Eduard Stavitsky: where is the money, Eddie?

The shine of Yanukovych’s golden loaf on Kuzmin’s golden shovel faded against the background of tens of kilograms of gold bars and a whole stack of cash dollars confiscated from the ex-Minister of Fuel and Energy of Ukraine. But this was only a small “stash” of a rather ordinary official, who was only an executor of someone else’s will. Eduard Stavitsky has always been known to Ukrainians only as the man who stole Mezhhirya, but his participation in this highly controversial combination was far from his most criminal act. Where did his wealth come from, and most importantly, where did it go??

Eduard Stavitsky. Alexandrian family

Stavitsky Eduard Anatolyevich was born on October 4, 1972 in the small Ukrainian town of Lebedin (Sumy region). He always kept silent about his childhood and youth, as well as about his parents. Even when Stavitsky became a politician and official (minister) and could no longer avoid journalists, he preferred to talk with them about current issues in the present and not touch on the past. He made rare mentions of his faceless and nameless relatives and friends only when he tried to explain the origin of some items of his excessive luxury. Like, this was a gift from friends, but this is not his at all, the relatives forgot when they came to visit.

But here Skelet.Info The biography of Stavitsky’s mother, Victoria Ivanovna (born 1951), helped. Unlike her son, she did not hide it (when she later ran for people’s deputies), and therefore you can find out from it that Victoria Ivanovna was born in the mining village of New Prague, Alexandria District, Kirovograd Region, and from 1974 to 1976 she worked at the city’s knitting factory Alexandria. Therefore, it is logical to assume that after the birth of their son Eddie, his parents left Lebedin for Alexandria – where the future minister grew up.

After graduating from high school, Edik successfully avoided conscription into the army and entered the Dnepropetrovsk Mining Institute (now the National Mining University), where in 1976-1980. His mother also studied. After receiving a diploma in mining engineering in 1994, Stavitsky did not end up on the street, like many students at that difficult time, and did not go to work for a bankrupt state-owned enterprise. His first and, perhaps, the most important place of work in his life was the Alexandria CJSC “NPO Ecological Fuels of Ukraine”.

This is a very interesting enterprise: it is interesting because it was never mentioned in the list of any significant manufacturing enterprises in Alexandria during the period 1995-2008, and now it has only one employee, who is also its director – Victoria Ivanovna Stavitskaya. That is, with great probability, CJSC “NPO Ecological Fuel of Ukraine” is a purely commercial intermediary company, one of tens of thousands created in the short history of Ukrainian capitalism. You can guess the scope of his activity from the name: perhaps JSC “Ecological Fuel” traded lignite briquettes, which were produced by the Alexandria factories “Dmitrovskaya” and “Baidakovskaya”, which were part of the “Alexandriyaugol” association (over 15 thousand workers in 1991, today all his enterprises are stopped).

Well, this explains how Eduard Stavitsky acquired business connections throughout Ukraine: he had to sell coal briquettes throughout the country, and possibly beyond its borders. However, any closed joint stock company is closed for a reason – outsiders are not allowed into such feeding troughs. Meanwhile, the young manager Eduard Stavitsky was soon admitted to the number of shareholders (co-owners) of Ecological Fuels, since in 2002 he was already a member of the board of the enterprise, and two years later he became its chairman. At the same time, Stavitsky’s income was then enough to become a sponsor and honorary president of the Alexandria sports club “Crystal-Amethyst”.

The question arises: were Stavitsky’s parents the creators of this enterprise? Or did his career growth take place thanks to his marriage to Elena Ushakova?

After all, many Ukrainian politicians and oligarchs rose from the very bottom thanks to successful marriages. Perhaps that is why he maintains such a deathly silence about his past, which contains a lot of interesting things. For example, the case of the company “Teterev-nafta”, which in 2002 sold “reduced” gasoline from the Lisichansk Oil Refinery, and then defrauded the state with a fictitious VAT refund. In 2003, “Teterev-nafta” changed its name to “Eco-2003” and appeared as a family enterprise of the Stavitskys – maybe it really belonged to them, or maybe it was only registered to them.

Be that as it may, even before Eduard Stavitsky appeared in Kyiv, he was already a very wealthy man. Or at least the husband of a rich wife. Interesting fact: in 2005, Elena Stavitskaya (formerly Ushakova) bought an old three-story building in Kyiv at Shota Rustaveli No. 31. For 10 years, it was used as offices and a place of registration of numerous companies belonging to the Stavitsky family or associated with them. The purchase price was not disclosed, but in the crisis year of 2015, the building was sold for 52 million hryvnia ($2 million), while the price was called too low, and the buyer (the offshore Cypriot company NA Welidara Limited) was called a dummy.

