There is a famous joke: “whoever beat Shufrich.” They beat me, threw me into a garbage can, but this was the first time I was put in prison. Moreover, on suspicion of treason. Question: why only now?
Traitor or scapegoat? How Shufrich ended up in jail
During Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Shufrich only once fell under the hot hand. But not law enforcement, but terrorist defense. This happened on March 4 last year. The people's deputy, being with his guards, drove up to the checkpoint and began to take pictures. For this he was detained by soldiers of the capital's territorial defense. Shufrich sat in the TrO premises until the morning. But that was where his fear ended, because the police and the SBU, who carried out the check, did not find anything illegal on the deputy. The politician himself said that he simply took a selfie to confirm his stay in Kyiv.
Since then, Shufrich has had no problems with law enforcement officers or intelligence officers. He has chaired the parliamentary committee on freedom of speech since August 29, 2019, and continues to chair it. Despite the arrest. After the mentioned events at the checkpoint, Nestor Ivanovich rarely made statements to the public. He found himself in a rather piquant situation, because in the faction of the dissolved and banned OPZZH he belonged to the group of Viktor Medvedchuk, which almost all former colleagues disowned after the start of the war. However, it was not the obvious connection with Putin’s godfather that brought Shufrich to the dock, but connections with Vladimir Sivkovich, who fled to Moscow after the Revolution of Dignity. And to whom the SBI reported suspicion of treason on July 22, 2022. And the guys from the SBU visited Shufrich on September 15 of this year. Consequently, either the promotion of Sivkovich’s tangle of agents in Ukraine has just now led to the chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Freedom of Speech and the investigation has indisputable evidence, or there may be political expediency in the story of the arrest of the odious people’s deputy. Or both “or”s came together.
By the way, Shufrich does not admit guilt. He does not deny communicating with Sivkovich before the large-scale Russian invasion, but after February 24, 2022, he says, he did not maintain contact with him. However, “before” and “after” in no way justify the detained people’s deputy, because Nestor Ivanovich is well informed who Sivkovich is, what role he played in Russia all these years, what influence he had in Ukraine. So the pre-trial detention center where Shufrich, who now calls himself a Nazi, is being held is a natural result of his pro-Russian orientation.
But let's return to “or”. We have no doubt that Vasily Malyuk’s wards had something to go to court with, and the judge made the decision to arrest the deputy, motivated not only by a sense of patriotism. However, it does raise some uncomfortable questions. First: it is well known about the case of the former SBU officer-traitor Oleg Kulinich, in which Sivkovich appears. So does the story with Shufrich have anything to do with this case or is it about something else? And if about something else, then Pan Nestor must have accomplices. Those who worked for the FSB either deliberately, or they were used in the dark. Simply put, limiting the case to just Shufrich’s arrest raises many questions. The second uncomfortable question is: what will happen next. That is, the suspect will spend two months in a pre-trial detention center, then, probably, his period of stay in custody will be extended, and then extended again. But eventually the case must go to court. Considering that the article incriminated against the people's deputy is serious, he will be tried under the close attention of the media and various human rights activists, and a defendant with his character is unlikely to sit out in silence.
Shufrich shut up loud corruption scandals?
These uncomfortable questions about the plot of the case and its possible consequences fuel the suspicion that there is political expediency in arresting Shufrich right now. But what is this expediency, there may be several versions. And everyone is flawed. First: recently, the corridors of power have been shaken by unpleasant corruption scandals. The Ministry of Defense was rocking under the previous Minister Alexei Reznikov, now Bankovaya after a series of journalistic investigations, the main person involved in which is Andrei Ermak’s deputy Rostislav Shurma. Depo.ua analyzed this situation. Now it is beneficial for the authorities to switch public attention to something else. For such cases, there are “bad guys” whom no one likes. Shufrich is the ideal “bad guy”. Ask someone on the street whether he or she considers this politician a traitor, the answer will be obvious.
