Denys Horokhovskyi: Not even the war can keep those in power away from harassing Ukrainian business
Reputable Ukrainian political technologist Denys Horokhovskyi in his personal blog shares his views on the recent scandals of the authorities pushing around Ukraine’s major businesses.
“Survival seems to be the most basic and top priority need of any given individual. Therefore, when there’s direct and imminent threat to survival, all the available resources must be allocated to neutralization of this threat. Russia’s armed aggression is exactly the kind of threat in question: for two years of the fully-fledged war are showing that the Russian Federation is waging an extinction war, not caring whether these are military or civilians, Ukrainian- or Russian-speaking people – the Russian missiles kill everybody just the same. But alas, among those entrusted with power in Ukraine are some that believe it is just the right time to make a fortune on harassing the Ukrainian business.
The list of companies that had the “pleasure” of such “visits” is rather extensive. I can’t stress this enough, these are always reputable and public companies, with earned credibility. Still, this fact was never an obstacle for those wishing to obstruct the said businesses. Mazepa’s case, Concorde Capital, Multiplex cinema chain, and MacPaw before that. It all started with Parimatch, when the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC), circumventing the law, put the company on the sanctions list under unknown pretenses. That was the moment when our society failed the conscience test. The full-scale invasion reshaped the country: it’s now illegal – and immoral – to work with Russian counterparts, the axiom used by those that came up with the Parimatch scheme. Through various public opinion leaders and media influencers, it was suggested Parimatch was still operational in the Russian Federation. Naturally, the public was in uproar, asking for no solid proof to begin with. A little bit later, even the politicians admitted there were no ongoing business ties with Russia. There were, however, some tax issues, yet ask yourself the following: why does it concern the NSDC, but not the local taxmen? The answer was never presented to the public.
As a result, what we have is an exemplary case of the state officials sending a clear message to the Ukrainian entrepreneurs: be cooperative or be tagged as traitors, and be obliterated.
This subject is still speculated about to this day, by the way. Mazepa’s apprehension, for instance: he could have been taken in at any moment, yet the authorities decided to arrest him at the Ukraine-Poland state border to wind Ukrainians up even further: you, ordinary bunch, cannot leave the country, but this guy here is free to pop in and out whenever he feels like. This is one of the best tricks in the book, for a simple reason that it works like a charm. You can see the outrage across the social media, and all the doubts vanish.
The worst part, however, is that all the “clockers” and “caretakers” seem to have forgotten we are at war that can be the end for us all, and they came to push around the enterprises working in the defense sector. Reasoning is simple: the businesses are booming, there’s plenty of money floating around. You skim somebody off here, you splice the market in your favor there – the usual stuff, you know. You don’t need Harvard degrees in economics to understand we’re talking about billions of dollars of mislocated funds.
Threats against the reporter Nikolov and surveillance of Bihus investigators are the links of the same chain, make no mistake about that.
But it is a relief indeed that Ukraine is not the USSR or Russia, where people are accustomed to living in fear, and all of their rebellious talk – or rather whisper - is confined inside the kitchen walls in the dead of night. But thanks to the publicity, today’s business can try and defend itself from the “jumps” of the state authorities. It’s one clear distinction: not the state, but the state authorities. These two need to be separated, for the officials have names and job titles; these people pick their victims among the Ukrainian businesses, they make false pretenses to apply unprovoked pressure etc. This is one important distinction that everyone should keep in mind.
Surely, publicity does not always produce immediate results. Take the Parimatch case, for example: the company was very open and publicly defended itself against the accusations from day one, questioning the reasoning of putting them on the sanctions list. This strategy was instrumental in securing some public trust, which resulted in people petitioning the President, asking him to put a stop to this lawlessness, and kick some butt across the highest offices. As the President turned a blind eye to the case, Parimatch takes it to trial to debunk the fabricated accusation, and thus making a point: the President willfully ignored the raiders taking over the market and harassing the law-abiding business. Also, if he acknowledges the unlawful nature of the Parimatch bullying, he will effectively admit the National Security and Defense Council employed the sanctions not in favor of Ukraine, but to place specific business entity under its thumb. In that case, the question arises: how many more businesses and individuals have been put on the same list not because they were working against Ukraine, but because they were in somebody’s way? So far, Zelenskyy was very reserved and superficial in his reaction, commanding everyone inside the jurisdiction to look closely at this case, and present their reports to the President. For some reason, when I’m thinking of the NSDC investigating the circumstances of the Parimatch affair, I can’t help but think of one rather fitting saying, “When you look for a culprit, make sure you don’t catch yourself red-handed.”
What can the society do in situations like this? For starters, people cannot remain silent. They got to ask uncomfortable questions, seek for the truthful answers, be engaged in the conversation, and remain as reserved and cool-headed as humanly possible. Otherwise, we’ll be left with nothing but whispers in our dimly-lit kitchens late at night. There are no two ways about it.