But Victoria Ivanovna Stavitskaya by 2005 was already the director and owner of Charivnitsa LLC (former Berezka atelier), director of Ukrainian Industrial Group LLC and deputy director of Monolit-2 LLC. The status of an Alexandria businesswoman did not prevent her from later running for people’s deputies in the 103rd electoral district (Alexandria) from the Communist Party of Ukraine. Moreover, for many years Victoria Ivanovna was the second secretary of the Alexandria City Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine! However, she never got into the Verkhovna Rada, but in 2009-2012. was elected secretary of the city council.

The inner circle of the Stavitsky-Ushakov family “clan” also included Alexandrian friends and business partners of Eduard Anatolyevich, whom he not only did not forget when he left for the capital, but also later dragged with him to Kyiv – opening up new business horizons for them. Among them it is worth highlighting Pavel Kleshchev, Yuri Omelchenko and Igor Ivanichenko.

Come and take it apart!

In the fall of 2006, a “strong business executive” from Alexandria was suddenly invited to the government – as an adviser to the Minister of Environmental Protection Vasily Dzharty. There is still no clear answer to the question of what and who contributed to such a sudden leap in the career of Eduard Stavitsky? There is a widespread version in the media that Stavitsky was called to Kyiv and recommended to Dzharty by the Minister of Agricultural Policy Nikolai Prisyazhnyuk, who was one of the managers of the famous Yuri Ivanyushchenko (Yura Enakievsky). But it’s not mentioned anywhere how Stavitsky and Prisyazhnyuk first met. It is known that Prisyazhnyuk and Elena Stavitskaya jointly own Monolit-invest LLC, but they created this enterprise after 2006. Well, a less common version suggests that it was not without the communist mother: allegedly Victoria Ivanovna promoted her son to Kyiv after the “anti-crisis coalition” was formed and the Party of Regions allocated small quotas in power to the Communist Party of Regions.

One could only guess what a certified mining engineer and professional dealer in fuel briquettes could “advise” to the Minister of Nature Protection. But on January 31, 2007, Eduard Stavitsky was appointed chairman of the board of the National Joint-Stock Company (NAC) “Nedra of Ukraine” – “Nadra Ukraine” (subordinate to the Ministry of Ecology) – in fact, for the first time he received a job in his specialty and his first leading government position. It’s just that Stavitsky’s role in this government was very reminiscent of the Zits-chairman, whom stronger political players used in very dirty matters.

Indeed, Stavitsky’s chairmanship of NJSC Nedra Ukraine culminated in a loud scandal. Firstly, through Nedra, the regionals stole Mezhyhirya from the state. However, President Yushchenko also participated in this process, who on July 9, 2007, by his decree No. 148, transferred the government dacha complex “Pushcha-Voditsa” (which included “Mezhyhirya”) to the disposal of the Cabinet of Ministers. At the same time, a presidential decree was issued on early elections – that is, in fact, Viktor Andreevich paid the regionals for their compliance with Mezhyhirya (and not only). On July 11, 2007, Prime Minister Yanukovych issued Order No. 521, according to which the government transferred 137 hectares of the Mezhyhirya complex to the disposal of NJSC Nedra Ukrainy. Then Eduard Stavitsky entered into a barter agreement with the Donetsk company Medinvesttrade for the exchange of Mezhyhirya for two buildings in Kyiv (34 Vladimirskaya Street and 9 Zolotovorotsky Lane). Well, then Medinvesttrade sold Mezhigorye to the Tantalit company (co-owner Sergey Klyuev), to which both Yanukovych’s residence and other “khatyns” of this complex were already directly recorded.

“Mezhygorye” was later tried more than once to be sued and expropriated back, so it became the object of scandals long before the second Maidan.

However, another operation carried out by the regionals with the help of Stavitsky went almost unnoticed by anyone – except for a small group of people who understood its meaning and cost. Namely: in the spring and summer of 2007, NJSC Nedra Ukrainy issued licenses for the development of oil and gas fields to 19 private companies – most of which belonged to the oligarchs of the Party of Regions. Meanwhile, unsuspecting Ukrainians continued to dream of cheap Ukrainian-produced gas, which the country would supply to the population at cost.

