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bne March 2019 Eastern Europe I 35
sia, of which Arashukov is a member, suspended his membership, pending the results of the investigation.
The 32-year-old Arashukov was accused of committing crimes under three arti- cles of the Criminal Code: participation in a criminal community, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of up to RUB1mn ($15,000); tampering with witnesses (up to seven years) and two murders (life sentence).
Federal investigators suspect Arashukov of ordering the contract killings in 2010 of a youth activist named Aslan Zhukov and an adviser to former Karachay-Cher- kessia President Boris Ebzeyev named Fral Shebzukhov, Meduza reports. There are reports that Arashukov is also linked to another two killings.
Amongst the other charges are accusa- tions of causing grievous bodily harm, participating in organised crime and forging the documents that allowed him to become a member of the Federation Council.
Arashukov became a city council member in Stavropol in 2014 and by the age of 21 he was Karachay-Cherkessia's labour and social development minister.
Arashukov has served in Karachay- Cherkessia’s parliament and govern- ment, and worked for different Gazprom subsidiaries over the years. He joined the Federation Council on September 18, 2016.
Arashukov is he son of a powerful Gaz- prom executive, also called Raul Arashu-
that has seen real incomes in Russia fall for five years in a row despite growth, a budget surplus, a record current account surplus and companies’ return to profit in the last year. Arashukov’s arrest was partly designed to play to the gallery.
But it was also designed to play to the other members of the Federation Coun-
“Arashukov is he son of a powerful Gazprom executive, also called Raul Arashukov, who was also arrested on the same day”
kov, who was also arrested on the same day at his office in the Gazprom building in St Petersburg, accused of embezzling more than RUB30bn ($454.8mn).
The spectacular arrest of the Arashukov father and son is unprecedented in Rus- sia where the wealthy and well connect- ed are usually immune to attack. Clearly the arrest on the floor of the Federation Council was intentional and designed to send a message.
The government has become highly unpopular thanks to an austerity policy
cil and the rest of the government. The Kremlin has been running a low profile anti-corruption campaign that has seen thousands of police officers sacked, regional governors arrested in sting operations, half a dozen Duma depu- ties indicted and even a sitting minister jailed. The campaign is not an anti-graft drive per se but an effort to cut down on the waste as the cash-strapped govern- ment looks to use what resources it has more efficiently. However, the inner- circle that surrounds President Vladimir Putin seems to remain exempt from this anti-graft drive.
Ukraine comedian Zelenskiy's lead in the presidential election polls increases
bne IntelliNews
Electoral support for Ukrainian comic Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s presidential candidacy is growing, according to the latest poll results pub- lished by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) on February 14.
Among decided voters, Zelenskiy has 26.9% support, compared to 17.7% for President Poroshenko and 15.8% for ex- PM Yulia Tymoshenko, according to the poll conducted between January 31 and February 10 of 2,007 respondents.
Zelenskiy would earn 39.6% of votes in the second-round runoff, compared to 18.1% for Poroshenko (a 21.5% gap), accord- ing to the poll. Tymoshenko would earn 27.0%, compared to 18.9% for Poroshenko (an 8.1% gap). The big and growing lead of Zelenskiy in the polls is ascribed to vot- ers rejection of the entire existing political elite and a condemnation of their failure to deliver on the promise of a better life that the Maidan protests stood for.
The Central Election Commission (CEC)
of Ukraine has registered a total of 44 candidates to run for the presidential election scheduled for March 31. Zelen- skiy, a close associate of controversial Ukrainian oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky, was officially registered as a presiden- tial candidate by the CEC on January 30. The comedian was nominated by his newly-created party the Servant
of the People.
In January, Zelenskiy disclosed the main points of his election programme,
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