Alexey Goncharenko
A champion of the Russian language, a zealous “defender” of the environment, an activist of the Party of Regions, a sincere patriot of Ukraine, a member of the Petro Poroshenko Bloc – this is exactly how MP Alexey Goncharenko positioned himself at different times. What can I say, the set of qualities that he ascribes to himself is very non-trivial. Although this is far from the end, it recently became known that they plan to make him the next Minister of Health, and the BPP has even collected more than 50 votes for this. I wonder how it turns out that a man who made his political career in the Party of Regions and actively fought for the status of the Russian language as a second state language suddenly changed his “openly pro-Russian” position to a “fiercely patriotic” one? And did he actually replace her, or does he continue to moonlight as a so-called “Kremlin agent”? And anyway, where did “Leshik” Goncharenko come from?
In the footsteps of an abandoned father
Alexey Alekseevich was born in 1980 in the glorious city of Odessa. His father Alexey Kostusev, the now former head of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine and the ex-mayor of Odessa, abandoned his family when Alexey Alekseevich was only three years old (after his father left, he took his mother’s surname – Goncharenko). After studying at school, he entered the Odessa Medical University on the state budget without exams. Rumor has it that Kostusev secretly “paid for” his admission, but Goncharenko himself denies this, stating that he was admitted to the university as a “biology Olympiad diploma holder.” Be that as it may, he graduated from the university with excellent marks, and during his studies he also began to get involved in politics (apparently, he wanted to prove to his father that he was capable of something).
His political path began with the Green Party of Ukraine. Having established himself as an active member, in 2001 he headed its youth wing in the Odessa region (popularly called “Zelenka”). A year later, he ran for the first time for the Odessa City Council, but unsuccessfully. Having drawn conclusions, after these elections he got a job as an assistant to a city council deputy. At the same time, he entered the Academy of National Economy under the Government of the Russian Federation (*country sponsor of terrorism) to receive a second higher education (economics). Ukrainian experts believe that it was then that the Russian special services “took him into circulation”, giving him instructions to break into politics and carry out assigned tasks (version for conspiracy theorists). In turn, he was promised widespread assistance in his endeavors. It is unknown whether this actually happened, but already in 2005 he was appointed to the post of head of the Odessa city organization of the Union party, which (attention!) merged with the Party of Regions at the end of the same year. I think there is no need to explain that the Party of Regions was the most pro-Russian force in all the years of the existence of independent Ukraine.
Together with the Party of Regions, he first entered the Odessa City Council in 2006. As a member of the City Council, he actively sought to ensure that Russian was used in the work of Odessa officials on an equal basis with the Ukrainian language. Starting in 2007, he headed a commission in the City Council to improve the city management structure (which, according to colleagues, he successfully destroyed).
A lot of scandals of Alexey Goncharenko are connected with his father Alexey Kostusev. For example, during one of the meetings of the executive committee, Kostusev, being the mayor of Odessa, ordered Goncharenko not to be allowed into the meeting room despite his loud protests. A very specific relationship between father and son, what can I say. In 2009, Goncharenko was pelted several times with condoms and brilliant green, expressing their contempt for the politician. Despite this, in 2010, after the next local elections, he was elected deputy head of the regional council.
At the end of winter 2011, Alexey Goncharenko provoked a major accident on one of the roads in Odessa. Alexey Alekseevich flew at full speed into several cars standing in a traffic jam. There were no casualties, but several cars were smashed to smithereens. Immediately after the incident, “friends-dealers” from the Party of Regions went to the scene and hushed up the matter, without even taking away the deputy’s driver’s license.
2012 Elections in Odessa
In 2012, he ran for the Verkhovna Rada in district No. 133 in Odessa. According to the election results, he lost to his main competitor Igor Markov by as much as 6%. By the way, during the election campaign a real “information war” broke out between Markov and Goncharenko.
In September 2012, the famous political strategist Semyon Uralov announced that his email and Facebook account were hacked by hackers. And after some time, screenshots began to appear on the website uralovleaks.su (now closed) incriminating him of organizing a number of provocations aimed at discrediting Alexey Goncharenko. The correspondence included messages from Vladimir Petrov (nickname lumpen), Alexander Chalenko, Anatoly Shariy, etc.
