Various piquant stories about the former governor (and that is indeed what officials called themselves) are told by those who until recently hung on his every word. We will not retell the tales of Anatoliy Frantsuz's loyal associates, who established international connections in Russian and Polish lands and even in Latin American countries. The boys and girls had a good time traveling the world too — nothing to say about that. All the storytellers agree on one thing: no one could outdrink their boss.
\n \nIt is understandable that high-ranking officials had to have their own rehabilitation center where they could relieve the stress acquired in diligent state service. Now we are readily told that one of these cozy corners was located on the territory of the regional fire safety department on Elektroaparatna Street in Lutsk. There was once an unremarkable sauna there, where even rank-and-file firefighters steamed their bones. It is unknown who was the initiator of building the elite complex at state expense — the head of the emergency situations department, Volodymyr Hrushovinchuk, or General Anatoliy Frantsuz himself — but soon the ugly Cinderella turned into a stately swan. We did not get to see whether there was anything there from borrowed experience from Paraguay or Argentina, but they say it's not shameful before Europe. The warehouse on the second floor was reconstructed into a gym, where Frantsuz and his associates pounded the ball to the delight of the firefighters (so that they wouldn't be bothered!).
\n \nOf course, the leadership also wants to stretch out so that both body and soul stay young, and there is nothing wrong with that. But somehow the regional leadership felt uncomfortable in this center. Around the territory, garages had been built and given to former Afghan war veterans, Chernobyl disaster victims, and internal affairs veterans. And, as the saying goes, the thief's hat is on fire. It looked bad when the governor with his entourage arrived at his rehabilitation center and onlookers peeked in.
\n \nAnd then Mr. Hrushovinchuk realized that he had no more critically important task than building a brick wall (even if not like the one in Berlin) that would protect the highly esteemed guests from prying eyes. A wall was put up at the entrance and the sauna was surrounded by a fence, and for communication with the outside world, a hole was punched in the wall on the other side for car owners. They even wanted to enclose the garages of several colonels and the general in a ring, but they say the first deputy head of the regional state administration's conscience spoke up and he called it off. However, department head Volodymyr Hrushovinchuk still tried to get to them. Since the general had accumulated a debt for electricity in his garage of as much as 9 hryvnias over several years, someone else had 26, etc., their lighting wires were cut.
\n \nThe former head of the fire safety department, Colonel Yanchenko, after paying the debt, tried to enter Mr. Hrushovinchuk's office, but here too the chief cut him off: "It's not my reception day." And he sternly warned that he was not going to pay for garage lighting from the state budget. Which is absolutely correct. However, Vasyl Yanchenko actually wanted to suggest — one could say to a colleague — how the budget could be replenished and firefighters paid their due bonuses. In particular, General Frantsuz and all those close to him should pay for the use of the sauna, at least for electricity. One could also raise funds from Hrushovinchuk, who lived for more than four years on Chernyshevsky Street in a converted three-room apartment (fire depot premises) without paying for communal housing services, including electricity. The city authorities, at least, did not give permission for such arbitrariness. Well, and if the useless wall were dismantled, that too would be quite a saving. In short, there are many reserves in the regional emergency situations department — it's just that Kyiv still hasn't noticed.
\n \nNow it is clear why Colonel Volodymyr Hrushovinchuk felt so at ease during the presidential elections and, as is claimed, violated the law. He was very close to the general's back in the sauna. It is recalled that the department leadership tried to fire the daughter-in-law and son of the same Yanchenko in Kovel because they were going to vote "the wrong way." When we tried through the press service to communicate with Hrushovinchuk on this topic, he showed absolutely no such desire. Apparently, it was in the sauna that the instruction was given to collect absentee ballots from department employees. The authorities, like those ballots, in their conviction, were supposed to remain in their pocket in the future.
\n \n... How would they have continued to party and travel around the world and punish dissenters if deceived people had not come out to the squares? Should this be forgotten? Oleksandr NAHORNYI