Deputy Ostriches. Who Hid from the Nationalization of Russian Business?

Deputy Ostriches. Who Hid from the Nationalization of Russian Business?

9 April was a very productive day in the Ukrainian parliament — deputies voted in concert and passed many important laws. The sticking point was the bill on the nationalization of Russian enterprises. Opinions were split evenly on whether it should be adopted — ultimately the vote failed. Even among coalition deputies many decided not to vote for the bill, and several dozen MPs simply pulled out their voting cards so the system would show they were absent. Why do deputies hide during such a vote and which factions have the most deputy-ostriches, “Chetverta Vlada” investigated.

People’s Deputy from Dnipropetrovsk Borys Filatov commented on the voting results on his page:

“BPP sabotaged the vote on the Law on the Nationalization in Ukraine of the Property of the Aggressor State and its Residents. Exactly half of the faction refused. Lipetsk rules. A nationwide disgrace.”

After the adoption of the package of decommunization laws long awaited by Ukrainian society, the vote on nationalization caught many deputies off guard. On the one hand, the law is in demand given Russian aggression. On the other — many deputies have economic ties with Russia and have something to lose if Russia decides to adopt similar laws in response. But how do you explain to voters, for example in western Ukraine, why you did not vote to nationalize the aggressor’s property? Especially when Russia confiscated all Ukrainian property in Crimea, and Russian occupiers have been looting Donbas for a year? Therefore three dozen deputies simply removed their personal voting cards so the Rada system would show they were absent. Most surprising is the position of those MPs who voted to condemn totalitarian regimes, and then “vanished.” Most of these were in Petro Poroshenko Bloc and the deputy group “Will of the People.”

This looks especially curious if you examine the voting chronology of the Verkhovna Rada closely. In 14:02 the Rada adopted the last law from the decommunization package. The bill condemning communism and Nazism was supported by 254 deputies out of 307 present. But two minutes later parliamentarians were considering the bill on nationalization. The vote was a failure, with only 190 in favor. Most interestingly, in those two minutes 23 deputies seemingly “disappeared” in an unknown direction.

Among the “disappeared” were Iryna Lutsenko, former journalist Konstantyn Usov, Lviv deputies Stepan Kubiv and Oksana Yurynets, head of the Donetsk regional headquarters of the Poroshenko Bloc Artur Herasymov, former finance minister Viktor Pynzenyk (all — Petro Poroshenko Bloc), Volyn oligarchs Ihor Yeremeyev and Stepan Ivakhiv, the red director Viacheslav Bohuslaiev and singing rector Mykhailo Poplavskyi (all — deputy group “Will of the People”), as well as Yuliia Tymoshenko’s lawyer Serhii Vlasenko.

Voted to condemn Nazism and communism, but two minutes later were already “absent”

Petro Poroshenko Bloc

Olha Bielkova

Artur Herasymov

Anatolii Evlakhov

Mykhailo Kobtsev

Stepan Kubiv

Maksym Kuryachyi

Taras Kutovyi

Iryna Lutsenko

Olena Matuzko

Bohdan Onufryk

Mykola Palamarchuk

Viktor Pynzenyk

Konstantyn Usov

Oksana Yurynets

People’s Front

Natalia Katser-Buchkovska

Samopomich

Alena Babak

Yaroslav Markevych

Viktoriia Ptashnyk

Batkivshchyna

Serhii Vlasenko

Will of the People

Ihor Yeremeyev

Serhii Labaziuk

Yaroslav Moskalenko

Viktor Razvadovskyi

Yurii Shapovalov

Viacheslav Bohuslaiev

Stepan Ivakhiv

Serhii Martyniak

Mykhailo Poplavskyi

The second group — the craftiest and busiest deputies. They registered in the system at the start of the session, listened to the speech of the President of Poland, but did not come to the vote on condemning totalitarianism and on the nationalization of Russian business. What guided them? Probably the same as the first group. Only they had time to study the agenda and identified for themselves the items during which it was better not to be visible. Some of them were handling matters of state importance in the buffet and in the Rada’s corridors.

Many prominent politicians are among MPs of the second category. These include Volodymyr Lytvyn, Yuliia Tymoshenko, Serhii Kivalov, Oksana Prodan, Liudmyla Denisova, Andrii Kozhemiakin and others. They are not in a hurry to explain their position on this issue. Perhaps because it is embarrassing to announce their true stance.

For example, the Opposition Bloc and the deputy group Vidrodzhennia have a clear position on these issues. These parties did not cast a single vote either for nationalization or for the condemnation of totalitarian regimes — some were absent, others did not vote. But Tymoshenko’s and Lytvyn’s positions remain a mystery.

