed to public, and even taken over by some government official. In fact, it can even be gradually privatized again.
But Ukraine’s government still has a chance to resolve the issue in the best – and very public – way possible by turning it into a public park run by a non-government institution formed out of activists on the spot, other non-government organizations and local community or other vested parties.
This way, none of the sides would have the majority of votes in the new entity. This public board would be in charge of budgeting decisions and appointing the executives running the facility on day-to-day basis, while ownership of the land and all the assets would still be retained by the state.
Crucially, prior to entering any such arrangement, the place has to undergo a thorough audit with the complete list of all the assets has to be made public.
By doing it this way, virtually at no cost to the taxpayers, the government will turn one of the dirtiest pages in Ukraine’s history into a success story of returning of the most notorious assets of Ukraine’s former ruler back to the public in a literal sense. Last but not the least, it will make its appeals to Western governments to confiscate and return assets of the president and his close circle back to Ukraine a lot more convincing.
Vlad Lavrov is a Kyiv Post staff writer and a member of YanukovychLeaks project, investigating and publishing the documents found at the Mezhyhirya residence. He is also a part of the initiative to develop a legal mechanism of transferring the estate under public control.
Vlad Lavrov: Mezhyhirya still a symbol of Ukraine
Stevan Dojcinovic, an investigative reporter for the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project and the Center for Investigative Journalism in Serbia, lectures outside a guest house on the luxury Mezhyhirya estate where deposed President Viktor Yanukovych lived.
For more than four years, overthrown President Viktor Yanukovych’s billion-dollar Mezhyhirya estate has been the symbol of everything that’s been wrong with Ukraine. It was one of the most tightly guarded places in the country. It is a 140-hectare residence with a murky ownership structure and billions’ worth of extravagant purchases, likely to have been made at the taxpayers’ cost.
