In the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, the aggressor country conducted "elections" for local councils. The selection of candidates for the occupied territories was tense.
For "security reasons," the ballots only featured the names of political parties, and information about the candidates was not disclosed. Only 4-5 parties were allowed to participate in the process, and they were all pro-government parties. Of course, "United Russia," the Communists, and the LDPR (Liberal Democratic Party of Russia) were among them. Half of the candidates from some parties were entirely new individuals about whom nothing was known. For example, in the LDPR (Liberal Democratic Party of Russia), CPRF (Communist Party of the Russian Federation), and "A Just Russia" parties, on average, a third of the candidates were homemakers, pensioners, and the unemployed with unclear sources of income. It is possible that this was a way for them to make some extra money. There are party lists where such "street" candidates make up 50% of the total. In general, these are people who have no connection to politics and were likely brought in for show. The second-tier lists of deputies from the parties are primarily composed of little-known local businessmen, officials, with some deputies from Russian regions mixed in.
So, who represents the "legitimate authority"? Whom did Russia manage to place in the "people's councils" it established? In the annexed territories of the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, 71 percent of all candidates are local residents. The approach of "United Russia" to selecting "candidates" in the south and Donbas was significantly different. In the so-called "DPR" (Donetsk People's Republic) and "LPR" (Luhansk People's Republic), it relied on the local political system controlled by the Kremlin for the past nine years. They nominated mainly those who were already in the people's council of these "republics," i.e., representatives of previously existing occupation administrations. This means that, most likely, the election results won't bring significant changes in power there. Even after a year and a half of occupation, there is a shortage of local personnel in the occupied territories of the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions - the lists of "United Russia" in the "regional dumas" mainly include known collaborators. Most of the "new United Russia" members are local budget employees: school directors, rural club organizers, city administration clerks, and small entrepreneurs.
At the top of the "United Russia" lists are the leaders of the occupied Ukrainian regions of the Russian Federation: Denis Pushilin, Leonid Pasechnik, Yevgeny Balitsky, and Vladimir Saldo.
Number one in the "LNR" (Luhansk People's Republic) is the "elected leader of the Luhansk People's Republic," Leonid Pasechnik, a former employee of the SBU (Ukraine's Security Service) who, in the recent past, was the so-called "Minister of State Security of the LNR." While working at the SBU, Pasechnik controlled the movement of all goods across the Russian-Ukrainian border. As the "Minister of State Security of the LNR," he continued to profit by controlling the smuggling of coal and lubricants.
In the Zaporizhzhia region, a wealthy businessman and the curator of the process of seizing Ukrainian grain through the ports of the occupied part of the region, Yevgeny Balitsky, became a deputy. In the Zaporizhzhia regional duma, the "head" of the administration of Melitopol, Galina Danilchenko, became a deputy. She is second on the "United Russia" party list after the "leader" of the Zaporizhzhia region, Yevgeny Balitsky, with whom she worked for many years at his family's enterprise.
Also in the top ten is the self-proclaimed mayor of Berdiansk, Alexander Saulenko. In Ukraine, he was sentenced in absentia to 15 years in prison with property confiscation. Many other participants in these "elections" received sentences for collaboration. The legislative assembly of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) was strengthened by Viktor Medvedchuk's Crimean ally, Oleg Slyusarenko, who actively assisted the occupiers for eight years but never obtained any significant position on the peninsula. Oleg Slyusarenko is known in Crimea as a participant and organizer of various, including radical, pro-Russian street protests. In 2017, Oleg Slyusarenko's name was also mentioned in the context of his organization "Our Great Victory" cooperating with "Montenegrin terrorists" - a group of individuals suspected of preparing a state coup in Montenegro.
The eighth position on the list of deputies of the Kherson Regional Council is held by the current deputy chairman of the regional government, Vitaliy Buliuk. Previously, he was a Ukrainian patriot and wrote on social media in April 2022 that "Kherson is Ukraine," but a month later, he joined the occupation authorities.
In addition to Ukrainians remaining in the occupied territories, 340 Russians from 39 regions participated in the elections for the legislative assemblies of four occupied regions. Apparently, there were not enough candidates, so the Kremlin had to send reinforcements from Russia, including officials from the presidential administration, such as Oleg Nesterov, a member of the Kremlin administration who was sanctioned by the United States for coordinating the "referendum" in the Zaporizhia region and creating "filtration points."
In the occupied part of the Kherson region, the second position on the ruling party's list is occupied by a controversial figure: State Duma deputy Igor Kastyukevich, who organized the deportation of children from the Kherson orphanage in the fall of 2022. At least 14 children from Kherson were transferred to an orphanage called "Yolochka," nicknamed the "children's concentration camp" due to the cruel treatment of young residents.
The Russian "paratrooper" element makes up about one-fifth of the "United Russia" list in the Donetsk region. Among them is the famous kickboxer Vladimir Mineev, who reportedly volunteered for the Russian army at the beginning of the year, active Rostov-on-Don City Council member Petr Pyatibratov, and non-public Kremlin political analyst Artem Perehrist.
In the Lugansk region, the party nominates Don Cossacks: State Duma deputy Viktor Vodolatsky and the "supreme ataman" Nikolai Dyakonov.
In these so-called elections in the occupied areas, there were no federal-level figures in the party lists, except perhaps the infamous corrupter Slutsky, who decided to run in all four regions. However, he is unlikely to leave his position as the chairman of the State Duma's International Affairs Committee.
In most cases, these are serial candidates, meaning people who have run in elections in Russia multiple times at various levels but have not been elected anywhere. Some of them have run 15-20 times. And now they continue their career as "serial candidates" in the occupied areas. Although there are individuals who likely intend to address their business interests in these areas and have therefore decided to obtain "titles."
Regarding the legitimacy of all these "people's councils," it seems that no one, not even those who ran, has any illusions about it.
Source: latviatoday.info
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