Odessa’s odd couple aim to spark Ukraine reforms

The team running one of Ukraine's most alluring but turbulent regions courted investors last month at a conference entitled: "Odessa style: Make love not war."

The organisers perhaps hoped to imbue their event with a little of the Black Sea port’s hedonistic spirit, and the parkland setting of the venue, overlooking the sun-dappled waves, was conducive to an air of late-summer bonhomie.

The raffish name sought to assuage the fears of potential investors, but also acknowledged unease about the fate of Odessa, and a Ukraine that for 18 months has been battling Russian-backed separatists in two eastern provinces.

In much of Ukraine it is remarkably easy to forget about the conflict, and nowhere more so than Odessa, where talk of politics is often shunned in favour of trading tips on where best to eat, drink, dance, swim and – above all, perhaps – make money.

Odessa's pride in being a city apart – ruled first by Russia and now Ukraine but distinct from both, and eager not to share the travails of either – can feel either refreshing or cynical: Odessites' ambivalence towards Ukraine's efforts to break Russian influence certainly angers many of their compatriots.

A vicious street battle in May 2014 that killed 46 people showed that Odessa is not immune to political violence, however, and it has regularly been hit by bomb and grenade blasts since; the shadowy struggles to control Odessa city hall, and its port and other lucrative businesses, are also notoriously brutal and byzantine.

Into this morass has stepped a team of rather unlikely characters, and it was they who were behind the appeal to “make love not war” in Odessa.

The event's suitably breezy host was Sasha Borovik, a former Microsoft executive who has returned from the US to his country of birth to help it smash the endemic corruption and Russian domination that sparked a 2014 revolution.

A dressing down

Dressed in jeans and a polo shirt and eschewing “Alexander” for the familiar “Sasha”, Borovik is a rarity in Odessa – a man of great ambition who does not express it through a lavish wardrobe, fleet of armoured cars and battalion of bodyguards.

His boss is more flamboyant but no less of a curiosity: Mikheil Saakashvili, leader of Georgia's 2003 Rose Revolution and its president for almost a decade, but now charged with abuse of power in his homeland.

The Misha-and-Sasha show is making a big noise in Ukrainian politics, as the governor of Odessa region and his adviser seek to shake up not only the province but Odessa city and, in the process, the entire country.

At the conference, Borovik presented an “Odessa package of reforms”, which reflect “what the central powers are not doing, but should have done in the last year”.

The plan envisages sweeping change not only on the local level – like privatising Odessa’s port and creating a quick, computerised and bribe-free system of customs clearance – but also nationally, with the introduction of a massive privatisation programme, flat tax rate and host of other pro-business measures.

“We want to take the state out of business,” Borovik said. “We are saying ‘Go and raise your money, and we will protect you from having to pay bribes’. We want to show it’s possible to work cleanly here.

“The status quo doesn’t suit us . . . The government’s rhetoric is all right but they’re working at the wrong speed and they’re not following things through.”

Sharp criticism of prime minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk’s government is widespread and diverse in Ukraine: some bemoan his IMF-stipulated cost-cutting measures, while others say he is too meek with reforms and is failing to rip out the massive graft, cronyism and bureaucracy that continue to stifle the country.

Borovik came to Odessa after reportedly falling out with Yatsenyuk in Kiev, and now Saakashvili is in open conflict with the embattled premier.

Saakashvili – who was appointed by Ukraine's president, Petro Poroshenko – recently accused Yatsenyuk of blocking reforms, colluding with oligarchs and shielding corrupt officials.

Sabotage

“We’re talking about sabotage by central government,” Saakashvili said on a television channel owned by Poroshenko. “Now the government is paralysed. There must be a total reset of the Ukrainian government on all levels.”

More than 31,000 people have backed a petition on the president’s website urging him to replace Yatsenyuk with Saakashvili, who has vowed to purge Odessa of shadowy power structures little changed by Ukraine’s revolution.

Borovik lauds the potential of Odessa’s strategic location, big port, underdeveloped coastline and vibrant IT sector, but acknowledges that “it has never laid down under any state, is fiercely resistant to authority . . . and is dominated by Russian interests”.

The first test of his popularity comes next Sunday, when he runs for mayor of Odessa in nationwide local elections that will reflect the current state of play in Ukrainian politics – Yatsenyuk’s crisis-ridden party will not even take part.

While many Odessites dismiss Saakashvili, Borovik and colleague Maria Gaidar – formerly a prominent opposition activist in Russia – as outsiders who don't understand the city, the trio see their lack of local "baggage" as an advantage.

Borovik is unlikely to win the mayoral vote – just as Saakashvili is not expected to become premier – but this political odd couple may help keep Ukraine’s leaders honest.