The Quarantine Saga in Cherkasy: Easing of Restrictions, Threats from Avakov and a "Fiery Greeting" to the Mayor from Zelensky

And the opinion of the Cherkasy mayor on this story.

On the evening of April 30, it became known that the authorities of the city of Cherkasy had eased quarantine restrictions starting May 1. The decision was made by the executive committee of the Cherkasy City Council. The quarantine was eased for part of the city's entrepreneurs who promised to strictly observe all sanitary norms and rules.

The executive committee allowed the resumption of work for:

• some stores selling non-food goods
• clothing and shoe repair workshops, beauty salons, repair workshops
• markets and fairs
• summer areas of restaurants
• parks, squares and amusement attractions
• sports facilities for training sessions

Following the city authorities' decision, on May 1 the Cherkasy police department opened a criminal case under Article 325 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine: Violation of sanitary norms and rules for the prevention of infectious diseases and mass poisonings.

According to the press service of the law enforcement agency, the leadership of the city council blatantly ignored the requirements of the Ukrainian government and knowingly exposed the city's and the region's residents to danger during the pandemic.

Following the head of the Ministry of Health, the mayor of Cherkasy's decision was also criticized by Ukraine's Minister of Internal Affairs Arsen Avakov on Twitter.

Arsen Avakov
Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine

Mr. Head of the City of Cherkasy, you have gone too far! Stop risking people's health and lives for political games! The response will be tough!

Cherkasy Mayor Anatoliy Bondarenko stated on the Ukraine 24 TV channel that easing the quarantine in the city is completely safe and that he is not afraid of law enforcement agencies.

Bondarenko is confident that the city authorities did not violate quarantine rules. According to him, the prerequisite for this decision was unequal business conditions for all entrepreneurs, which the Cabinet of Ministers established by resolution.

Anatoliy Bondarenko
Mayor of Cherkasy

Because I cannot explain to the city's residents why dozens, or even hundreds, or even thousands of people are in a large hypermarket, yet they cannot go into a small construction store and buy paint. I cannot explain why along the Cherkasy embankment people can walk in protective equipment, but the park located nearby they cannot visit.

According to him, even before the criminal proceedings were opened over the executive committee's adoption of such a decision, there were calls with "threats of criminal cases against me personally, as the city head." He also added that the time when law-abiding citizens of Ukraine feared law enforcement agencies has passed.

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, in his traditional video address, also noted this situation and stated that the decision of the Cherkasy mayor will have legal consequences.

Volodymyr Zelensky
President of Ukraine

A separate "fiery" greeting personally from the president, as well as from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Security Service of Ukraine, I want to convey to the mayor of Cherkasy, who together with the city council lost their calendar and intended to ease quarantine measures before May 11. This is an attempt to earn political ratings at the cost of residents' lives and health. And this will have appropriate legal consequences.

Ultimately, Cherkasy Mayor Anatoliy Bondarenko, in an interview with Strana, gave his version of events and commented on Zelensky's address. Bondarenko thought the president would pass a greeting to Epicentr, which violates quarantine rules, rather than to him personally.

The mayor believes he should hire security and think about the safety of his family, and representatives of local government will, after this story, be afraid to communicate with him at all. Meanwhile, after the publication of the document easing quarantine, no one from the Cabinet of Ministers or the Office of the President called him.

He also added: "We will continue to fight and defend the rights of the ordinary Ukrainian. We are working normally, without violating restriction rules. If anyone violates sanitary norms, we will close them. Hairdressers are working now, it's just today is a day off, maybe not everyone is working. We have also opened small electronics and construction stores, opened squares and parks. People reacted positively to this, we observe all the rules, there is social responsibility. Entrepreneurs support me."