A tent camp has been set up on Dnipropetrovsk’s central square, where “Orange” protesters have been demanding the dismissal of Governor Serhiy Kasyanov for several days. The camp’s superintendent Yury Bereza is issuing instructions, as he did during the Orange Revolution, cars keep pulling in, people are bringing thermoses and sandwiches, Pora activists are bustling about. The latter say they are going to be joined by college and university students as well as residents of the region’s cities and villages. Militants have already arrived from Pavlodar, Nikopol, Dniprodzerzhynsk, and Novomoskovsk with placards featuring the slogan “Down with Kasyanov!” Two activists have a banner reading “Mr. Yushchenko! We gave you our body and soul! Are you with us?”
The governor does not have nerves of steel, so he decided to come out to face the protesters. He said that, as a participant in the Orange Revolution, he is always ready for a dialogue with those who are dissatisfied with his staffing policy. Kasyanov admitted that it was Kyiv that advised him to appoint his deputies, which in fact sparked a conflict with the leaders of the parties that are part of the Orange coalition. He said that Premier Yuliya Tymoshenko had advised him to appoint Ivan Chornokur, one of the former top executives of the United Energy Systems of Ukraine, and now the governor’s acting first deputy. She also recommended businessman Zakhid Krasnov, who is now in charge of law-enforcement bodies and internal policies. The Socialist Party and Solidarity also put forward their own people, but their nominees have either refused the offer or have not yet made a choice.
By all accounts, the Dnipropetrovsk party activists, who had broken the agreement of cooperation with the governor, were taken aback by his revelations. Although Kasyanov offered three dissidents leading posts in the regional administration, their reaction was negative.
Iryna Sokulska, head of the coalition’s political council, characterized the governor’s gesture as an attempt to split the protesters’ ranks and read out another address to President Yushchenko, in which the Dnipropetrovsk activists told the head of state of their non-confidence in Mr. Kasyanov. In their view, he “has no moral right to represent the President of Ukraine in the region” and the signatories, who represent 13 parties, are demanding his dismissal “by all possible means.” The “Orange political council” cautioned President Yushchenko against naming other odious figures whose appointments may turn Dnipropetrovsk oblast into “a fiefdom for the representatives of the old regime.”
As we were going to press, it was learned that Governor Kasyanov of Dnipropetrovsk has proposed putting this problem to a public debate. He told a press conference that the region’s residents can familiarize themselves with the lists of candidates for district administration heads and their deputies, which will be displayed in public places.
At the same time Mr. Kasyanov said that the oblast administration is almost complete and its top executives are working productively, thus making it clear to his opponents that there will be no important concessions. Moreover, he told journalists that he wants to create a Hyde Park on Dnipropetrovsk’s central square where “the Orange people” have been protesting for the past week. He plans to set up a podium, microphones, bullhorns, and even security guards. Mr. Kasyanov promised to “thoroughly analyze” any criticism expressed by the protesters on the square.
