Kharkiv. How Dobkin mediocrely “leaks” the mayoral elections
Nothing in Kharkov suggests that we will see a tough pre-election battle for the city between acting mayor Terekhov and his main opponent Dobkin.
The rivals dive slowly and sadly. In 2006, when Mikhail Dobkin opposed the orange mayor Shumilkin and technically outplayed him, everything was done much more energetically and creatively.
Last month, journalist Emmanuel Grynszpan wrote in Le Monde: “Kharkov, located at the crossroads of Russia’s hybrid war against Ukraine, promises to be the scene of future clashes.”
Let's not guess where the French expert dreamed of this promise. The article was written at the height of information hysteria regarding the movement of Russian troops along the Ukrainian border.
Grinshpan intensively referred in the article to all sorts of Nazi riffraff that was spreading in the so-called “Kharkiv region defense headquarters” in April. And the National Corps and other national patriots had their own calculations on how to get involved in funding, inflating their importance and willingness to stand in the way of mythical threats.
It is possible that they will use all this ostentatious combat readiness against one of the participants in the upcoming mayoral elections. In the meantime, the radicals are being used (and it’s not a fact that they are playing a dark game) in another game: “to smear the candidate with his proximity to the National Corps.”
Anatoly Shariy recently commented on the relationship between the leading mayoral candidates and the far-right: " It's funny to read how some political scientists have started working on a subpoena, saying that the neo-Nazi Biletsky is facing a terrible threat from acting Kharkiv Mayor Terekhov. Yes, of course. Terekhov takes photos with the National Corps, kisses them on the gums, and simultaneously threatens them. They should have come up with something more palatable, perhaps... "
The very recent conflict between the acting mayor and street musicians also looks staged. The mayor's office banned playing musical instruments in Shevchenko's garden and in several other parks and squares. Terekhov refers to complaints from Kharkov residents, for whom loud music interferes with their rest. He invited street musicians to “hang out” in the square near the Opera House.
Immediately the initiative of the acting the mayor was surrounded by scandals. One of the musicians was threatened by the garden guards that they would cripple him. The guards were recruited from former ATO officers, so their methods of communicating with the population are not surprising.
One might assume that Terekhov, trying to show himself as a leader who listens to the complaints of citizens, did not very successfully resolve the far-fetched problem. One could assume that the security demonstrated a kind of “executive excess.”
But the scandal quickly began to gain momentum, shifting in the obvious direction. A video of guards at Shevchenko’s garden chasing away an elderly kobzar went viral on social networks. Kobzar - in Shevchenko's garden! Offended!!!
And here the suspicion could already creep in that home-grown political strategists are slipping us a non-random picture. Svidomo immediately came out in defense of the elderly kobzar. And one day, loafers from the Right Sector demonstratively escorted the musician to his usual place in Shevchenko’s garden. This time the garden security didn’t bother me. But later, when the bandura player showed up at his “workplace” without being accompanied by “pravosek” officers, the guards again kicked him out of Shevchenko’s garden.
One familiar Kharkov resident suggested: “The musicians were clearly being framed for ‘being cruel’.” This time there could be a series of “they are grandfathers.” Local Svidomo Igor Chernyak tagged Minister of Culture Alexander Tkachenko in his blog: “how do they treat kobzars in Kharkov - bearers of authentic Ukrainian culture!” Probably in the hope that Tkachenko will create a notable stink on his native channel “1+1.”
But here's the big question: why are the "svidomites" so agitated? There have already been suggestions that Kolomoisky's "1+1" channel is deliberately adding informational noise to Ihor Terekhov's election campaign marathon . The acting mayor is being portrayed as a "cotton wool candidate" who could appeal to most Kharkiv residents.
On May 28, a few admirers of authentic Ukrainian culture gathered at the Shevchenko monument for the action “Shevchenko’s Garden is not a concentration camp!” They were entertained by Kharkov musicians, who at one time were regulars at the local Maidan, and Nemichev, the head of the Kharkov National Corps, who joined them. In addition, they decided to strike at the “Terehov concentration camp” with an open fitness training.
