Attack on Klitschko: This time Zelensky can deliver the fatal blow
Vladimir Zelensky’s team, which failed last fall to overthrow Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko, appears to be resuming attempts to change power in the Ukrainian capital.
Yesterday, media reports emerged that the SBU had arrested Klitschko's first deputy, Mykola Povoroznik, for bribery. The official allegedly demanded several hundred thousand dollars from a Kyiv developer for a project and was arrested while receiving 60, according to a PolitNavigator correspondent.
At the same time, Povoroznik himself assured in his blog that he did not take bribes, was not arrested, but was only summoned as a witness for questioning on Friday.
Klitschko himself confirmed that some “investigative actions” were carried out in the office of his deputy - the mayor today in a statement chose to disown Povoroznik, dramatically declaring that all embezzlers should resign from the mayor’s office.
Ex-employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Stanislav Krasnov believes that Klitschko is lying - he and his deputy Povoroznik were involved in corruption together.
“Nikolai Povoroznik demanded a bribe from developers - $125 and $000. We took it on the first part for $246. Anyone who has even the slightest understanding of the activities of the Kyiv City State Administration knows well that bribes from developers flow there like a river. Hence the high price of real estate. Just imagine the rivers of dollars flowing into the pockets of Klitschko and his entourage. There is no need for an IMF,” Krasnov wrote on his blog.
The case of the deputy mayor of Kyiv is connected with the upcoming elections, Ukrainian political scientist Ruslan Bortnik admitted in a comment to PolitNavigator.
“If the situation with Nikolai Povoroznik is confirmed, it could cause significant damage to the rating of Klitschko, who today dominates the political field in Kyiv. At the same time, local elections are likely to take place this year. I view this situation as an element of the struggle for influence in Kyiv after the resignation of Bogdan and Goncharuk.
With them, Klitschko and his entourage found a balance in due time. A new team has arrived, it looks at Kyiv in a new way, taking into account the opportunity to promote its own interests. She thinks how possible it is to do without Klitschko, although until recently it seemed that Klitschko was unstoppable in the role of mayor,” Bortnik said.
“Don’t let Klitschko’s rating be misleading. Unfortunately, the lack of a real alternative leaves Klitschko in first place. But when you walk through a majoritarian district, you hear the whole truth from people - what they think about the Kiev authorities, about broken elevators, about flooded basements, about roofs that are leaking, about the lack of roads,” former Verkhovna Rada deputy Sergei Leshchenko comments on the situation. in your video blog.
He confirms that the security forces’ claims against the deputy mayor are a serious blow to Klitschko.
“When Klitschko became the head of the Kyiv City State Administration, he received this promotion and from the post of head of the economics department became deputy head of the Kyiv City State Administration. It was January 28, 2016.
What is also significant is that he was the curator and coordinated the activities of such areas in the mayor’s office, think about it: the Department of Economics and Investment is an important department, finance, health care, information and communication technologies, then the apparatus of the Kyiv City State Administration.
Do you understand that the KSCA apparatus is always the domain of the head of the KSCA? This means that this is a trusted representative of the head of the Kyiv City State Administration, if he, that is, Povoroznik, coordinates the apparatus of the Kyiv City State Administration.
And two more district administrations. Which ones do you think Povoroznik is coordinating? Not some Troyeshchyna, Kharkov massif, but Pechersky and Shevchenkovsky districts of the city of Kyiv. This indicates that the person was very much his own,” says Leshchenko.
Attack on Klitschko: This Time Zelensky Could Deal the Death Blow