Ukraine: Yanukovych allies in suicide epidemic

[Vympel]

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A former regional governor has been found dead in Ukraine, the latest in a series of deaths involving allies of deposed President Viktor Yanukovych.

Oleksandr Peklushenko, former head of Zaporizhzhya, had suffered a gunshot wound to the neck and authorities said initial inquiries pointed to suicide.

A member of Ukraine's Party of the Regions, he was being investigated over the dispersal of protesters last year.

Five other officials also died in mysterious circumstances this year.

All of them supposedly took their own lives in the past six weeks

Stanislav Melnyk, 53, an ex-MP was found shot dead in his bathroom on 9 March
Mykhaylo Chechetov, former party deputy chairman, died after apparently jumping from a window in his 17th-floor flat on 28 February; he had been accused of abuse of office and fraud
Serhiy Valter, a mayor in the south-eastern city of Melitopol, was found hanged on 25 February; he too had been accused of abuse of office
Oleksandr Bordyuh, a former police deputy chief in Melitopol linked to Mr Valter, was found dead at his home on 26 February
Oleksiy Kolesnyk, ex-head of Kharkiv's regional government was found hanged on 29 January

An interior ministry source told Interfax Ukraine news agency Mr Peklushenko, 60, had committed suicide in the village of Sonyachne, near Zaporizhzhya city.

However officials said other theories were being investigated including murder.

He had been governor of the southern Ukrainian region from 2011 to 2014.

Ukraine's Kanal 5 TV reported that he had been suspected of arranging for demonstrators to be dispersed by pro-government thugs at the height of the protests against Mr Yanukovych's rule in January 2014.

A month later, the president fled to neighbouring Russia, prompting the fall from power of his political party.

Russia then moved to annex the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea and conflict broke out in eastern Ukraine, an area seen as a stronghold of Mr Yanukovych's party.

Not suspicious in the least.

[Edi]

Looks like someone or several someones have decided to get rid of Yanukovich's old allies. Deplorable, though sadly not at all surprising. Ukraine is corrupt and its economy is in a nosedive and when you mix that with the current conflict with the separatists, this kind of shit is not unexpected.

[K. A. Pital]

It is not the economy... It is the way politics are done in post-Soviet space. This is all very predictable.

[Thanas]

If we are going to give Russia the benefit of the doubt in Nementsov's murder, Ukraine should get the same benefit.

For me that is none.

[K. A. Pital]

This is a string of dead people, not even just one. Of course there is no 'benefit of the doubt'.

[fgalkin]

If we are going to give Russia the benefit of the doubt in Nementsov's murder, Ukraine should get the same benefit.

For me that is none.

Funny you feel qualified to comment on Russia….when you can't even spell the man's name right.


Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

[Thanas]

Funny you feel qualified to comment on Russia….when you can't even spell the man's name right.

Funny how quoting from memory can result in not getting names exactly right.
Funny how some people can point such mistakes out without being massive dicks because I dared to criticize their favourite country.

[fgalkin]

Funny you feel qualified to comment on Russia….when you can't even spell the man's name right.

Funny how quoting from memory can result in not getting names exactly right.
Funny how some people can point such mistakes out without being massive dicks because I dared to criticize their favourite country.

That's kinda the point. Quoting from memory, I would never get Nemtsov's name wrong, because he's been a household name to me for the last 25 years or so. I grew up with that name. I imagine it's the same for Stas.

It's that assumption of equal competence to comment on Russian politics that offends me. I wouldn't presume to claim that I understand the nuances of German politics, so what makes you qualified to draw any kind of conclusions when it comes to Russian ones?

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

[Thanas]

That's kinda the point. Quoting from memory, I would never get Nemtsov's name wrong, because he's been a household name to me for the last 25 years or so. I grew up with that name. I imagine it's the same for Stas.

Good for you, I didn't.

It's that assumption of equal competence to comment on Russian politics that offends me. I wouldn't presume to claim that I understand the nuances of German politics, so what makes you qualified to draw any kind of conclusions when it comes to Russian ones?

Same as anybody else who avidly reads the news on Russia and who's taken some university classes on Russian history. What, now only Russians are allowed to comment on this?

[Sea Skimmer]

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