“Fat Man” from KVN, has known Zelensky since the 90s. What is known about the new Rada speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk

Following the resignation of the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, Dmytro Razumkov, Ruslan Stefanchuk, his former first deputy, was elected to this position. “Country” I already told you what Ruslan Stefanchuk is famous for.

Now we will tell you about some facts of his biography, which he does not advertise much.

Let’s say right away that the biography of the new speaker is similar to the life path of his younger brother Nikolai. In 2019, he also became a people’s deputy from “Servants of the People”. The Stefanchuk brothers’ tandem is well known in the legal community.

Nikolay and Ruslan Stefanchuk. Source: facebook.com

The younger one obeyed the elder one

Both brothers are lawyers, doctors of science, both worked as teachers of legal disciplines for a long time. Before Zelensky came to power, both worked in the state organization “National Office of Intellectual Property”.

Moreover, the current speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk worked in the office as deputy director. At the same time, his brother Nikolai was the head of the legal department there. Although Article 27 of the Law on Combating Corruption directly prohibits work in direct subordination to close relatives in government structures.

And when President Zelensky appointed Ruslan Stefanchuk as his adviser in May 2019, his brother immediately took the vacant position of deputy director. And he worked there until August 2019, when he filed a declaration in connection with his dismissal after being elected as a people’s deputy.

Nikolai Stefanchuk, younger brother of Verkhovna Rada Chairman Ruslan Stefanchuk. Source: facebook.com

The result is an interesting picture. Not only did the new speaker of parliament work in the same state organization as his younger brother. But he also handed over the position to his brother, effectively “by inheritance,” immediately after being appointed as Zelensky’s adviser in May 2019.

Buffet for 600 people in Geneva with a folk ensemble

The National Intellectual Property Office, where the Stefanchuk brothers worked, did not exist for long. It was created in 2018 by the Ministry of Economy, where Ruslan Stefanchuk was an adviser to Minister Stepan Kubiv. And in December 2019, the new Minister of Economy, Tymofiy Mylovanov, liquidated the organization.

In just over a year, the structure where the new speaker worked with his brother managed to spend a lot of state money. The most expensive project of the National Office was participation in the 59th Assembly of the World Intellectual Property Organization in Geneva. Almost 6 million hryvnias from the state budget were spent on the event.

The tender was announced on May 22, 2019, three days after Ruslan Stefanchuk began working as Zelensky’s adviser. It is likely that he managed to participate in the preparation of the tender documentation. And his brother, the head of the legal department, most likely participated in the tender procedure.

The National Office signed the contract with the contractor, the Ant Hill company, on August 13, 2019, when the brother of the current speaker of the Rada was already working there as deputy director.

The program of participation in the assembly in Geneva was simply fabulous. According to Appendix No. 1 to the agreement, the National Office ordered a buffet for 600 people in Geneva. A performance by an instrumental ensemble was also planned. Moreover, musicians and cooks had to be transported from Kyiv to Geneva and back:

Source: prozorro.gov.ua

According to the technical specifications, the reception in Geneva took place on October 3. A festive concert was held at the same time:

Source: prozorro.gov.ua

A musical group of 25-30 people with costumes and musical instruments was supposed to travel from Kyiv to Geneva and back. The instruments were a brass band, a bandura group, a cymbal group, etc. The musicians were supposed to perform in Geneva on October 3 from 6 to 9 p.m. That is, the concert was supposed to last only three hours:

Source: prozorro.gov.ua

At the same time, the buffet began. The dishes were to be prepared by 18:00. Moreover, the buffet menu included vegetarian, kosher and Muslim dishes:

Source: prozorro.gov.ua

The assembly participants also had to hand out 600 souvenirs – an eco-notebook, an eco-pen, an eco-pencil and an eco-bag. In addition, an A5 booklet entitled “Ukraine You Didn’t Know” was included:

Source: prozorro.gov.ua

As for the main topic of the event – ​​intellectual property protection – six pedestals were made of chipboard measuring 60 x 60 x 80 cm. The pedestals were branded by pasting them with “oracal” film. The pedestals were to house exhibits from Ukrainian startups, no more than six in number. Two videos also had to be made – three and one minute long:

Source: prozorro.gov.ua

The entire event, we recall, cost almost 6 million hryvnia. The services were rendered in full, which is confirmed by the acts signed by the parties. The fact of rendering the services is also confirmed by the decision of the Kyiv Economic Court:

Source: reyestr.court.gov.ua

One can only guess what role the Stefanchuk brothers played in this “attraction of unprecedented generosity.” They did not sign the contract. But, at the very least, given their positions (deputy director and head of the legal department), they simply could not have failed to know about the senseless wastefulness in Geneva at the expense of Ukrainian taxpayers.

