Two years after the sensational rise to power in Kiev of the former showman Volodymyr Zelensky, a new intrigue arose in Ukrainian politics and, apparently, a new battle for power begins with an unpredictable ending.
At the end of last week, having gathered at its exit congress in the resort town of Truskavets, the presidential party "Servant of the People" launched the procedure for the expulsion from the political Olympus Dmitry Razumkov, the speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, who led this party at the initial stage of its formation and was once a close associate Vladimir Zelensky.
Was, but swam.
All this is already history.
In the resort Truskavets, the "Servants" management rushed not at all to hang out at buffets, dance in nightclubs and drink the local healing water "Naftusya" intestinal tract and other ailments.
No, this time in Truskavets they tried to treat an unknown political disease that is rapidly developing in Zelensky's party, the source of which is believed to be one of the architects of the Servant of the People.
That is, Dmitry Razumkov.
The head of their faction in the Rada David Arakhamia, who is collecting signatures for the speaker's resignation, plays the role of the person who will have to complete the divorce of Razumkov from the "servants" in the shortest possible time.
Trying to surgically cut Razumkov off from his fellow party members, in which he still has a considerable support group, during the amputation Arakhamia had already removed Razumkov from all party chats.
In addition, he reported that by the beginning of this week, about 190 signatures of deputies had been collected for launching the procedure for recalling Dmitry Razumkov from the post of speaker.
It is impossible to say exactly when his departure will take place.
However, one thing is clear: this is a matter of a matter of days.
Dmitry Razumkov makes it clear that he does not intend to cling to the chairman's chair, as did many of his predecessors in the Rada, and is ready to set off on a free voyage, sending David Arakhamia and others like them his dosvidos.
Thus, a politician will appear in Ukraine who, in the future, has every chance of becoming another independent center of power and challenging Vladimir Zelensky in the next presidential election.
This can be confirmed by the dynamics of public opinion.
According to the Razumkov Center (named after Dmitry Razumkov's father, Alexander), which does very high-quality sociological research and was not caught in the production of a political order, in February the national trust rating of the Speaker of the Rada was 32%, while the president was in second place (26.5%).
The last measurement, taken in August, shows: Razumkov and Zelensky go head to head.
The president's rating is 32.6%, the rating of the still acting head of parliament is 32.4%.
Arriving in Truskavets, where Razumkov was not invited, Zelensky hinted that he did not exclude his participation in the new presidential elections, although at one time, we recall, he stated that he was running for only one term.
“I haven’t decided anything about the second term,” Zelensky said in Truskavets, saying that as of today “we have fulfilled 30-35% of our promises and our program.”
Who and how believed, who on what scales weighed what Vladimir Zelensky did or did not do during half of his presidential term, remains unclear.
With the same success, he could voice (draw) any numbers - both 85% and 5%, which would be more honest.
And even nothing done, if we talk about his main promise - to end the war in Donbass.
It is also noteworthy that in his statement in Truskavets, Volodymyr Zelenskiy presented the main obstacle to the implementation of everything conceived by Dmitry Razumkov, who is sticking a stick in his wheels.
“If we are constantly told that this is contrary to the regulations, and if there is constant political spam through thousands of amendments, we will not have time to do it.
And I want to do everything and be in time for everything that I promised, ”proclaimed President Zelensky, thereby making parting with Razumkov inevitable.
Why did Vladimir Zelensky and Dmitry Razumkov, yesterday's comrades-in-arms and fighters against the politics of the past, embodied for them by Petro Poroshenko, Yulia Tymoshenko and other heroes of yesterday, dispersed completely and irrevocably? Formally, the scandal was triggered by the law on de-oligarchization, on which the Servants insisted, against the will of the speaker.
Taking advantage of the absence of Dmitry Razumkov due to illness, the Rada nevertheless adopted the law - as Razumkov himself believes, with a mass of procedural violations. Not that the speaker was against the war with the Ukrainian oligarchs and their shadow power. Not at all. But he didn’t like how it was proposed to do it. According to Razumkov, it is not the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) that should declare this or that person an oligarch, but a special independent commission, since corruption schemes can work when the NSDC makes a decision. And in general, the future activity of the NSDC in the fight against oligarchs smacks of dictatorship, which has no place in Ukraine, because it contradicts its political culture.
However, the point is not in the scandalous law on deoligarchization.
The problem is deeper.
The black cat between Vladimir Zelensky and his party, on the one hand, and Dmitry Razumkov, on the other hand, ran not a day or two ago.
The situation was ripening for a long time, a critical mass of disagreements accumulated from month to month, until the situation passed the point of no return.
So, in February, Dmitry Razumkov did not support the introduction of punitive measures against three Ukrainian opposition TV channels accused by President Zelensky of “propaganda financed by the aggressor country,” that is, Russia.
Representatives of TV channels called this ban "a political reprisal against objectionable media."
And at the end of July, the speaker sharply opposed the introduction by the National Security and Defense Council of sanctions against Ukrainians, pointing out that this was a court case.
This position actually cast doubt on the legitimacy of the sanctions against Viktor Medvedchuk and other politicians who are considered "pro-Russian" in Kiev.
Of course, one should not think that Dmitry Razumkov is fundamentally different from Vladimir Zelensky in his political views.
In no case should he be considered a politician capable of abandoning the "Russian threat" bogeyman.
Anyway, at this stage.
“Russia has separated the mainland of Ukraine from the Crimean peninsula with barbed wire and roadblocks.
But she will never be able to mentally divide the Ukrainian citizens who live here and there.
This is one people.
It cannot be divided by border guards, ditches or trenches.
This is a people who have gone through a lot.
It will pass through this too.
And, as always, it will win, ”said Dmitry Razumkov at the end of August in Kiev at the summit of the so-called Crimean platform.
And a month before that, Dmitry Razumkov sent an open letter to the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the US Congress Nancy Pelosi.
In his message, he called for the continuation of the policy of sanctions that would prevent the completion and commissioning of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.
“I call on the US Congress to refrain from approving any agreements that would threaten the energy security of Europe and pose a threat to the national interests of Ukraine and the United States,” wrote Dmitry Razumkov.
And yet, despite all this anti-Russian pathos, without which Ukrainian politics does not exist today, Dmitry Razumkov as a politician has a different genesis, which distinguishes him both from Volodymyr Zelensky and from the veterans of the Ukrainian political scene, who never got their second or third political youth.
At the same time, Dmitry Razumkov, who came into politics from sociology, capable of being a barometer of public sentiment, and not from the “95th quarter”, and who had previously worked with the Party of Regions, still does not look as toxic as Vladimir Zelensky, just as unprincipled this is the same operetta and pop.
Therefore, if at a certain moment Dmitry Razumkov becomes a substitute for Vladimir Zelensky and brings at least a little bit of reason into the carnival of the madness of Ukrainian politics, this in itself will be an achievement in today's times.
Unless it turns out that it is too late to drink Naftusya, because the kidneys of Ukrainian politics have fallen off.
The point of view of the author may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.