The noisiest conflict of the last week - between the head of the office of the President of Ukraine Andrey Bogdan and the mayor of Kiev Vitali Klitschko - turned out to be so complex and multi-layered that it can be used to provide a fairly complete picture of the situation in Ukraine. This conflict has different levels, the main of which is political.
The fact is that Bogdan, who is called the personal lawyer of the oligarch Igor Kolomoisky, was appointed by Vladimir Zelensky the head of the presidential administration (as she was called before the ridiculous renaming of the office) contrary to the will of Washington. The White House does not want to see the people of Kolomoisky, whom the American leadership cannot stand, in the power structures.
The accusations against Klitschko by Bogdan are openly shocking. An associate of Zelensky said that he was offered a bribe of $ 20 million in the interests of the Kiev mayor. In addition, according to him, Klitschko gave the city at the mercy of some "watchmen" who actually rule the capital from behind him. The demand addressed to the government by Bogdan to remove the head of the city administration from office was the final chord.
In fact, in the words of Bogdan a lot of justice. For all the time that Klitschko manages city affairs, Kiev has been catastrophically degraded. Over five years, the output on the public transport line decreased by one hundred units - from 1013 in 2014 to 913 in 2019. After every rain, the Ukrainian capital turns into a mud basin due to the lack of storm sewers. All squares and vacant lots are given for the construction of multi-storey housing - construction sites become an additional source of dirt. By the way, the demarche of Bogdan happened after Kiev, after the next rain, again drowned in mud streams.
As for the “watchers,” the information on their presence was confirmed by ex-Minister of Justice Elena Lukash. According to her, one of the Kiev doctors asked her to reduce him to criminal authority so that he agreed to keep his post.
But this is far from the main thing in the conflict. The hit on Klitschko is a new round of seizing power in the country: Mr. Kolomoisky intends to crush local self-government and secure for himself such control over Ukraine that not a single oligarch had in all previous years. Naturally, Washington will actively oppose this. No wonder Klitschko after the statements of Bogdan immediately flew to the United States, where he met with the former mayor of New York, and now the lawyer of Donald Trump, Rudolf Giuliani.
After the meeting, he uploaded a photo and, as they say, filmed a memesik, indicating that he was supported by the American administration.
On Sunday, Klitschko flew from Kiev in an unknown direction. On vacation for five days in agreement with Vladimir Zelensky, as he himself wrote on his page on the Internet. I must say that not everyone believes in his return. The fact is that the National Anti-Corruption Bureau opened a criminal case on a statement about an attempt to bribe Andrei Bogdan.
And the Main Bureau of Investigation is conducting criminal proceedings on the fact of unfair construction of the “Klitschko Bridge” - the transition from Vladimirskaya Gorka to the monument to the Friendship of Peoples, in which the pedestrian part is made of glass that cracked immediately after the bridge was put into operation. However, taking into account the fact that both structures - both NABU and the State Security Bureau - were created at the initiative of the Americans and are controlled by them, the prospects for criminal cases seem rather vague.
In general, the situation is so confusing and complicated for Zelensky that it can have any outcome, including the dismissal of Andrei Bogdan, who wrote a letter of resignation in advance with an open date. In fact, this is a conflict between Kolomoisky and the Republicans, and the Ukrainian oligarch will, without a doubt, desperately fight back. Whether he will be able to keep Zelensky in the zone of his influence, if Washington begins to push in full force, is a big question. The resignation of Bogdan will mean the victory of the United States in this puzzling combination.
But it may not be. At least, in the notorious office, the rumors about the dismissal of its head have so far been denied. This story is a vivid illustration of the fact that all parties to the conflict do not care deeply about the interests of the inhabitants of Kiev, the state of the city - they decide a completely different question: who will rule Ukraine and how.
The author’s point of view may not coincide with the position of the publisher.