Zelensky’s party divided amid allegations of compromise with Russia
When the presidential administration decided to negotiate
with Russian-backed militants who control parts of Ukraine’s east, it proved
extremely controversial.
It also sparked tensions within Servant of the People,
President Volodymyr Zelensky’s political party, which holds the majority of
seats in parliament.
Now, some loyal lawmakers are seeking to form a group in
support of the president.
The Kyiv Post obtained a document, sent around to the
Servant of the People lawmakers, that announces the creation of a group within
the party, called Democratic Platform.
According to the manifesto, the group’s priorities are to
support Zelensky’s reforms, protect Ukraine’s sovereignty without compromising
on national interests and to combat corruption and the influence of oligarchs.
It’s not year clear how many lawmakers will join the group.
The idea appears to be to have the group serve as the
backbone of the party, which was hastily formed and is being weakened by
outside influences and internal disagreements.
The manifesto was authored by Mykyta Poturaev, a Servant of
the People lawmaker responsible for the party’s communications strategy,
according to the Microsoft Word document’s properties.
Poturaev confirmed to the Kyiv Post that he sought to create
a group of lawmakers who will support Zelensky’s reforms. He said that he ran
the idea by the president and got his approval.
“There are shifting characters (in the party),” Poturaev
said.
If created, the group might serve two purposes.
The first is to counterbalance the influence of powerbrokers
like oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky, who controls a handful of lawmakers in the
party, including his business partners and former employees. They tend to vote
against the party line and publicly disagree with Zelensky’s administration and
the government.
The second is to unite and keep close those lawmakers who
support Zelensky but oppose some of his administration’s decisions.
The discussion of creating the group started right after 45
lawmakers from Servant of the People condemned the administration and its chief
of staff, Andriy Yermak, for deciding to create a so-called Advisory Council
that would include representatives of both Ukraine and the Russian-led
militants occupying parts of the eastern Donbas region. Many saw the decision
as legalizing the militants as an independent entity.
It wasn’t the only rift in the party. Separately, 19
lawmakers signed a demand to fire Serhiy Sivokho, a controversial advisor to
Oleksiy Danilov, head of the National Security and Defence Council. Sivokho, a
former comedian who worked with Zelensky on comedy shows before 2019, was
placed in charge of developing a program of reconciliation between the occupied
territories of Donbas and the rest of Ukraine.
He was criticized for statements that many see as echoing
Russian propaganda, such as referring to the war as “internal conflict.”
The initial rift
A major rift in the Servant of the People party occurred on
March 13, after Yermak stole the spotlight from a coronavirus-themed press
conference by announcing direct talks with Russian-led militants.
According to Yermak, Ukraine agreed to create an Advisory
Council which will include an equal number of representatives from Ukraine and
the Russian-occupied territories. The council will discuss the implementation
of the 2015 Minsk Agreement, including decentralization and local elections in
the occupied zone. The council’s rule book will be finalized in the upcoming
weeks. Its decisions are advisory only, with no legal status.
“We must agree on our position with representatives of the
non-controlled territories,” Yermak told journalists, sparking outrage among
those in attendance.
On the same day, 45 members of the Servant of the People
party made a joint statement saying that they disagree with the decision, which
drastically diverges from the country’s established policy of holding
negotiations only with the aggressor state, Russia, and not legitimizing its
proxies by negotiating with them.
The rebel lawmakers were later called into the president’s
office to explain their position, according to Yevhenia Kravchuk, the party’s
deputy head.
It’s not clear how many of those disagreeing with the
administration’s policy will join the new Democratic Platform group.
Counterbalancing Kolomoisky
The main argument for the group’s creation is to
counterbalance “shifting characters,” according to Poturaev.
“(Democratic Platform) will take harsh action against
attempts to fracture the (Servant of the People) faction, discredit progressive
Ukrainian politicians and obstruct the president’s and parliament’s reforms,”
the group’s proposed manifesto reads.
The Servant of the People party, which won 254 seats in the
parliament in July, includes several people with a connection to oligarch
Kolomoisky. The oligarch used to have business ties with Zelensky and provided
media support to his presidential campaign.
However, since the election, the oligarch has often been a
source of trouble for the president.
His aggressive campaign to get revenge for his former
business, PrivatBank, which was nationalized in 2016, undermined Ukraine’s
relations with International Monetary Fund, its biggest and most crucial
lender.
The state took control of the bank and bailed it out with taxpayer
money after a $5.5-billion hole was discovered in its ledgers. Now the
state-owned PrivatBank is suing its former owners in London, Tel Aviv, Geneva
and Kyiv to get back the money that it alleges they stole.
The oligarch denies accusations.
Apart from the civil suit, there are criminal investigations
into Kolomoisky’s alleged fraud that are being conducted by the National
Anti-Corruption Bureau. Lawmakers of the Servant of the People party who are
associated with Kolomoisky, such as former employees of his 1+1 TV station,
have spearheaded the campaign to fire Artem Sytnyk, the chief of the bureau,
claiming he is ineffective and corrupt. Sytnyk attributed the campaign to
Kolomoisky feeling threatened by the investigation.
The Democratic Platform’s manifesto reads that the group
must protect the reputation of Ukraine as a trustworthy partner of foreign
governments and international financial institutions – an apparent reference to
the strained relationship with the International Monetary Fund.
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