Food event organizer Sergiy Klimov has cancelled his Kyiv Sunday Breakfast, alleging attempted blackmail by local non-governmental organization Kyiv Strategy 2025, according to a Facebook post Klimov made on Sept. 4.
“I refuse to pay kickbacks, so I canceled the picnic,” Klimov wrote. “I want the changes in our country to be not only in words, but also in deeds.”
But the chairman of Kyiv Strategy 2025, Fedir Balandin, denied all accusations of wrongdoing. “That’s all nonsense,” he said of the claims of blackmailing. “We’re struggling to make our hallowed places, like Shevchenko Park, not (become) places just for pigging out.”
Klimov has four years of experience in organizing public events, and the third Kyiv Sunday Breakfast would have been only one of a number of picnics he has organized in Kyiv. The idea behind the event is to provide visitors with healthy food and entertainment, like yoga, aerobics, swing dancing classes, along with lectures from dieticians, sports people and entrepreneurs.
Balandin and Klimov have an experience of cooperation, while conducting one outdoor event in Mariinsky Park. But at this time, Balandin was unsatisfied with a food court concept of Sunday Breakfast.
According to Klimov, the first two picnics were successes, attracting more than 20,000 visitors. But planning for the third event in Shevchenko Park soon ran into difficulties.
Klimov said he first applied for permission to hold the event from utility company Kyiv Parks, who in its turn applied to NGO Kyiv Strategy 2025.
There had been no problems with the nongovernmental organization before, as the breakfast’s organizers had obtained its permission earlier, without having to agree to additional terms, when it held the first Sunday Breakfast.
Klimov said the fact that utility company Kyiv Parks had taken control of every park in the city and then delegated decisions to NGO Kyiv Strategy 2025 indicated corrupt practices.
Kyiv Park Chairman Denys Pivnev said the event had been cancelled for bureaucratic reasons. “They contacted with us twice, and we helped them,” he said. “But the third time they didn’t have a permit.”
According to Pivnev, another event had been expected to place in the park on the same day, and its organizers had provided all of the required documents. However, that event was cancelled due to poor air quality from forest and peat fires raging close to Kyiv.
Officially, Kyiv City State Administration is the only organization that is able to issue permits to conduct public events that include open-air markets, and the procedure can take months, according to Klimov. But he said that in practice things don’t work that way, as previously he had held events only with permission from local NGOs.
The Sunday Breakfast had been planned as a free entry event, but stallholders providing goods and services had to pay from Hr 1,250 to Hr 2,500 to take part. The payments from the approximately 40 stalls were the sole source of income for the organizer from the event. “We were asked to pay a 50 percent fee for each participant,” Klimov said, accusing Kyiv Strategy 2025 of blackmail.
The demands for the extra fees were made through officials of Kyiv Parks, but presented as a request from Balandin, the head of Kyiv Strategy 2025. Klimov said he had been surprised by the demands, and he held talks with Kyiv Parks representatives in order to cut the total amount of the payment first to Hr 20,000, and then to Hr 16,000, and then less.
“We had only one meeting, in the backyard of the Kupidon café, with its owner – Fedir Balandin,” Klimov said. The last direct demand was for Hr 12,000, he said.
After being asked to pay that sum, Klimov said he offered to provide parking space for bicycles instead. But this was rejected. “So we were told that our project wasn’t of interest to the city, as there was no cultural component,” Klimov said.
Kyiv Post staff writer Yuliana Romanyshyn can be reached at [email protected]