Six chipboard cabinets and two videos are not comparable in terms of labor costs to a buffet and a concert for 600 people. Therefore, the main events of the Geneva assembly were still the buffet and the concert.

We are used to working together

The Stefanchuk brothers are originally from Khmelnytskyi. The new speaker of the Rada, Ruslan Stefanchuk, was born in 1975, his brother Nikolai – in 1981. Their father, Oleksiy Stefanchuk, is a well-known doctor in Khmelnytskyi, the chief traumatologist of the region. Both brothers chose the profession of a lawyer.

The Stefanchuk brothers and their wives are teachers of legal disciplines at the country’s leading universities, doctors of law. In 2016-2017, the brothers simultaneously submitted their candidacies for the positions of judges of the High Corruption Court and the Supreme Court. And in 2018-2019, they worked together at the National Intellectual Property Office.

Before that, Ruslan Stefanchuk was the vice-rector for scientific work at the National Academy of Public Prosecutor’s Office. At the same time, his wife Maryna Stefanchuk, according to her official biography, worked there as a professor and defended her doctoral dissertation. Now she is a professor at the law faculty at the KNEU named after V. Hetman:

Source: kneu.edu.ua

The younger brother of the new Rada speaker also taught legal disciplines at Khmelnytsky, Ternopil and Chernivtsi universities, the Border Service Academy, and since 2016, at the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. Now he is also a professor at the Law Faculty of the V. Hetman Kyiv National University of Economics:

Source: kneu.edu.ua

The wife of the new speaker’s brother, Oksana Muzyka-Stefanchuk, together with her husband, was also listed as a teacher at the Border Service Academy, Ternopil and Chernivtsi Universities. Now she is the head of the financial law department of the law faculty of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Doctor of Law, professor. Danylo Hetmantsev, an MP from the Servants of the People, chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Tax Policy, is also listed as a professor at this department:

Source: law.knu.ua

In turn, MP Daniil Getmantsev lists the wife of speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk, Marina, as his assistant:

Source: rada.gov.ua

As we can see, the “Stefanchuk clan” sticks together everywhere: the brothers and their wives worked at the same universities. They also acted as founders of the same companies. And in the National Intellectual Property Office, the new speaker of the Rada worked as a deputy director, while his brother was the head of the legal department. This practice can only be called nepotism and the principle of “one hand washes the other.”

I met Zelensky in KVN

The current fate of the Stefanchuks was radically influenced by their long-standing acquaintance with Vladimir Zelensky. Ruslan Stefanchuk began communicating with him in 1996 thanks to his participation in KVN.

Ruslan Stefanchuk was one of the living symbols of the KVN team “Three Fat Men” from Khmelnitsky. The team’s greatest achievement was participation in the KVN Major League in 2001, where they reached the 1/8 finals, and in the Premier League in 2003.

The KVN team “Three Fat Men” performing in Donetsk in 1998. Source: facebook.com / 3Tolstyaka

In 1999, the Open Ukrainian KVN League was established. In the first game, the Three Fat Men reached the final, where their opponents were the 95th Quarter, led by the 1997 KVN Major League champion and future president Volodymyr Zelensky. The Three Fat Men defeated the Quarter and became the first champions of the Open Ukrainian League.

Participants of the Open League of KVN of Ukraine, 1999. Highlighted in the photo (from left to right): Zelensky’s future wife Elena, Volodymyr Zelensky, future speaker of the Ukrainian parliament Ruslan Stefanchuk. Source: facebook.com

Helped Yushchenko’s associates

The new speaker entered politics in 2006. He ran for the Khmelnytskyi City Council on the list of the Sobor party. Since 2007, Ruslan Stefanchuk has been an assistant to the head of the Sobor party, MP Anatoliy Matviyenko. Matviyenko was elected to the Rada from Viktor Yushchenko’s Our Ukraine – People’s Self-Defense party.

From 2016 to 2019, Ruslan Stefanchuk worked as an adviser to the Minister of Economic Development Stepan Kubiv. He is also one of Yushchenko’s associates who actively participated in the second Maidan in 2013-2014, where he was the “commandant of Euromaidan”.

On February 24, 2014, Stepan Kubiv became the head of the National Bank. Under his leadership, the hryvnia was devalued from 9 to 12 UAH/USD. Then he became a people’s deputy on the Poroshenko Bloc list, and since 2016, the Minister of Economic Development in the Groysman government.

It was Stepan Kubiv who issued an order in 2018 to create the National Office of Intellectual Property. Both the current speaker of the Verkhovna Rada and his younger brother found good employment there during the transitional period of the change of power.

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