Intraspecific competition in Ukrainian politics

Ukraine’s latter-day history knows a number of unsolved deaths, including plane crashes, suicides by falling out of a window, even shooting oneself several times in the head or when a lady shot herself with a hunting rifle. Cases in which there were no logical actions on the part of the victims with strong ambitions and where no one bothered to ask the logical question: Cui bono? However, there are two invariable aspects to all these tragedies: politics and business. Ex-Minister of the Interior Yurii Kravchenko was directly involved in – and doubtlessly served as a contractor of – several contract murders ordered “upstairs.” Semeniuk-Samsonenko and Chechetov (both allegedly took their own lives) were involved in and with the State Property Fund. Vadym Hetman, Heorhii Kirpa, and Yevhen Kushnariov each cut a charismatic figure among the rich and famous of Ukraine. Each was a born leader and a threat to the rival clan.

Nine years ago, Yevhen Kushnariov, ex-mayor of Kharkiv, ex-head of the Presidential Administration under Leonid Kuchma, died in a “hunting accident.” Despite his odious actions, including the participation in the so-called Severodonetsk Congress in 2004, Kushnariov was regarded as a strong political figure prone to play a game of his own. In fact, he was known as the second most influential member of the Party of Regions and a threat not so much to the Orange Revolution as to the PoR leader, Viktor Yanukovych, and his Parteigenossen. This caused many to wonder about the Donetsk clan’s involvement in Kushnariov’s death. Also, considering that Russia has been closely following political developments in Ukraine, starting in the 1990s, experts believe that its clandestine agencies played a role in a number of unsolved deaths in Ukraine. Kushnariov never took an express anti-Russian stand, but it is safe to assume that the Kremlin did not see him as their man because he could play a game of his own, unlike most in the Donetsk clan, each with a thick kompromat (compromising materials) file that made them an easy prey to blackmail and thus completely dependent on Moscow. True, some experts believe that Kushnariov, as a politician, was the result of a Kremlin project.

In December 2007, the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office charged Dmytro Zavalny with murder by negligence. Zavalny was an assistant to Ukrainian MP Dmytro Shentsev, also of the Party of Regions. In the end the investigators concluded that the tragedy was an accident. Zavalny was eventually pardoned and all evidence in the case destroyed by court ruling. Interestingly, Shentsev bought Kushnariov’s real estate.

THERE COULD BE ONLY ONE WINNER. IN 2007, THE DONETSK CLAN BECAME FINALLY PREDOMINANT IN THE EAST OF UKRAINE / Photo by Leonid BAKKA, from The Day’s archives

The Kushnariov’s defense counsel stated: “There is nothing in the case to indicate that the investigators considered the possibility of several persons involved in the victim’s murder, just as the possibility of a deliberate murder was never considered. I don’t understand why the investigators never studied the possibility of Zavalny being a perpetrator in a contract murder.”

Even under the Soviets rivals were liquidated using traffic or hunting accidents. Kushnariov was a member of the Donetsk clan and had a great deal of political experience. After his death the clan took the lead in the Party of Regions, the way Rinat Akhmetov did in Donetsk after the death of Yevhen Shcherban.

COMMENTARIES

KHARKIV: POLITICAL BACKWATER AFTER TRAGEDY

Denys KAZANSKY, blogger:

“I believe that Kharkiv lost its political importance after Kushnariov’s death. Kushnariov headed a big and influential clan. He was among the founding fathers of the Party of Regions. After his tragic death Kharkiv became a political backwater, with the Donetsk team taking the lead. There appeared influential Donetsk figures like Dobkin and Kernes who had previously cut ice only in the region and had no influence on what was happening in Ukraine. His death played into the hands of the Donetsk clan as it was now rid of a person who had challenged their power and influence in the southeast of Ukraine.”

UKRAINE WOULD REMAIN UNDER RUSSIA’S INFLUENCE BECAUSE KUSHNARIOV WAS RUSSIA’S PROJECT

Viktor NEBOZHENKO, political analyst:

“Theoretically, the Donetsk clan benefited the most from Kushnariov’s murder. That Moscow project was designed to create a local political organization that would become known as United Ukraine (also popularly known as Za YEDU). At the time I wrote to the Presidential Administration on the subject and met with the President’s aides. I told them that such a political project should not be allowed in Ukraine because it called into question the unity of Ukraine. I was told there was nothing to worry about. As it was, the project was meant to have a Kharkiv team led by Kushnariov as its core, with the Donetsk clan providing hard cash and securing the electorate. In half a year, however, the Donetsk people realized that it wasn’t what they wanted, and that Kushnariov as the leader of the Kharkiv, Donetsk, and later Dnipropetrovsk clans was a thorn in everyone’s side. And so one day he died despite his close ties with Moscow. After that the Donetsk, rather than the Kharkiv or the Dnipropetrovsk clan, appeared on the arena.

“Hadn’t Kushnariov died, events would’ve taken the same, even if milder, course. He could have become a serious alternative presidential candidate and Viktor Yushchenko’s rival. He could have won the campaign, but Ukraine would have remained under Russia’s influence because Kushnariov was Russia’s project. As it was, the Donetsk clan got the better of the orthodox Chekist, Vladimir Putin, and bungled his project. Russia wanted Kushnariov to become President of Ukraine and keep that post for a long time.”

KUSHNARIOV: SERIOUS RIVAL FOR YANUKOVYCH

Oleksii DANILOV, ex-mayor of Luhansk:

“A different clan came to power in Kharkiv after Kushnariov’s death. People in power in Kharkiv and Kyiv were interested in the murders of Yevhen Shcherban and Yevhen Kushnariov (I knew both personally). Kushnariov cut an extraordinary figure. His was a rather interesting personality. Whatever they say, he never took an anti-Ukrainian stand. The fact that he was a member of the Yanukovych team in 2004 doesn’t mean that he was an anti-Ukrainian politician. Yanukovych had few people like him. Kushnariov was a serious rival for Yanukovych. In fact, Russia could have well preferred Kushnariov as a more reasonable and moderate politician. What course events would have taken then is anyone’s guess. Akhat Bragin and Yevhen Kushnariov were murdered with the Kremlin’s knowledge and consent. That system never played second fiddle. There was a freedom-loving period under Yeltsin, but it didn’t last long.”

BUSINESS RATHER THAN POLITICAL REASONS BEHIND HIS DEATH

Oleksandr KIRSH, economist, political journalist, Kharkiv:

“There is practically no evidence left in the Kushnariov case. It was destroyed. I believe he was killed because of his wealth. A number of businessmen in power transfer their assets to other persons. Kushnariov’s businesses were formally owned by other individuals and they wanted to have them both de jure and de facto. Precisely that happened after his death. Kushnariov’s daughter is rumored to have said after his death: ‘I can’t understand it. Where is all the money?’ Yanukovych’s first reaction to the news about Kushnariov’s death was: ‘They killed him!’

“All this is proof that the man was murdered for business rather than political reasons. I think that his assets were hidden as an attempt to avoid taxation, but again, nothing can be proved. As for political reasons, politics is a dog eat dog world, and this is especially true of allies when it comes to election, because they fight for the same electorate. In the case of Kushnariov, I believe that politics was a minor factor. Kushnariov didn’t cut a political figure on a scale that could threaten others so much they’d want him dead.”