They wanted to exclude Natalia Korolevska from the faction for a long time, but did not dare to. Many deputies were extremely annoyed by her vigorous self-promotion and the desire to play independent. She was openly called a “trunk” and “Bankova Street satellite.” And so time X came. The official reason of exclusion sounds as follows: “for systemic violations of faction and bloc discipline.”
Why was Korolevska excluded right now? The direct reason was that she did not vote for including the draft laws on the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in the agenda. But perhaps, someone inside the faction was waiting for an opportunity to do it and just jumped on the chance.
At first Korolevska was trying to justify herself. She said someone had stolen her voting card. But it did not help. “This is not serious. I would raise hell if I saw my card is missing,” said Serhii Sobolev as he brushed her words aside.
When the decision was already made, Korolevska took the offensive. She stated that there was a split within the opposition and her party exited the Dictatorship Resistance Committee.
“We are going to hold a party congress to clearly define its participation in the parliamentary elections. But my personal stand has not changed. We are going to do everything for Tymoshenko to be released,” Korolevska stated. At the briefing, Yevhen Suslov and Oleksii Lohvynenko also confirmed their withdrawal from BYuT-Batkivshchyna.
Volodymyr Oliinyk, MP for the Party of Regions, thinks that Korolevska’s expulsion is an evidence of the split in Tymoshenko’s bloc. “I think that there is fighting for political perspective inside the BYuT. It is done for the desire to be the head of the bloc and to separate a part of the bloc along with its electorate,” said he.
Political scientist Volodymyr FESENKO holds a similar opinion.
“This is the climax of the conflict that has existed since last year. We all remember the penalty and critical remarks made about her. I think this is the consequence of the new BYuT leadership’s style.
“I think this would not have happened if Tymoshenko was not in prison. She ensured the unity of the faction. She managed to find a common language with very different people. The present situation is just an exposure of the complicated conflicts that have been going on inside the bloc ever since Tymoshenko was arrested. This is what lies on the surface, what gets noticed by the public. Get all the dissenters out! Those who are not with us, are against us. And I am deeply worried that this very style is being imposed in the process of the opposition’s unification. I think it is not going to lead to any unification, but will rather aggravate the conflict and contradictions within the opposition. If this is what happening inside the faction, what should we expect from the united party list?”
By the way, Korolevska is dubbed a “trunk.”
“Trunks defect on their own. The only problem that I see here is that Korolevska emphasized her independent activity.”
So this is nothing but plain envy?
“I think some envy definitely has to do with it. I will repeat it once again, it was most likely done because of personal motives. She was accused of cooperation with Bankova Street. Meanwhile, Suslov has suffered from law enforcement authorities! There was a search in his office on The Day Tymoshenko was convicted.
“I know that many people in the BYuT sympathize with Korolevska and disapprove of this conflict, but they are afraid to talk about it openly. Such conflicts and bringing them out in the public do not help the unity of the opposition.”
Korolevska herself says no method is being spared to discredit her in the eyes of Tymoshenko.
“I do not rule this out. I was told that when Tymoshenko was still at large, they ratted on each other. Which means that something was fishy even when Tymoshenko was fully in charge. When she was arrested, these things started to come out. And the government is taking advantage of the situation and shoving more dirt in.
“By the way, lately I have been asked about the conflict between Turchynov and Kozhemiakin. I do not know if there is a conflict or not. But it is for a reason that this topic has surfaced. Such conflicts are kindled by the government on purpose. And unfortunately, the leaders of BYuT-Batkivshchyna give in to this game of conflicts. And they gladly participate instead of settling them.”
