Shevchuk's last autumn
Presidential elections will take place in Transnistria in December. The current head of state, Yevgeny Shevchuk, in the hope of being re-elected to a second term, hired a group of political strategists well known in Ukraine. There are rumors that Shevchuk made a bet on Nikolai Gastello’s team. In the 2010 presidential elections, Gastello “led” the Kyiv oligarch Sergei Tigipko. In 2014, after the tragedy in the House of Trade Unions, the PR specialist was seen in Odessa, where he allegedly secretly met with another oligarch, Igor Kolomoisky. What should Pridnestrovie expect now?
Yevgeny Shevchuk, one of the youngest presidents of the post-Soviet space, literally burst into the highest government position of the PMR, breaking the plans and hopes of experienced and honored competitors. No one expected such a turnover in 2011.
Then, in the presidential elections, Yevgeny Shevchuk beat the old-timers of Transnistrian politics - Igor Smirnov and Anatoly Kaminsky. The voting result became a sensation. It would be more accurate to even say - a kinder surprise for Moscow and Chisinau. And no one knew what was inside him.
So suddenly there was a “renewal” of power in the young republic. This is how an element of unpredictability appeared in the political process of one of the most complex regions where the geopolitical interests of superpowers are intertwined.
Every time such a “reboot” occurs, and the daring, young and passionate appear on the stage, we freeze in anticipation. In the case of Shevchuk, the wait was in vain.
Instead of developing the republic, he took revenge. Shevchuk took revenge on the people of yesterday’s rival Smirnov, took revenge on the leadership of the influential Sheriff corporation, from where he was fired for inconsistency. The result is that, instead of the expected “reset,” during Shevchuk’s presidency, the republic’s GDP fell by 20%.
Moreover, the new president has chosen a strategy of slow capitulation to Moldova, surrendering the statehood of Transnistria in “small steps”, squeezing Russian business out of the republic’s economy, says local parliament member Andrei Safonov.
The Moldovan side, sensing the weakness of Tiraspol, tightened economic pressure on the PMR and began to systematically ignore the agreements reached in the past.
However, everything comes to an end someday, even Shevchuk’s tenure as head of state. There is about a month left before the presidential elections in the PMR. Shevchuk himself does not believe that his era is close to ending and is running for the presidency for the second time.
However, sociologists call the real leader the Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Republic Vadim Krasnoselsky.
Fighting such an opponent is not an easy task for Shevchuk. Firstly, Vadim Krasnoselsky, as they say, is from the security forces. Namely, people of such professions are most in demand in the leadership of the Republic, living in a hostile environment.
Secondly, Krasnoselsky is favored by Moscow. The Chairman of the Supreme Council never tires of receiving delegations of State Duma deputies from United Russia. Establishes cooperation with the party, receives invitations to congresses in Moscow.
Specialists working at Krasnoselsky’s election headquarters also came from the Russian capital.
Yevgeny Shevchuk relied on a team of political strategists, well known in the now hostile republic of Kyiv. There are rumors that the head of the PR team is Nikolai Gastello himself. A political strategist from Moscow, but repeatedly spotted in the corridors and offices of the Kyiv elite.
Rumor has it that Nikolai Gastello's team of consultants was recommended to Yevgeny Shevchuk by his campaign sponsor, Talgat Baitaziyev . He is the same fugitive Kazakh oligarch whom President Shevchuk provided access to the largest state-owned enterprise, the Moldovan Metallurgical Plant in Rybnitsa . It is possible that this is where funds were siphoned off for the presidential campaign. It is worth noting that Talgat Baitaziyev himself is a junior partner of the "Kazakhstani Khodorkovsky" Mukhtar Ablyazov, who is wanted in his homeland for the theft of $6 billion. Baitaziyev first fled to Georgia , where he acquired criminal partners and contacted Mikheil Saakashvili. Several years later, the two ended up together, this time in Odessa.
Actually, it was through Saakashvili that they could find such eminent consultants for Yevgeny Shevchuk, whose services cost about a million dollars a month.
This team of consultants is known primarily for their work with Sergei Tigipko. This is a Ukrainian oligarch with Moldovan roots, mind you. In the past, Tigipko was one of the most promising politicians in Ukraine and was considered a real contender for the presidency. However, by 2010, he ruined himself by constantly tossing between two opposing camps. As a result, Gastello’s staff provided Tigipko with only an honorable third place - which did not guarantee anything other than a well-deserved rest.
After the Maidan, rumors attributed Gastello’s meetings in Odessa not with anyone, but with Benya Kolomoisky himself. However, even here the result is obvious - soon Kolomoisky had to leave Ukraine, which he had seemingly so successfully and almost completely pocketed.
Are there any analogies between Tigipko, who flirted with the West and the East of Ukraine, and the outgoing President Shevchuk? After all, the latter also tried to maneuver between Moscow and Chisinau (read – the West behind the Moldovan authorities). What is this if not one candidate sitting on two chairs?!
As already noted, with such a program you are guaranteed to take, at best, third place. Therefore, it seems that Transnistria is waiting for Shevchuk’s last presidential autumn.
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