Kharkiv elites will back Terekhov as mayor, Fuks says

The elites of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city,
will back Ihor Terekhov in the elections for mayor, which are expected in
October, Pavlo Fuks, a natural gas magnate, told the pravda.com.ua news site,
which was published on Jan. 21. Terekhov currently serves as first deputy head
of the Kharkiv city council. Before then, he was the deputy to Arsen Avakov,
the current internal affairs minister, when he served as the Kharkiv regional
administration head between 2005 and 2010.

“Everyone knows who this is,” Fuks said of Terekhov,
whom he said had been delegated several years ago some of the authority held by
Hennadiy Kernes, the 61-year-old mayor who died in December, reportedly of
COVID-19. Among those backing Tekekhov will be Avakov, Oleksandr Yaroslavsky,
the owner of the DCH Group of companies, and Ihor Kotvitskiy, who is involved
in natural gas extraction, like Fuks.

Another potential mayoral candidate is Mykhaylo
Dobkin, who served as Kharkiv mayor between 2006 and 2010 and replaced Avakov
as head of the regional administration. He remains a fierce critic of the
EuroMaidan and has consistently maintained a pro-Russian position. Oleksandr
Feldman, another political veteran in Kharkiv who controls the Barabashovo
market, may also compete for mayor. Both Dobkin and Feldman had serious
conflicts with Kernes, said Fuks, who was at Kernes’s bedside at Germany’s
Charite clinic during his final months.

Zenon Zawada: Terekhov is
a safe bet for getting elected, especially when he will be acting as mayor
throughout the year. Dobkin’s rhetoric is too extreme, while Feldman doesn’t
seem to have the coalition of support that Terekhov has.