The appointment of Maria Gaidar as deputy governor of the Odessa Region has whipped up a storm in both Russia and Ukraine. Russians call her a traitor; Ukrainians suspect her of being in the Kremlin’s pocket.
But people who have worked with her see this uproar as uncalled-for: Gaidar, it seems, has no interest in the conflict, and has come to Odessa with quite a different idea in mind.
On 17 July, Mikheil Saakashvili, former president of Georgia (and governor of Odessa since May this year), announced that he had chosen Gaidar as his deputy. ‘Maria is one of the brightest stars of Russia’s democratic movement’, Saakashvili said in his welcome speech. ‘She is an economist by profession, and a very good one. We are asking the president of Ukraine to make her a Ukrainian citizen’.
