Ukraine prosecutors conduct massive search, arrests in Mykolayiv

Ukrainian law enforcement announced they conducted a
massive search the morning of Aug. 29 of the property of businessmen and
politicians in the city of Mykolayiv, Ukraine’s ninth largest. More than 90
searches targeted city council members of the Opposition Bloc – a
Russian-oriented party that is influential in the region – producing five
arrests, including the alleged criminal gangster Mykhaylo Tytov. The Prosecutor
General’s Office presented audio recordings at a press conference that
afternoon of Tytov allegedly reaching illegal agreements with Volodymyr
Frolenko, the head of the Opposition Bloc faction in the city council.

Among the criminal cases being investigated are
armaments and narcotics trafficking, misappropriation of state budget funds,
extortion, raiding property and murder threats, authorities said. As its
response, the Opposition Bloc issued a statement alleging the searches are a
political maneuver to discredit the nation’s Russian-oriented opposition.
“Threats and searches have become the government’s ‘reliable argument’ in
response to objective criticism and lawful demands to fulfill the constitution
and uphold the rights of citizens,” the statement said, adding, “Each of your
unlawful acts, political blackmail, threats and intimidation that you use
against your opponents bring you and your accomplices to a grim end.”

Zenon Zawada: There’s two
sides to this coin, as with any Ukrainian government prosecution of high
profile figures. Organized crime is closely linked with politics in almost
every Ukrainian city, at almost every government level. So the claims by
Ukrainian law enforcement about the criminal background of those investigated
look credible. Yet once again, those being targeted are rivals to the political
clan in power. Poroshenko’s entourage has been widely accused of corruption by
leading politicians, journalists and activists, yet they remain immune to such
investigations.

Those targeted in Mykolayiv are tied to the
Russian-oriented Opposition Bloc, which has the potential to achieve strong
results in the 2019 parliamentary elections. Indeed Poroshenko has spent recent
months targeting his political rivals (Andriy Sadovyi, Mikheil Saakashvili),
and we believe yesterday’s searches and arrests fit that pattern. Once again, we
don’t expect any convictions to come out of this. Poroshenko’s style is to use
the judiciary and law enforcement to pressure his rivals to comply with his
political agenda.