If this version is correct, then we can assume that there are still a few such VIP traitors, and with the next high-profile corruption scandal in the highest corridors, someone else will be let off the hook. No matter how deeply this person collaborated with the authorities. Shufrich did not quarrel with her, and his “servants” left him in the position of head of the committee. Who could be next? Just the other day it was reported that the case of the 2010 Kharkov Agreements was transferred to the court. Viktor Yanukovych and Mykola Azarov are on trial. But here it is worth mentioning that in this case the investigation raised questions not only about the “legitimate” and “bloodshed,” but also about the current people’s deputies. To Yuri Boyko, in particular.
True, there are several nuances. First: the list of “famous state traitors” is not endless. Second: how parliament will react to their pulling out. It is no secret that former representatives of the OPZZH now often vote for bills for the passage of which the “servants of the people” do not have enough votes. And now Shufrich ended up behind bars. Next, perhaps someone else. Will this not lead to the refusal of former OPZZheshniks to push the green buttons together with the “greens”? At first glance, it’s the opposite, because the fear of being Shufrich’s cellmate will guide their fingers to the right movements. However, a somewhat strange comment by Deputy Speaker Alexander Kornienko about searching for a mechanism for recalling the arrested head of the Committee on Freedom of Speech from his post raises suspicions that some agreements with the Opposition for Life Rights could have existed, but now they have been violated. And the “servants” don’t quite understand how to act in the new conditions. Shufrich is suspected of high treason, and Kornienko, instead of taking the lead and rushing to remove the suspect from his post, fantasizes: it would be better if he himself wrote a letter of resignation. From his words, we can conclude that there will be no rush to recall Shufrich, although the parliament has several draft resolutions on this matter. And some have been gathering dust for quite some time.
Why not fire Shufrich without unnecessary ceremony? It is possible that this position is one of the elements of unwritten agreements with OPZH. If Nestor is thrown out, the dissolved pro-Russian faction will lose influence on the only committee of the Rada. Getting nothing instead. Since such a faction does not exist, its former representatives cannot obtain the position of head. And here a dilemma arises for the authorities: this committee must be headed by the opposition, otherwise our partners will frown. Even if it is a formal opposition in the current conditions. Shufrich has three people on the committee with him, they are also deputies, both “servants” Evgeniy Bragar and Sergei Shvets. Shufrich is fired, and what to do in this situation? Ask factions from the conditional opposition to delegate people to the committee so that there is someone to appoint a chairman from? Let’s imagine, for example, “Eurosolidarity” will agree. Will the government be comfortable with the chairman of a committee who will criticize it for a single telethon? The answer is obvious. For now, it turns out that the work of the committee is virtually suspended.
The key surname is not Shufrich
Another version is quite possible: the story with Shufrich is not a diversion of attention from internal corruption scandals, which cannot be covered up by imprisoning a single popularly unloved deputy, but a nod to our partners before Vladimir Zelensky’s visit to the United States. American officials receive information from various sources, the vast majority of which are not advertised. And it is possible that these sources expressed some concern that the shortcomings of the pro-Russian forces in the Ukrainian parliament have become satellites of a mono-majority. There is still a chairman of the parliamentary committee.
So, that’s the only reason why Shufrich was closed? No. It's probably not so much about him as it is about Sivkovich. The United States imposed sanctions on him back in January 2022, a month before the Russian invasion, for “destabilizing the situation in Ukraine.” Together with people's deputies Taras Kozak and Oleg Voloshin. Sivkovic's name appears in several criminal investigations, but their progress is slow. And now the SBU sends an entire deputy to prison, for whom they saved up a long time ago, but they could have pulled out what they had accumulated right now. That is, political expediency and the collected evidence came together. However, the question still remains: why did they so stubbornly refuse to remove Nestor Ivanovich from the post of chairman of the committee, and why are they in no hurry to remove him now...
