Cherkasy mayor violates national quarantine, drawing warnings from Kyiv

Anatoliy Bondarenko, the mayor of the regional center
of Cherkasy, drew fierce criticism from top Ukrainian officials after deciding
to relax quarantine restrictions for local entrepreneurs as of May 1 beyond
what the central government had authorized. The decision reached by the city
council executive committee on Apr. 30 cited the complaints of scores of local
entrepreneurs, who said they were on the brink of survival. In exchange for
being able to engage in business, they promised to uphold all sanitary norms
and rules, including placing antiseptic liquids at entrances to buildings and
restricting the number of customers in buildings. Businesses allowed to open
included food markets (which were approved nationally), many categories of
non-food stores (not approved by Kyiv), restaurants and cafes with outdoor
seating, various repair shops, hair salons, funeral homes, and fitness clubs,
as well as parks and squares.

The next day, Ukrainian President Zelensky warned of
legal consequences for those local officials violating the rules of the
national quarantine. “This is an attempt to earn political ratings at the
expense of the lives and health of the city’s residents,” Zelensky said in a
May 1 video appeal. “And this will have respective legal consequences. For the
future, this applies to all the representatives of local government, who are
confusing the word ‘decentralization’ with ‘autonomy’. There’s no need to
engage in amateurism, which threatens the safety of people.” In his turn,
Internal Affairs Minister Arsen Avakov tweeted his own response, “Mr. Mayor of
Cherkasy, you overplayed your hand. Stop risking the health and lives of people
for the sake of political games! The reaction will be harsh!” The same
afternoon, Bondarenko received a summons for questioning on May 4 by the local
police. Meanwhile, scores of small and medium entrepreneurs engaged in the
latest protest, this time at the National Police administration, to allow
businesses to function.

As his response, Bondarenko criticized the logic behind
the Kyiv government’s quarantine restrictions, stating they were unequal. With
its actions, the local government merely “placed small construction supply
shops and large construction supply retailers at an equal level,” he told a
television news network on May 1.  “Because I can’t explain to the city’s
residents why dozens, if not hundreds or even thousands of people are in a
large construction supply retailer, but they can’t go to a small construction
supply store and buy a can of paint. I can’t explain why people can stroll
along the Cherkasy riverfront in protective gear, but can’t visit parks that
are nearby.” He also expressed confidence that his decision won’t lead to an
increase in coronavirus infections. About 3,500 people have died in the Cherkasy
region this year so far, of which 1,500 were from heart attacks and strokes,
700 from cancer, 38 from suicide, 24 from auto accidents and only nine from the
COVID-19 disease caused by the coronavirus, he said.

Zenon Zawada: It was
inevitable that a local politician was going to lead some kind of rebellion
against the central Kyiv government’s severe quarantine. And Bondarenko made
the calculated decision that his political prospects, particularly ahead of the
October local elections, would be boosted by heeding to protests. Indeed
Bondarenko found a political issue that was ripe for the picking, raising the
same questions and arguments that everyday Ukrainians have been making. And we
have also questioned the logic of allowing certain retailers to operate, and
not others, which has all the signs of political lobbying and favoritism.

Needless to say, it’s better to err on the side of
caution, especially in a country like Ukraine in which the healthcare system
could have easily collapsed under the same burden that Western countries faced.
Nonetheless, we expect similar rebellions before the national quarantine is
scheduled to be relaxed as of May 12, with the tourist center of Mukachevo
being among those announcing premature easing. And mini-rebellions have been
quietly occurring throughout Ukraine among small and medium businesses that
have reopened, or never shut down. It’s hard to predict whether this will cause
infection rates to increase again.