Dmytro Romaniuk, former deputy head of Ivano-Frankivsk Regional State Administration, has been hired by Ukraine’s state-owned rail enterprise Ukrzaliznytsia as chief of government relations department.
“Ukrzaliznytsia needs to improve cooperation with public authorities. That is why we strengthen our team with an experienced specialist and hope for fruitful joint work and fast results,” Ivan Yuryk, acting chairman of the board of Ukrzaliznytsia said in the press release.
Although Romaniuk has extensive experience both in government bodies and private business, he is mostly famous due to a small incident that happened 16 years ago. Back then he was a 17-year-old university student in Ivano-Frankivsk.
On Sept. 23, 2004, the disgraced ex-President Viktor Yanukovych, at that time prime minister and a presidential candidate in an upcoming election, went on a campaign swing through Ivano-Frankivsk. Seen as a pro-Russian candidate, Yanukovych was unpopular in western Ukraine, which mostly sided with his opponent, Viktor Yushchenko. His arrival in Ivano-Frankivsk was met with protests.
As he emerged from his bus, Yanukovych was hit near his right lapel with an egg, thrown by a protester, Romaniuk.
Then, something strange happened. About three seconds after being hit, he fell to the sidewalk in a swoon, as his bodyguards surrounded him. Video of the incident showed that the tall and heavily built Yanukovych at first had been unfazed by the “attack.”
Then-Prime Minister and presidential candidate Viktor Yanukovych collapses after being hit by an egg on the campaign route in Ivano-Frankivsk in September 2004.
Many have concluded that Yanukovych was faking the fall for political points. The video of the incident went viral and is still popular on the internet, along with other famous videos of Yanukovych, such as the one showing him being hit by a wreath or struggling to pronounce Ukraine’s new tourism slogan “turn on Ukraine.”
After the egg incident, Yanukovych was taken to a hospital but swiftly released. He proceeded to win the allegedly rigged election, have the presidency slip through his fingers due to the Orange Revolution, then win the presidency after all in 2010, only to be ousted by the EuroMaidan Revolution in 2014.
After his brief encounter with Yanukovych in 2004, Romaniuk received two higher educations, became a Ph.D. in economics and changed many jobs.
The media calls him “the one who egged Yanukovych.” He admits he is tired of it.
“I don’t like to talk about eggs. It has been going on for 16 years, you know,” Romaniuk told the Kyiv Post. “There is much more important news than such a trifle.”
Romaniuk came to Ukrzaliznytsia to strengthen the government relations department team as the company faces lots of challenges, including economic decline due to COVID-19 pandemic. Enterprise’s number one priority, he says, is to ensure the operating liquidity of the company.
“There are issues that need interaction and proper communication with public authorities. Firstly, we need to reform the principle of taxation of the land used by Ukrzaliznytsia,” said Romaniuk.
Also, among the tasks for the first year of the government relations team’s work are to create and ensure a model of effective interaction with public authorities like Verkhovna Rada, the relevant committee on transport and infrastructure, the Ministry of Infrastructure, and local authorities.
“Much of the work involves working with local governments to compensate for concessional travel”, Romaniuk told the Kyiv Post. “Currently, local governments are abusing the legal field, which allows them to fail to fulfill their obligations to Ukrzaliznytsia”.
Read more: Ukrzaliznytsia launches passenger transportation between regions
Ukrzaliznytsia is regularly criticized for its obsolete and non-transparent organization that has allowed corruption to flourish. Its equipment and rail lines are outdated, and its workforce of 280,000 employees is bloated and inefficient.
The dilapidated railway system is in dire need of modernization, experts say, and the government has often said that its modernization is a priority.
