Yurii KARMAZIN: Any candidature will be better than that of Kostusiev

The media have been reporting for more than one day that the Odesa Mayor Oleksii Kostusiev was on the point of abandoning his office. He was allegedly advised to resign and take over as chairman of the State Inspection for Consumer Rights Protection.

Front of Changes leader Arsenii Yatseniuk has even moved a resolution on calling an early election of the Odesa mayor on February 12, 2012. But all we know for sure so far is that Kostusiev was hospitalized in an Odesa private clinic last week. He told some mass media that he had a hypertonic crisis, hypertension, strong heartbeat, and pains. Doctors are refusing to furnish any official information on the mayor’s condition.

Although nobody has ever seen Kostusiev’s letter of resignation, the corridors of power are full of chat about who will be the next boss of the “Seaside Pearl.” The most often heard name is Serhii Kivalov. He said behind the Verkhovna Rada scenes last Tuesday, grinning with pleasure, that these conjectures were premature because Kostusiev had not yet started the procedure of resignation. Moreover, it is not very good to gossip about this while the person is still in hospital.

But what in fact launched all this story was Kivalov’s interview with the newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda. In that interview the MP said that “the presidential examination of the Odesa mayor’s performance was not in favor of Kostusiev.” “I maintain friendly relations with Kostusiev and know that he had dreamed of this office for a solid 16 years. He ran for office several times, only to be defeated by other candidates. I think the main cause of the resignation is the fact that Kostusiev did not exactly look into the city’s problem for a long time. For, in reality, the mayor is, above all, a logistics manager who should keep a daily watch on how this city is being painted, renovated, built, and reconstructed. Besides, he inherited a very difficult situation – outstanding credits and a budget that bursts at the seams,” the MP said.

What is really going on in Odesa? Why is Kostusiev going to be fired? We turned to the Odesa-based MP Yurii Karmazin for comment.

“Odesa is the object of the same experiment that is being carried out all over the country: the advent of professionals who know nothing. That’s all! It turned out that Kostusiev is absolutely unable to manage the city. (Of course, I wish him a speedy recovery because, while we are talking, he is in hospital.) There was a very serious showdown in the Party of Regions. They saw the party’s popularity plummet due to what was going on in the city. For this reason, he was invited to the Presidential Administration.”

Why is society so much sure that our president, like his Russian counterpart, bosses city mayors around?

“That Kostusiev has written a letter [of resignation] is an erroneous opinion which some media have picked up for some reason. The first question that arises is who he wrote it to. To the president? But the pre-sident does not need it. So it was unfair information.

“But the president has already decided that Kostusiev will no longer be the mayor. It is crystal clear. The party [of Regions] cannot afford to go on suffering electoral losses like this. As far as I know, Kostusiev said he wanted to remain in office until the end of the year. Moreover, he should be offered a decent replacement job. So he will go nowhere from such a ‘cool’ office as chairman of the Antimonopoly Committee. Another question that arises is the mechanism of office replacement. Will the Regionnaires be ready to hold the elections if Kostusiev’s letter of resignation is accepted by the local council? I can tell you for sure that the Odesa City Council does not have a letter like this – at least now that we are speaking. I know this very well.”

What options can there be?

“They are mulling over two options. Number one: the City Council secretary will be the acting chairman, but I do not think this option will suit them. Number two: conducting social surveys on who the Odesaites know and trust better. This is how the name of Kivalov has emerged.

“Kivalov knows something about civil construction. He managed to have many thing built at the [Odesa State Law] Academy. It is a different question whether he did it fairly or unfairly, legally or illegally. In any case, his name is the talk of the town. And, taking into account the fact that the entire election commission is under the Party of Region’s control, any candidature proposed by this party will go through. In other words, when a decision is made ‘on top,’ there will again be an election that will ignore the Odesaites’ opinion.”

Do you think they will be waiting for the parliamentary elections?

“I don’t think so. They will do it much sooner.”

A naive question perhaps: can this be a voluntary decision of Kostusiev himself? Maybe, he understood that the public utilities are not his cup of tea?

“It took him 16 years to do so. He was not going voluntarily. Nor did he say anything about this even to his inner circle. He did not go there only to leave that place immediately and voluntarily.”

And what did he do to antagonize his party mates?

“There are failures galore. The Regionnaires are aware that, if they do not remove him, Odesa will be calling them nothing but impotents.”

What failures do you mean? Please in more concrete terms…

“Firstly, there are power cuts in the city. Can you imagine an outage that lasts half a day? A housing neighborhood can be blacked out! But the mayor responds to this as he would to Sun flares. The next problem is elevators. They keep breaking down and need repairing. The roads, too… The last time they were repaired was when [former mayor] Gurvitz was fundamentally renovating this city.

“The people just can no longer understand what he is doing! He sold out some seashore land, where nobody had ever intended to sell even one square meter! That was a fraudulent scheme involving five figureheads. Each of them acquired ten hundred-square-meter plots. This coincided with the president’s visit, and people complained to him about this lawlessness. He gave away the airport. In other words, he turned out to be the master of giving away, rather than creating, things. The only thing he took pride in was that he imposed the Russian language and altered the city emblem.”

So even Kivalov is better than Kostusiev?

“A thousand times better! Yet the people are also discussing other names. For example, there was an oblast go-vernor named Serhii Hrynevetsky. He knew how to find a common language with all the political forces. So the region was developing very dynamically. He is quite a serious contender. If he takes the plunge, it is a cinch that he will win. Any candidature will be better than that of Kostusiev.”

There is a radical pro-Russian force, Fatherland, in Odesa, with Odesa councilor Ihor Markiv at the head. Can the disputes in the Party of Regions strengthen its position?

“I would not take a serious approach to the positions of Fatherland. They are based on just one television channel – ATV. Yes, they have television, funds, and the support of a neighboring country. But this is all they have. So they are unable to rival the Party of Regions. Not at all. I do not even suppose that they can nominate a candidate.”