Registered in the Rada at the start of the session, but absent during consideration of the nationalization bill

Petro Poroshenko Bloc

Natalia Ahafonova

Dmytro Andriievskyi

Olha Bohomolets

Vasyl Brenzovych

Oleksii Honcharenko

Maksym Yefymov

Valerii Ishchenko

Serhii Kunytsyn

Mustafa Nayyem

Fedir Nehoi

Vadym Nesterenko

Oleh Petrenko

Oksana Prodan

People’s Front

Liudmyla Denisova

Samopomich

Viktor Kryvenko

Andrii Myroshnyk

Batkivshchyna

Andrii Kozhemiakin

Oleksii Riabchyn

Yuliia Tymoshenko

Radical Party of Lyashko

Zlata Ognevich

Will of the People

Volodymyr Bandurov

Andrii Derkach

Volodymyr Lytvyn

Ihor Molotok

Non-affiliated

Ivan Baloga

Pavlo Baloga

Oleksandr Hereha

Serhii Kivalov

Eduard Matviichuk

Vasyl Petevka

Serhii Taruta

The last category includes those who did not vote for nationalization. As seen from the list, most of them are representatives of the pro-presidential faction.

Faction leader of BPP Yurii Lutsenko explained the non-voting of some deputies by saying the bill is declarative in nature and does not carry serious consequences for Russia.

Political analyst Oleksandr Palii told Inforesist why some deputies from the Petro Poroshenko Bloc did not vote for the nationalization of Russian business:

“They have not yet reached a common decision on this issue, so they split during the vote. They have not fully calculated everything yet — whether it is a plus or a minus. Maybe some of them are not voting for personal reasons, and maybe they are thinking about what the consequences will be. Maybe some have connections. But I think Ukraine can still put this issue on the agenda, because Russia made the first move here. In Crimea it effectively nationalized Ukrainian property brazenly and shamelessly. Ukraine can respond. The legal grounds are on our side,” the expert said.

Petro Poroshenko Bloc

Andrii Vadaturskyi

Ivan Vynnyk

Yurii Harbuz

Mykhailo Hvozdiev

Iryna Herashchenko

Dmytro Holubov

Robert Horvat

Vitalii Hudzhenko

Ihor Hryniv

Valerii Davydenko

Vadym Denysenko

Mykhailo Dovbenko

Oleksandr Dombrovskyi

Svitlana Zalishchuk

Konstantyn Ishcheikin

Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze

Ruslan Knyazevych

Leonid Kozachenko

Borys Kozyr

Viktor Korol

Serhii Kudlaenko

Mykola Lavryk

Serhii Leshchenko

Andrii Lopushanskyi

Yurii Lutsenko

David Makarians

Yurii Makedon

Yulii Mamchur

Anatolii Matviyenko

Volodymyr Melnychenko

Oleksii Mushak

Roman Nasirov

Natalia Novak

Valerii Patskan

Oleksii Poroshenko

Yurii Rybchynskyi

Oleksandr Spivakovskyi

Hryhorii Tymish

Serhii Tryhubenko

Oleksandr Urbanskyi

Iryna Friz

Hennadii Chekyta

Nina Yuzhanina

Kostyantyn Yarynich

People’s Front

Denys Dzenzerskyi

Tetyana Donets

Oleh Kryshyn

Ruslan Lukianchuk

Mykola Martynenko

Serhii Pashynskyi

Pavlo Pynzenyk

Yurii Savchuk

Viktoriia Siumar

Samopomich

Natalia Veselova

Andrii Zhurzhyi

Roman Semenuha

Ruslan Sydorovych

Olena Sotnyk

Oleksandr Opanasenko

Batkivshchyna

Oleksandr Abdullyn

Vladyslav Bukharev

Hryhorii Nemyria

Radical Party of Lyashko

Andrii Artemenko

Will of the People

Anatolii Hirshfeld

Serhii Melnychuk

Non-affiliated

Viktor Baloga

Yakov Bezbah

Volodymyr Groysman

Serhii Rudyk

Oleksandr Suprunenko

After the failed vote deputies tried to return to consideration of the issue, but that proposal did not receive support from the majority of parliamentarians. Obviously, deputies will return to the topic of nationalization. In the meantime, deputies have every opportunity to revise the bill and convince the presidential faction to support it.

At the same time entrepreneur and blogger Yurii Bohdanov considers this bill too radical. He proposed the following alternative to nationalization:

“1. Russian enterprises that agree to re-register in Ukraine should be granted a tax break for 5 years (to weaken the aggressor’s economic potential and strengthen Ukraine’s economic and financial potential). 2. Russian entrepreneurs who want to move to Ukraine along with their business should be granted Ukrainian citizenship and the same benefits (after thorough vetting by the special services) for the same terms. 3. Russian companies that do not want to change their place of registration should be subject to two restrictions: 1) accumulate received revenues and profits in a special domestic Ukrainian account and use them only for self-financing and reinvestment in Ukraine (until the conflict ends); 2) not carry out any activity to export any assets outside Ukraine to any country. 4. For refusers and violators of the regime 3 introduce temporary seizure of property (without nationalization) until the end of the conflict or its transition to an inactive phase. And this is a compromise that will show that: a) Ukraine respects property rights and investors’ rights; b) Ukraine respects itself.”

Sviatoslav Samoilenko, “Chetverta Vlada”