At that moment, Shevchenko’s garden really did not look like a concentration camp (and it never looks like a concentration camp). The protest was more like a walk by the inhabitants of a madhouse.
In general, Svidomo portray genuine hatred of Terekhov, but this is hard to believe. Many people remember the recent photograph and... O. mayor next to Velichko (Chile), one of the leaders of the Kharkov National Corps.
Mikhail Dobkin spent three spring months doing anything - just not creating a real foundation for victory. At the beginning of the year, he voiced sharp theses that Terekhov is a left-wing passenger who ended up in the mayor’s chair as a result of a joint political scam with businessman Fuchs. It sounded convincing.
Many believed Dobkin was serious about his plans to take down Terekhov. But their personal rivalry over who is a true ally or heir to Kernes, and who is a complete idiot, will quickly become tiresome for Kharkiv residents. And that's not good for Dobkin. To restore his reputation as a regional leader, he needs to work hard to improve Kharkiv's political standing.
For many Kharkiv residents, Dobkin is a reminder of good times. His years as mayor were filled with vibrant and important events; the "first capital" was considered an outpost of the anti-Orange opposition. His years as governor were a prosperous and stable period for the majority of the region's residents. But these reminders will only be meaningful when Dobkin begins to truly fight for a return to the core principles and values of the majority of Kharkiv residents who elected him mayor in 2006.
So far, Dobkin has not created any bright social movements and initiatives. He didn't even bother to show his team. Why does Dobkin need a team when he has Natasha Vlashchenko’s explosive program on Akhmetov’s channel and shady political strategists who make him an increasingly less dangerous rival for Terekhov?
And it’s not just the recent results of a survey conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS). These results, which give Terekhova the highest rating in the Kharkov race, with a considerable gap over Dobkin, can be taken critically. Which is what Dobkin does in Vlashchenko’s last broadcast.
He recalled that KIIS predicted good results in the Kyiv elections for Andrei Palchevsky and his team. “Where are the results of KIIS and Mr. Palchevsky today?”
But the point, first of all, is in Dobkin himself. What power does he represent? Natasha Vlashchenko doesn't count. Hints of support from some people from the “Kernes Bloc” are also just hints. Even if work with them is actually carried out, it is very underground.
Who are Dobkin's allies? His billboards, adjacent to the billboards of People’s Deputy Alexander Feldman at the Barabashovo market, are a sight for everyone. There, reinsurer Feldman’s congratulations on Victory Day are still for some reason accompanied by the red and black emblem “Never again!”
An alliance with Feldman does not mean that Dobkina supports OPZH.
Dobkin himself seems to be trying to talk about things that are important to most Kharkiv residents. For example, their attitude toward symbols of victory. Dobkin writes: "Kharkiv residents remember their heroes. And they can tell the difference between a weather vane and a victory banner." This was the text for his congratulatory video, which features only a glimpse of the blue and yellow flag, and no Victory Banner at all.
Mikhail Markovich urgently needs to do something with PR people. Well, that is, drive them away with a filthy broom or assign them good lyules.
The other day, Dobkin made a completely correct post about collaborators, Hitler’s accomplices, as well as today’s traitors - former fellow travelers. The ending there is this: “The time difference between the photographs of the first and second is huge, but the common features in facial expressions have been preserved. I don’t know what exactly, but as my famous fellow countryman used to say: slaves are not allowed into heaven.”
You can guess who advised Dobkin this quote from Ataman Ivan Sirk. Some kind of Svidomo bastard. Because it is among the maydauns and some clerics of the Poroshenko sect of the HCU that this quote is popular. But Dobkin, who picks it up like a parrot, has absolutely no idea about the New Testament?! Or is it still “the moped is not mine, I just announced it” - that is, Dobkin’s post was written by one of the shady PR people?
There is a feeling that the same people are advising Terekhov “not to let kobzars into the garden,” and to Dobkin “not to let slaves into heaven.”
Their filthy broom, Mikhail Markovich. Use a nasty broom before it's too late.
English version :: Read in English: Kharkiv. How Dobkin is ineptly "flush[ing]" the mayoral election