Looking at the nation’s VIPs in various settings in the past week, one could not shake off the feeling that they tend to share two features: lack of any emotions and a stubborn, never-ending paranoia.
Photos of the Euro 2012 VIP box housing President Viktor Yanukovych and his entourage on July 1, as well as shots of the nation’s rich and powerful in the luxurious VIP lounge at the Elton John concert on June 30, show an amazing lot of expressionless faces,dull eyes and a total lack of any body language or movements during emotional events.
Prime Minister Mykola Azarov brought his wife to Elton John’s concert. The couple rarely shows up together in public together. They sat next to ex-President Leonid Kuchma and his wife among 100 or so privileged guests, looking out of place in this island of 150,000 ordinary Ukrainians and foreigners on Independence Square who were joyfully cheering the stars and music.
For the first part of the concert, it seemed that there was only one living person in the whole VIP zone. It was David Furnish, Elton John’s partner and a special guest of Victor and Olena Pinchuk, the concert organizers.
Later on, when the alcohol kicked in and dancing started to seem like a good idea, the younger VIPs finally started moving around. And then, the paranoia kicked in.
Enter Roman Franchuk, son of Olena Pinchuk from her first marriage. Wherever he went, two massive guards followed, despite the fact that the VIP zone was accessible by invitation only, and entrance to it was only allowed after a security check.
Franchuk was not the only one to fear people around him. On the same day, in a different part of the country, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Governor Olexander Vilkul decided that a major music festival in the suburb was a good place for him to be.
He chose to come to the central dance floor, not the distant VIP zone of The Best City three-day music festival.
But despite wearing informal clothes, he did not seem any closer to his fellow citizens. Before his entry to the fan zone, eight Berkut riot police cleared the way. They kept him shielded on all sides at all times.
The measures were clearly necessary for the 38-year-old governor to properly enjoy a performance by Leningrad, a scandalous band from Russia famous for its expressive music and filthy lyrics.
Kyiv Post staff writer Olga Rudenko can be reached at [email protected] and Kyiv Post editor Katya Gorchinskaya can be reached at [email protected].
