Hennadiy Moskal, the foul-mouthed hardline governor of war-torn Luhansk
Oblast, has been chosen to take control of Ukraine’s westernmost Zakarpattya Oblast
in a bid to bring order to a region rocked in recent days by a bloody conflict
between Right Sector nationalists and police.
In announcing the news on July 15, President Petro Poroshenko said he’d been forced to “take extreme measures to put out the fire in Zakarpattya” by sending Moskal there.
“He’s proven in Luhansk that he can bring order and remove lawlessness and marauding, and he’s demonstrated that he represents true Ukrainian authority that is not corrupt, that is patriotic, and whose main task is to help people,” Poroshenko was cited as saying by Interfax-Ukraine.
The announcement was met with praise by many lawmakers and officials, who said Moskal’s take-no-prisoners attitude was exactly what the region needed. The shootout on July 11 between Right Sector and police exposed smuggling-related corruption and infighting between rival political clans in the area.
Regardless of who started the shooting, it has triggered an
investigation into officials in the area, and analysts say Moskal is the right
man for the job of smoothing out tensions in the area.
Since
last September, Moskal has served as governor of Luhansk Oblast, implementing a
tough management style to keep things under control in a territory where
battles between Russian-separatists and Ukrainian forces occur regularly.
He had
already governed Zakarpattya in 2001-2002 and was chief of police in the
region in 1995-1997, according to his autobiography.
Moskal’s
methods of crisis management have included enforcing a blockade on the besieged
area, leaving all but one checkpoint open in a bid to crack down on the transport
of contraband from the occupied territory. Videos of the Luhansk governor
cursing at separatists who try to bring contraband over the border have gone
viral, earning him the reputation of a straight-talking leader with little
tolerance for dissent.
He has
also responded to the separatists’ shelling in a rather cut-throat manner, once
shutting off the water supply to the occupied territory in retaliation for a
bombing that deprived several towns in the Ukrainian-controlled side of
electricity.
While
such moves have been met with scorn by the separatist side, they have been
applauded by Ukrainian officials and analysts, with officials in Kyiv often
citing Moskal as an example to follow in cracking down on contraband in that
region.
Political
analyst Volodymyr Fesenko described Moskal’s appointment as an “absolutely
logical decision.”
“He’s already worked as a governor in Zakarpattya – he knows the region,” Fesenko said of Moskal. “With his work in Luhansk, he has demonstrated that he is a strong
governor. He’s tough, and a strong administrator, and there is a lack of such
managers now. He’s also familiar with the region, but he is independent of the
rival clans in Zakarpattya – and that’s crucial.”
Kononenko
said it was Moskal’s respected authority and ruthless attitude that made him
the right candidate.
Moskal is “not afraid of making quick and hard decisions, which is vital
there right now due to the current situation,” Kononenko said, adding that he
thought Moskal would be successful in carrying out reforms in the area.
The fact that Moskal is not loyal to any specific group is also a plus,
said Vitaly Bala of the Situations Modeling Agency think tank.
Describing Moskal as a person who’s spent time in various regions of
Ukraine, Bala said he has “respect not only in the region, but in the entire
country … so he can resolve problems in a way he sees as appropriate and
finally break the current system.”
Anton Gerashchenko, an aide to Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, took to
Facebook to express his satisfaction with the decision.
“Hennadiy Moskal will need a month at most in order to tackle the
situation [in Zakarpattya], put the regional barons in their place and bring
the brash smugglers to justice,” Gerashchenko wrote.
Regarding following in Moskal’s footsteps in Luhansk, Gerashcehnko said:
“It’s equally important that a firm and effective governor is appointed…capable
of coordinating the fight against terrorism with the restoration of the
region’s agriculture,” Gerashchenko wrote.
There has been no word yet on who is to replace Moskal, though Fesenko
said Moskal had left behind an “effective and well-coordinated management system”
there to prevent “any serious problems.”
Staff writer Alyona Zhuk
can be reached at [email protected]. Staff writer Allison Quinn can be reached at [email protected].
