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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
Almost four years have passed since the ban on pro‑Russian projects such as “Opposition Platform — For Life,” “Opposition Bloc,” “Shariy Party,” and “Our” was enacted. Later the “Party of Regions” was banned as the main stronghold of the pro‑Russian vector in Ukraine. “Our Krai” lifted its ban through the courts but dissolved itself.
The lucky ones included the Revival party, which merged into the For the Future party in 2020, Victory of Palchevskyi, which turned out to be a regional project, and Palchevskyi himself, who after 24 February 2022 instantaneously adopted a pro‑Ukrainian stance, forgetting his latent pro‑Russian views. But we will talk about the “regional” Borys Kolesnikov and his party “Ukraine — Our Home.” The party was founded in 2021, and the founding congress took place on 30 May of the same year. According to B. Kolesnikov, the project is intended to gather representatives from all sectors across all of Ukraine. His fellow party members from the “Party of Regions” were also present. As evidence, the following words were cited: “We have specialists from Lviv, Uzhhorod, Lutsk, Odesa, Kharkiv, and Dnipro. There is currently no one from the Opposition Bloc in the party, and from the Party of Regions — a few people.” The white‑and‑blue elements are infiltrating other political projects; this is an established fact. Here we must turn to Borys Kolesnikov’s professional biography. He is a veteran of the Party of Regions. He began his path as a deputy of the Donetsk Regional Council of the III convocation in 1998. From 1999 to 2001 he was deputy chairman of the regional council. From 2001 to 2006 he was chairman of the regional council. In 2003 he headed the regional branch of the Party of Regions. From 2006 to 2014 he was a Member of Parliament from the Party of Regions. He served as Deputy Minister of Industrial Policy in 2006, and was also Vice Prime Minister for preparation for EURO‑2012, later becoming Minister of Infrastructure, but he remained in that post only until December 2012. In 28 October 2012 he, listed eighth for the Party of Regions, passed into the Verkhovna Rada. In 2014 he refused to run for parliament from the Opposition Bloc, but in 2019 he still tried to get to Hrushevsky Street, 5 from the Opposition Bloc in 49 single‑mandate district in Donetsk region, losing to the OPZZh representative Valeriy Hnatenko. We must recall an unpleasant fact from B. Kolesnikov’s biography. In 28 November 2004 he was one of the organizers of the Sievierodonetsk congress of deputies, where he called for the creation of a South‑Eastern Ukrainian autonomous republic within Ukraine, which was given the name “Pissuar.” That congress gathered supporters of Viktor Yanukovych. It is important to emphasize that B. Kolesnikov is a close friend of Rinat Akhmetov, and also had close contacts with the state traitor Vadym Novynskyi. All three were powerful pillars of the Party of Regions. It is obvious that B. Kolesnikov’s project will be aimed at the electorate of the already de facto dead ruling party Servant of the People and all pro‑Russian forces, including even the Communist Party of Ukraine once led by Petro Symonenko. It is likely that this project could act as a neutralizer of a possible party of mayors that might take votes from Servant of the People and OPZZh. According to YouControl, the formal leader of the party is Oleksandr Klimashevskyi. What might B. Kolesnikov’s party look like in a new composition? In addition to B. Kolesnikov and R. Akhmetov’s orbit of influence, which includes such regionals as Oleksandr Vilkul or Rostyslav Shurma, the party could be joined by representatives of the Boyko‑Lyovochkin group, that is the “Platform for Life and Peace” group together with Vadym Stolar’s group, represented by the parliamentary group Restoration of Ukraine. Also among them could be outright pro‑Russian deputies from Servant of the People, such as Maksym Buzhanskyi and Oleksandr Dubinskyi. It is not excluded that the communist Ihor Kaletnyk could appear in the new political force. The Revival party or the Party‑25, formerly called Fatherland, and Victory of Palchevskyi will certainly merge into the party. This will be a single political party that will take the votes of all banned pro‑Russian/Euroskeptic forces. The only political opponent could be Dmytro Razumkov with Smart Politics, whose hypothetical allies might be Oleksii Honcharenko from European Solidarity and Anna Skorokhod from ZM/SN. Razumkov will also try to intercept the Servant of the People, All‑Ukrainian Union “Fatherland,” and European Solidarity electorates. Why could such a political force resume activity after the lifting of the wartime regime? The growth of covertly pro‑Russian sentiments among the population living in frontline regions and oblasts experiencing active air attacks by Russian occupiers. Here we must be ready for an electoral shock. The interest of the top military‑political leadership of the Russian Federation headed by the war criminal Vladimir Putin and of Russian intelligence services in political control over Ukraine. Russian intelligence services are already working to find an alternative political force in Ukraine. They count on a deterioration of the socio‑economic situation of ordinary Ukrainians. This could intensify particularly due to an energy crisis linked to Russian missile and drone attacks on critical infrastructure. Ukrainian public resilience must counter this.
In which regions can B. Kolesnikov’s party count on voter support? Obviously in the right‑bank part of Kherson region; military administrations will remain in effect there even after the hot phase of the Russo‑Ukrainian war, so there will be no elections there. As for Northern Donbas, heroically held by Ukraine’s defense forces, it is difficult to answer regarding any elections. With probability 50 percent, military administrations will also continue to operate there. The only places left for Kolesnikov and Co. are the cities of Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Dnipro and Kryvyi Rih. But these are absolutely insufficient for victory. Their team could get decent results in the North of Ukraine, which in 2010 supported the Party of Regions. Also a small number of mandates could be won by “Ukraine — Our Home” or its rebranding in the southwest of Ukraine, namely in Khmelnytskyi, Zakarpattia and Chernivtsi regions. As for the central region, the situation could turn out disastrously. Everything will depend on the behavior of local elites. In Poltava region the party brand of B. Kolesnikov could be adopted by the head of the regional branch of For the Future, former regionalist MP of the VII–IX convocations Yurii Shapovalov, who is preparing to rebrand the Poltava ZM into a local party “Poltavshchyna.” This could happen if Y. Shapovalov does not choose an optimal option, which for him could be All‑Ukrainian Union “Fatherland.” Deputies from the regional party Native City could do something similar. In summary, we must emphasize that on the postwar political field there will be one, or in the worst case two parties that will have a covertly pro‑Russian character. It will be supported by the Russian Federation. This is a very likely development. After all, despite the ban on the Party of Regions and its main successors the Opposition Bloc and OPZZh, their representatives and voters remain. The threat of a comeback of the pro‑Russian political class remains real. Russia, as the aggressor state that after a military defeat intended to destroy Ukrainian statehood, is very interested in political control over Ukraine.
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Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Проєкт Бориса Колеснікова стане новим притулком для вихідців з проросійських партій?". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: Fraza.