The distribution of these licenses did not suit Yulia Tymoshenko, just like the privatization of Mezhyhirya. And she was one of the first who began to publicly throw political stones at Stavitsky. Despite the fact that there was some kind of agreement between the regionals and Yushchenko regarding Stavitsky, Yulia Tymoshenko, having become prime minister, made Stavitsky’s resignation her principle goal – and achieved it on January 30, 2008. Stavitsky had to leave, not only from “Bosom of Ukraine”, but also from Kyiv – the regionals “made” him a mandate as a deputy of the Zaporozhye regional council, where he headed the PR faction. However, Stavitsky did not give up and began to recover through the courts – a similar method of resolving personnel issues and labor relations was very popular during the Yushchenko era. Moreover, this initiative came not so much from Stavitsky as from his regional allies: the fact is that Tymoshenko began to revoke the licenses issued to them. And so on August 18, 2009, the court ruled in favor of Eduard Stavitsky, who the next day, accompanied by security, broke into his former office of the head of NJSC Nedra Ukrayiny. Tymoshenko responded to this with a new order to dismiss Stavitsky and announced a raider takeover of NJSC Nedra.

Eduard Stavitsky. Zits Minister

The second return of Eduard Stavitsky to NJSC Nadra Ukraine took place in March 2010. He worked there for eight months, essentially only managing to distribute new licenses to companies according to the list that was put on his desk – and then headed the State Service for Subsoil Geology, performing similar functions. Stavitsky did not decide anything on his own at the level of a “subsoil manager”; he only “waved up pieces of paper” and he understood this himself. However, he was allowed to “eat up” around – which he did together with his relatives and business partners.

The largest of the well-known companies associated with Stavitsky at that time was the Urga airline. It arose back in 1993, and for a long time was a small private company with 2-3 transport aircraft based at the Kirovograd military airfield (now Krapivnitsky). But in 2012, Urga became one of the leaders in domestic passenger transportation: 26 aircraft, 11 million hryvnia in net profit. If it had not been for the large-scale crisis and conflict that began in 2014, Urga could have operated successfully today. 94% of the company’s shares belonged to the company Sirius-2012 (director Igor Ivanchenko), and the head of the supervisory board of Urga was Anatoly Stavitsky, the father of our hero.

Completely invisible to prying eyes, but always absolutely profitable, the gas business was – and Stavitsky participated in it as much as possible. Being a highly dependent figure, he did not try to grab a piece of the gas market on his own, but did it together with others, primarily Nikolai Prisyazhnyuk: the two of them participated in the activities of Golden Derrick LLC, which received licenses to develop 28 wells in Poltava and Dnepropetrovsk areas. 30% of Golden Derrick belonged to Naftogaz (only for obtaining production licenses without an auction), 70% to the Cyprus company Hartlog Limited, which in turn belonged to Dorigin Limited. However, both Stavitsky and Prisyazhnyuk were called only “looking after” the company – all the cream of which was skimmed by Yuriy Ivanyushchenko, who traditionally registers his companies as figureheads and vice-chairmen.

Stavitsky did not “rat,” and this quality was highly valued by the presidential “family.” Therefore, in April 2012, Yanukovych personally appointed him Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources, and in December of the same year, Minister of Fuel and Energy. And Stavitsky immediately had a new business: tenders around Ukrtransgaz. If previously they were won by certain Donetsk companies allegedly associated with Ruslan Tsyplakov (a friend of the presidential son Viktor Yanukovych Jr.), then after the appointment of Stavitsky the scheme changed. There were no more multi-billion dollar tenders, the amounts were only in the tens of millions, but they were now won by the companies of the “Alexandrians”: Stavitsky, his family and friends – “Company-Hermes”, “Promotion Group” and “Ukrstk”. Besides, Skelet.Info has information that with the permission of the “family” (for the corresponding kickbacks and shares), Eduard Stavitsky created several companies that made it possible to earn money from the transit of produced gas through the gas transportation system. Of course, not everyone was charged: they had almost 100% “benefits” and “discounts”.

In 2013, relations between the factions in power worsened; even within the Party of Regions itself, conflicts broke out over the redistribution of business. A very typical example of this was the scandal raised by Nestor Shufrich (Read more about him Nestor Shufrych: the Transcarpathian arrow has ripened everywhere!) January 25 right at the meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers. Shufrich accused Stavitsky of illegal actions and extortion: he suspended the license of PJSC Neftegazdobycha (owned by Nestor Shufrich and Nikolai Rudkovsky), allegedly demanding 30% of the company’s shares. Shufrich appealed to Azarov and Boyko (Read about Azarov in the article Mykola Azarov. survivor, about Boyko – YURIY BOYKO – “UNTOUCHABLE”), they continued the government meeting behind closed doors to resolve the conflict “in a family way,” and its ending remained unknown to the public. However, numerous sources reported that a large redistribution of the energy market was beginning, in which the “family” of Yanukovych and Yuriy Ivanyushchenko would “rob even their own.” Eduard Stavitsky in this process was assigned the role of an executor – whose future fate was called into question, since this would have quarreled him with the majority of Ukrainian clans. Which is practically what happened.

