Ι can see how the Dnepr oligarchs and the liberal nationalist NGOs got along so well during their momentary alliance in 2014. 'Lokh' and 'Bydlo' seem to convey the same type of elite disgust towards whoever is unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end. Those call centres really are the Oligarch goon version of whatever PR idealist non-sense an NGO sells in Ukraine, but more self-aware.
Dnepr is a fascinating case; a deeply industrial, proletarian city like Kharkov/Kharkiv and Donetsk, but its local goons went on a completely different economic trajectory. I guess it's either the nature of the privatizations in the region or the inflated egos of the intelligentsia/nomenklatura which (I assume) benefited from primitive accumulation in the 1990s.
My question is; is the clan still around and are they backing a particular faction in the unfolding struggles mentioned in your previous articles? Or did they get destroyed like their Donetsk brethren?
A difficult question. Given Kolomoisky's imprisonment, as well as that of his close allies like Dubinsky, that wing of the Dnepr clan has definitely been clipped. But the regional power elite - Korban and so on - are still strong, to Zelensky's frustration. But of course Dnepr was never just Kolomoisky. But over the past two years, generally there has been a centralization of power in the capital away from the old regional clans
Ι can see how the Dnepr oligarchs and the liberal nationalist NGOs got along so well during their momentary alliance in 2014. 'Lokh' and 'Bydlo' seem to convey the same type of elite disgust towards whoever is unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end. Those call centres really are the Oligarch goon version of whatever PR idealist non-sense an NGO sells in Ukraine, but more self-aware.
Dnepr is a fascinating case; a deeply industrial, proletarian city like Kharkov/Kharkiv and Donetsk, but its local goons went on a completely different economic trajectory. I guess it's either the nature of the privatizations in the region or the inflated egos of the intelligentsia/nomenklatura which (I assume) benefited from primitive accumulation in the 1990s.
My question is; is the clan still around and are they backing a particular faction in the unfolding struggles mentioned in your previous articles? Or did they get destroyed like their Donetsk brethren?
A difficult question. Given Kolomoisky's imprisonment, as well as that of his close allies like Dubinsky, that wing of the Dnepr clan has definitely been clipped. But the regional power elite - Korban and so on - are still strong, to Zelensky's frustration. But of course Dnepr was never just Kolomoisky. But over the past two years, generally there has been a centralization of power in the capital away from the old regional clans