Volodymyr Skorobahach - a Kharkiv butcher who was reborn from a garbage bin

Volodymyr Skorobahach - a Kharkiv butcher who was reborn from a garbage bin

Volodymyr Skorobahach and his story continue the "Lustration" column, a project by Freedom House in Ukraine.

The faction of the "Vidrodzhennya" party in the Kharkiv Regional Council is led by Volodymyr Skorobahach, by no means the most well-known figure in his party. Volodymyr Ivanovych briefly gained notoriety due to scandalous incidents involving buckwheat and green antiseptic, rather than the quiet meat business through which he supposedly earns a living.

First, out of order, about the green antiseptic: on December 24, 2014, Deputy Skorobahach became one of the first victims of "trash" lustration. For some reason, it was him who was attacked by hostile youths near the city council under the slogans of people’s lustration. Perhaps the buckwheat, which had made him infamous just before the green antiseptic incident, played a fatal role during the snap election campaign in the fall of 2014.

Under police protection, the "usurper" hid from the crowd in a pharmacy on Constitution Square, but the guard grew tired, and after 1.5 hours (!) upon exiting the shelter, with the police standing by, Skorobahach had green antiseptic splashed in his face and was dragged into a trash bin. Even his serious judo training from school days didn’t help our hero.

Skorobahach was elected to the Kharkiv City Council twice in the Kominternivskyi district and was a reliable member of the "white-and-blue" team of Dobkin-Kernes. In the disastrous year of 2014 for them, he was, for some reason, sent to run in the 169th district, replacing the Austrian beauty Iryna Berezhna. It seems the Kominternivsky fields of bountiful buckwheat sowing were already occupied, so the former "young regional" was sent to electoral torment in the problematic Kyivskyi district for the Party of Regions, among professors and students.

Distributing holy relics to churches and food packages to homes surprisingly brought no success. Instead, it drew the unwelcome attention of Avakov’s police, whose party colleague Kirsh was competing with candidate Skorobahach. As a result of a sometimes brilliant multi-step operation, only a small portion of the distributed condensed milk and cookies became material evidence. Tons of edible goods disappeared without a trace on the way to the ballot boxes, though not always the electoral ones.

More precisely, the products vanished into the stomachs of the ungrateful electorate of the Nahrno-Zhuravlivka area, and for a pitiful 22.5% of the votes (with a turnout of 49%). More than half of the voters couldn’t even be bothered to tear themselves away from venerating fresh relics and grains on October 26, 2014.

In the end, the mandate was cheaply won by Kirsh, who slipped through between the food packages of the pious Skorobahach and the first-aid kits of the factory-healthy candidate Dorovsky. It became clear that the shortest path to success still lies through Brazil. Especially if the meat is frozen there and imported here, through the hospitable customs of Odesa. In 2013-2015, the media published numerous articles about an entire network of "meat" companies somehow linked to V. Skorobahach. Just the "Interopt" firms with various prefixes were mentioned about three times (among the founders of one "opt," even a certain Yuriy Khomutynnik from the hero-city of Donetsk appeared). There were also mentions of the company "Mister Steak" and the Kharkiv Meat Processing Plant.

But regional politics is not sustained by meat alone. For party leadership, connections and publicity are necessary. With the latter, Volodymyr Ivanovych has somehow struggled (recognition among green antiseptic throwers doesn’t count). Despite all the resources of "Vidrodzhennya" – de facto the ruling party in Kharkiv – the head of its city organization, Skorobahach, rarely utters a public word. Perhaps the party has other means of communication with like-minded people and voters – telepathy, for example.

This sweet word "Betrayal": corruption or inadequacy?

With leaders, especially those who speak, the Kharkiv "regionals" have always had issues, even after their "revival." In the shining verbosity of Kernes, any Cicero would pale. But time changes everything. New leaders emerge, young and educated. Like Skorobahach. Joke or not, the man received a law degree in 2006, but already since 2001, he worked as a legal consultant at the reputable firm "Inyurpolis," founded by lecturers of the Law Academy. Simpletons first enrolled in the academy, while the clever ones went straight to consult professors. Later – postgraduate studies, a dissertation on local taxes (defended in 2015 at a private university in Zaporizhzhya). Then a new specialization – "public administration" at the presidential academy. It’s embarrassing now to face the guys without a doctoral degree.

In other words, the leader of the "Vidrodzhennya" faction has a full set of diplomas and more. His biography – a fitter, the son of a plumber, graduated from a technical school with honors, worked behind the counter from a young age, no criminal record, all friends are deputies, Slobozhanskyi certificates, and church orders. With such a resume, one could go either to the VLKSM district committee or to Alcatraz…

During his first term as a deputy (2006-2010), Volodymyr Ivanovych was entrusted with leading the "Young Regions" deputy group in the city council. The young leader of young deputies, however, was confidently approaching his 40s (such a Komsomol quirk), but the group united particularly trusted individuals of the city authorities.

All the mentioned factors are quite sufficient for the growth of V. Skorobahach’s political weight in the "Vidrodzhennia" party. At the same time, the head of the faction in the regional council directly interacts with the party leaders in the capital, especially since V. Khomutynnik is a long-time partner and friend of Skorobahach, elected to the Verkhovna Rada in Kharkiv’s 171st district. If the "Vidrodzhennya" party manages to maintain its current cooperation with presidential forces in the regional and Verkhovna Rada, the prospects for V. Skorobahach are simply exciting. In politics and business, not to mention public administration and jurisprudence.

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