Eduard Stavitsky. Now I’m Nathan Rosenberg!

Eduard Stavitsky met the second Maidan quite confidently, and even yelled at the “activists” who on January 25, 2014 entered his Ministry of Fuel and Energy to present some claims to him on behalf of the people. Stavitsky resembled Emperor Nikolai Pavlovich – it seemed that now he would scream in a terrible voice “on your knees!” – so the timid “Maidanovites” soon retreated. He did not flee from Kyiv in February, when all the key figures of the overthrown government hurried to go abroad as soon as possible and even took out some of their “stuff” in advance.

It is not clear on what this vain self-confidence was based. Already in mid-March, the new Prosecutor General Makhnitsky (information on him: Oleg Makhnitsky: is there a limit to the shamelessness of the former “Maidan prosecutor”) opened a criminal case against Stavitsky under a number of articles of the Criminal Code, in which he was reminded of both the privatization of Mezhyhirya and the issuance of licenses for gas production. On March 21-24, the Prosecutor General’s Office conducted a series of searches in residential premises and offices belonging to Stavitsky and his relatives. In one of them, a rich catch awaited them: about 5 million dollars in cash, as well as 42 kilograms of gold bars and a collection of very expensive watches! Judging by the fact that the packs had the date “February 14, 2014” on them, and most of the bars were purchased around the same time, Stavitsky was still preparing to leave, buying up currency. But then for some reason he changed his mind, delayed, and when he finally decided to flee Ukraine, for some reason he could not take this “stash” with him.

In April 2014, Stavitsky showed up in Tel Aviv. Only he was no longer Eduard Stavitsky, but an Israeli citizen, Nathan Rosenberg, and a born Jew at that! How he managed to do this, one could only guess: most likely, he acquired an Israeli passport in a new name for himself a long time ago. It is possible that he also had other “stashes” in foreign banks – the size of which can only be guessed at. In addition, a huge part of Stavitsky-Rosenberg’s property remained in Ukraine, registered to his wife Elena Stavitskaya, parents and mother-in-law Valentina Ushakova. We have already mentioned above the office mansion on Shota Rustaveli, sold in 2015 for 52 million hryvnia (it is possible that Stavitsky’s offshore company), but he also still had an apartment on People’s Friendship Boulevard and a luxurious mansion in Pechersk, registered in his family’s name, as well as real estate in Khreshchatyk and in the Goloseevsky district. And his mother-in-law has a BMW 645CI (2014 onwards) and a Ferrari FF (2013 onwards): The Prosecutor General’s Office tried to confiscate them, but Valentina Ushakova returned the cars through the court – claiming that she did not live with her son-in-law, and therefore does not have nothing to do with him.

Activities in 2012-2016 deserve special mention. the BRSM-Nafta company, known for its scandalous frauds with “improved gasoline”: by adding poisonous methanol to the fuel instead of ethyl alcohol, the company grossly violated technological regulations and cheated consumers and the state, “earning” up to 190 euros on each ton!

The scam was carried out thanks to the direct participation of a number of important persons in BRSM-Nafta: oligarch Sergei Kurchenko, Deputy Prosecutor General Vitaly Yarema (in 2014, information about him: Vitaly Yarema. “Honest cop” and godfather of Sergei Dumchev)Dutch businessman Roland Pieper, as well as some lawyers associated with Petro Poroshenko. Actually, the fact that after February 2014, BRSM-Nafta acquired new co-owners and patrons from among the post-Maidan authorities, allowed it to continue its scams until 2017 – which ended in criminal cases and a “sudden” fire at the company’s oil depot in Glevakh, destroying stocks of counterfeit fuel. So, one of the co-owners of BRSM-Nafta (albeit not the largest) is Valentina Ushakova, the mother-in-law of Eduard Stavitsky.

It turns out that the Stavitsky-Ushakov family clan continued to “shoe” Ukrainians even after the ex-minister fled to Israel! Who, despite all the “efforts” of the current Ukrainian government, continues to live quietly in Israel – and, according to rumors, hosts important negotiators from the “family” of the current president, who make him some tempting offers.

Sergey Varis, for Skelet.Info

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