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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
“Watcher” for “Narik” Vemir Davityan Attempts to Control Zaporizhzhia
In 2021, a follower of the Dnipro authority “Narik” (Oleksandr Petrovskyi) began presenting himself to local “servants” as well as to officials and business representatives. In conversations with them he insisted that all matters should now be resolved exclusively through him. He persistently claimed that he was not a friend of just anyone, but of the MP Davyd Arahamia himself.
It was from Petrovskyi’s charitable foundation Solidarity that Davityan began operating in Zaporizhzhia. Vemir Surenovych’s start in Zaporizhzhia was rather tepid — he carried out a few low-profile actions on behalf of Petrovskyi, but they had little effect. However, the task was accomplished — Davityan obtained an official facade for his presence in Zaporizhzhia. This is indirectly confirmed by the fact that Petrovskyi either gifted him or lent him a motorcade of several cars with Dnipro plates bearing the numbers “0009” and “0001”, as well as security of about a dozen and a half people. Nevertheless, this tactic bore fruit — later Davityan began to be perceived as a person who had influence over the staffing policy of the Office of the President in the region.
Davityan said he had connections in the Office of the President at the level of Kyrylo Tymoshenko. At the same time he persistently recommended to businessmen who were being given opportunities to win tenders that they “kick back” from 20 to 30% of the tender amount. And this applied not only to current and future tenders but also to those already won.
Arahamia denied any interests in the Zaporizhzhia region so vehemently that it had the opposite effect. However, it was precisely after these assurances from Arahamia and Davityan that investigators became interested in the latter. The situation was inflamed further by an awkward attempt by Davityan’s PR people to “flood” Internet search results with materials in which Vemir Surenovych mused about raiding.
Moreover, it was done clumsily, and the budget allocated by Davityan for this activity was clearly embezzled — articles with Vemir Surenovych’s profound reflections that “the victim of raiders is to blame for it herself” appeared on some marginal sites like volnovakha.city and konotop.city. Which in itself alarmed the eye of an experienced observer.
According to Davityan, he was the one who “appointed” Oleksandr Starukh to the position of head of the regional state administration. But the truth is that Vemir Davityan not only could not “appoint” anyone, he could not even propose a remotely suitable candidate to the Office of the President. For the simple reason that he is an outsider in the region who has no influence on the local elites.
But Davityan, it seems, soberly assessed his position and turned to Hennadii Fuks for help, a well-known businessman, former deputy governor, and head of the For the Future faction in the new regional council. Fuks proposed his old associate Oleksandr Starukh.
And to Kyrylo Tymoshenko Davityan reported that this was “one hundred percent his man.”
As a result, everyone was satisfied — Fuks and his circle gained control over the region, Kyrylo Tymoshenko declared that he had “quickly and effectively” solved staffing problems in the Zaporizhzhia region, and Davityan himself obtained a story he could use to say that he had “appointed the governor and the head of the regional council.”
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "«Смотрящий» від «Наріка» Вемір Давітян намагається керувати Запоріжжям". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: ANTIKOR.
