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These are the men Russia wanted to put in charge of Ukraine [1]
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Date: 2023-03
When Russian forces marched into Ukraine last February, Nestor Shufrych – like thousands of Ukrainians across the country – says he joined a local territorial defence unit to defend his homeland against invaders.
But there’s an important difference between Shufrych and his countrymen. He’s an MP for a pro-Russian political party, Opposition Platform – For Life.
The party has refused to recognise that Russia was integral to the eight-year conflict in Donbas in eastern Ukraine, called for direct negotiations with separatist forces, and accused its opponents of wanting to ‘sell’ Ukraine to the West. The party wants Ukraine to have neutral status, and its backers include oil and gas moguls, real estate developers and shadowy businessmen with ties to Russia.
Opposition Platform aims to represent voters in Ukraine’s Russian-speaking south and east, and has garnered many supporters in the past, taking 1.9 million votes in the 2019 elections to become the second largest group in Parliament with 43 MPs.
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This week, it was reported that one of the party’s leaders, Viktor Medvedchuk, had even been in the running to lead a puppet regime in Ukraine on behalf of Russia if the invasion had been successful.
The extent of Opposition Platform MPs’ relationships with the Kremlin has long been a source of public debate in Ukraine. Prior to the 2022 invasion, several of them, including Medvedchuk, were arrested and charged with treason – though there have not been any prosecutions. Since the war’s start, Ukrainian authorities – under intense public scrutiny – have sought to prosecute more.
In June, Opposition Platform was banned as a political party, meaning they can’t act together in Parliament. The ban was upheld by the Supreme Court in September, with the court describing the party as a “genuine threat to the national security, independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine”.
The Ukrainian public seems to agree with this sentiment. Only 3% of respondents in a recent opinion poll wanted MPs from Opposition Platform (or other pro-Russian parties) to hold on to their seats until the next election.
But the government has been slow to act – possibly because the pro-Russian MPs are still useful to its agenda. Voting records show that Opposition Platform MPs provide much-needed support in Parliament for controversial legislation that the government is currently pushing through.
“They have become the most reliable and cheapest allies of the authorities,” Ukrainian election expert Oleksiy Koshel told openDemocracy.
As the war continues, the fate of Ukraine’s pro-Russian bloc is uncertain, but – as openDemocracy reveals below – its ability to move with the times should not be underestimated.
Yuri Boiko, no longer a ‘Hero of Ukraine’
In January, as some Ukrainian MPs fought to remove the mandates of Opposition Platform deputies, the party’s chairman Yuri Boiko told Parliament that “24 February [when Russia invaded Ukraine] divided our politicians into two groups”.
He continued: “From that day, everyone who stayed with me in Parliament worked on the adoption of laws that ensure the ability of our country to survive.”
“Those who left the country on 24 February do not exist for us,” Boiko added, referring to the exodus of party MPs immediately before the invasion. One MP even chartered a 50-seat plane to Vienna for his family and other politicians.
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[1] Url:
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/odr/ukraine-russia-opposition-platform-for-life-medvedchuk-boiko/
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