24 October 2014
The campaign manager of Oleh Liashko’s Radical Party is Igor Shuvalov, a Russian citizen and political scientist who has long worked as an adviser to Serhiy Lyovochkin, the head of the President Administration of Viktor Yanukovych, reported the LigaBiznesInform news agency on Oct. 22. Shuvalov is simultaneously working on the campaign of the Opposition Bloc, which is the successor to the Party of Regions, the report said.
Zenon Zawada: This information confirms our viewthat the opposition in the new parliament is on path to consist of the populist anti-Putinist Radical Party and the pro-Putinist Opposition Bloc (if it qualifies), both ultimately serving the interests of the natural gas lobby led by billionaire oligarch Dmytro Firtash, who is closely aligned to Lyovochkin and Yuriy Boyko, the leader of the Opposition Bloc. In which case, the influence of one of Ukraine’s largest oligarch clans will be preserved in politics. The Radical Party is expected to gain about 13 percent of the votes in the upcoming elections while the Opposition Bloc may barely qualify with 5-6 percent.