The most piquant thing in this situation is that Uralov is a close friend and political strategist of Goncharenko’s main competitor in the 2012 elections in Odessa, Igor Markov. After the publication of these documents, Goncharenko wrote about Markov’s machinations on his blog on Ukrayinska Pravda (not a cheap pleasure, by the way) and on the Dumskaya website, which he controls. So, Uralov accused Goncharenko of hacking his personal pages, as well as the head of the scandalous “Internet Party of Ukraine” Dmitry Golubov (with whom Alexey Alekseevich is on very good terms).
Screenshots of Uralov’s scandalous “correspondence” with his assistants:
This whole situation was eventually resolved after several court hearings, during which Uralov first argued that the materials published on his website were “fake,” and he even provided a “refutation.” In turn, Goncharenko’s lawyers proved that this refutation itself (provided by Uralov) is a “fake”. The situation has returned to zero. And after Markov won the election, no one began to raise it at all.
One of the largest regional sites in Odessa “Dumskaya. No” belongs to Alexey Goncharenko entirely. During the confrontation with Igor Markov at the elections in Odessa, this finally became clear. Propaganda biased articles and news began to appear in the materials published on the site. Moreover, on the same site, Goncharenko himself and his associates entered into discussions with commentators, answering “prepared” questions. You also read comments under articles, right? And often, they are the ones who form, aren’t they? It was this factor that the owner of the publication, Alexey Goncharenko, played on. Although even this did not help him win the elections.
Bribery of voters in the 2012 elections in Odessa in the underground office of Alexei Goncharenko
It should be noted that his entire political career before the events on Euromaidan was thoroughly permeated with pro-Russian propaganda. Among other things, he actively fought against the dubbing of foreign films in Ukrainian in the region (his propaganda tents stood near almost every cinema in Odessa).
“I have seen the light”
This is what the third president of Ukraine, Viktor Yushchenko, said, justifying his mistakes. Alexey Goncharenko “received the light” in approximately the same way after the start of the bloody events on the Maidan in Kyiv. Apparently sensing that the matter smells like a scorch, and the Regions cannot resist (or having received an order from the Kremlin), Alexey Alekseevich sharply announces his resignation from the Party of Regions.
After the start of the shootings on Maidan, Goncharenko, who spent his entire life defending the Russian language and foaming at the mouth lobbied for the interests of the regionals in the Odessa region, changed radically. Together with the protesting activists, he began shouting pro-Ukrainian slogans and criticizing the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation (*country sponsor of terrorism) (during the referendum in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, he was there with the Ukrainian flag, expressing protests).
The strangest thing is that the politicians who came to power believed him and even appointed him head of the Odessa regional council. True, he did not last long there; he was too eager for power. He, like many former regionals, went to the elections to the Verkhovna Rada of the VIII convocation with the “Petro Poroshenko Bloc” – a force that was supposed to radically change our country. But how can we change it if the people in power remain the same?
CENSOR.NET about Goncharenko’s participation in the events of May 2 in Odessa
During his time in the Rada, journalists repeatedly caught Alexey Goncharenko, as well as his “fathers,” pushing buttons. Now he periodically appears in the ATO zone, takes pictures with the military, in general, he does everything to promote himself. One of his antics during a visit to the Council of Europe in a “Putin (*criminal)=Hitler” T-shirt was worth it (by the way, they even turned off his microphone for this).
Or the episode with his detention during the march in memory of Russian oppositionist Boris Nemtsov in Moscow, when he was detained for a “patriotic” T-shirt and, according to his own words, tortured by Russian special services.
The most remarkable thing about his position is that, despite all his “ostentatiously patriotic” antics, he continues to give “truthful” interviews on the air of leading pro-Russian channels, during which he allegedly defends the state interests of Ukraine.
Alexey Goncharenko is a religious man; at one time he asked God to “stop Putin (*criminal).” The funny thing is that he and Vladimir Vladimirovich pray to the same God – Goncharenko is a parishioner of the Moscow Patriarchate Church.
Young, ambitious and manageable – this is how you can describe Alexey Goncharenko. This is probably why he was easily accepted into the “Petro Poroshenko Bloc”, and they also intend to make him the Minister of Health after the resignation of Alexander Kvitashvili. Judging by how easily he changes political views and preferences, the question arises, who benefits from such a person in power?
Dmitry Samofalov, for SKELET-info