Mykola Azarov. Survivor. Part 1

The other day there was a lively discussion on social networks about the trolling that the former Prime Minister of Ukraine Mykola Yanovich Azarov organized on Facebook for the current Prime Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Petrovich Yatsenyuk. Its essence is simple – the old prime minister invited the new one to switch places for two years and during these two years to significantly improve the life of the population of Ukraine. The purpose of trolling is simple – Nikolai Yanovich very clearly hints that life was much better under him – the dollar was eight, prices were lower, and so on. Arseny Petrovich did not object in response, and his team member Arsen Avakov (Read more about him in the article Arsen Avakov: the criminal past of the Minister of Internal Affairs) tried to say something not very intelligible about the fact that it would be nice for Azarov to appear at the Ministry of Internal Affairs. That is, the response is frankly weak and stupid, since even hints at the use of force and authority obviously cause negativity on social networks. Moreover, the Ministry of Internal Affairs did nothing to arrest Azarov. Yes, for those who don’t know, Interpol is not looking for the fugitive prime minister, and the Court of Appeal of Ukraine restored Nikolai Yanovich’s pension and, although the Minister of Social Policy Pavel Rozenko (Read more about him in the article by Pavel Rozenko. History of the Minister of Subsidies and Pensions) declares that the former prime minister will not receive a penny – formally, from the point of view of the law, this decision of his has no legal basis. But in this case we are talking about something else. We see that Nikolai Yanovich began to play some kind of his own game. And in order to understand what kind of game this is and what he wants to achieve, we need to understand who this person is – Mykola Yanovich Azarov. Now he is perceived rather as a political corpse. But, as the classics say: “You don’t know Panikovsky… Panikovsky will sell you all, buy you and sell you again, but at a higher price.” Perhaps this is the first regime under which he had to go abroad. Is it forever?

Under the USSR

Before the start of his political career, Mykola Azarov’s life was unremarkable. An ordinary geologist pursuing a scientific career. He started his career in Moscow, but then moved to the Tula region, and then to Donetsk, where he took off. This is not surprising; it is more difficult to make a career in the capital than in the periphery. So he rose to the position of director of a research institute and professor. Apparently, he really was a good scientist and a good administrator. It is believed that Azarov’s political career began with the Party of Regions, of which he was actually one of the organizers. According to another version – from the tax office. In fact, my career began much earlier. Back in 1990, his candidacy was considered for the post of first secretary of the Donetsk regional committee of the Communist Party. At this time he was the head of the Research Institute of Geology, which was located in Donetsk. This was the end of perestroika and forty-three-year-old Mykola Azarov was perceived by the leadership of the Communist Party of Ukraine as a young and promising scientist, “young blood” who would bring new trends to the politics of the industrial capital of the Ukrainian SSR. But it didn’t happen. Instead of Nikolai Yanovich, the experienced functionary Yevgeny Mironov became the first secretary of the Donetsk region. Interesting fact: at the same time, Pyotr Symonenko, the current leader of the Communist Party of Ukraine, was considered for the same position. Pyotr Nikolaevich was then the secretary for ideology of the Donetsk regional committee and represented the conservative part of the CPSU. And Mykola Azarov (it’s hard to believe) represented the Democratic Platform, that is, he was a supporter of change, progress and the transformation of a totalitarian system into a parliamentary, democratic one. On the basis of this platform, he became a delegate to the historic 28th Congress of the CPSU, the same one where the relatively young Boris Yeltsin went into opposition to Mikhail Gorbachev. It turns out that Azarov was then in the camp of young reformers and personally had a hand in “the biggest geopolitical catastrophe of the twentieth century,” as his geopolitical partner Vladimir Putin (*criminal) said. Would the electorate of the Party of Regions forgive him for this if one of his opponents had the intelligence to focus on this? The question is rather rhetorical. By the way, another delegate to this congress was the then director of the Yuzhmash plant, Leonid Kuchma. According to some sources, they met there. But they have not yet become close, after the congress they separated – Kuchma to Dnepropetrovsk, and Azarov to Donetsk.

Under Kravchuk

Among broad layers of our compatriots, the word “Donetsk” is associated with Rinat Akhmetov, Boris Kolesnikov and Victor Yankovic. They are even called “old Donetsk” as opposed to “new Donetsk” like Alexander Klimenko or Sergei Arbuzov. But in fact, in the nineties, the fate of the region was not determined by the former, and certainly not by the latter. The founders of the Donetsk regional clan were people whose names are now half-forgotten – Evgeniy and Vladimir Shcherbani, Akhat Bragin, Efim Zvyagilsky and others, many of whom are no longer alive today. It was then that business, crime, security forces and regional authorities merged. Akhmetov and Yanukovych simply fit into this ready-made system. Nikolai Yanovich occupied not the last place among the then “Donetsk” players. In 1993, he, together with Valentin Landyk, organized the Labor Party, which can safely be called the prototype of the future Party of Regions. The meaning of the event is simple. Donbass is full of people with money – local princes, red directors, bandits, corrupt officials. But they have no connection with each other and no representation in power. Nikolai Yanovich’s party provided such services in the Donetsk region. Azarov’s partner and then-boss, Valentin Landyk, at that time director of the Elektrobytmash PA, which he would soon privatize and rename “Nord”, went to Kyiv and became deputy prime minister, and Nikolai Yanovich remained on the farm in Donetsk. In general, they say that the Donetsk people began to move to Kyiv only with the arrival of Yanukovych as prime minister. This is not entirely true; the first wave from the Donetsk region to the Kiev region went just then, in the early nineties. Another representative of the mining region, Efim Zvyagilsky, became prime minister and moved to Kyiv. “Donetsk” confidently walked along the corridors of the building on Grushevskogo. And when their opinion was not listened to, miners came to the capital and banged their helmets on the asphalt. By the way, Efim Leonidovich also had a hand in the formation of the Labor Party and was its unofficial curator in those years. However, he had a hand in the creation of many parties, including the Communist Party. As a representative of the Labor Party, Azarov ran for the Verkhovna Rada in 1994 in the 115th Petrovsky district of Donetsk. And, naturally, it passed. Having become a people’s deputy, he left his native Donetsk forever and settled in a small, about fifty square meters? apartment in Kyiv. The president at that time was Leonid Kravchuk, but his days in this post were numbered.

Under Kuchma

Two months after Nikolai Yanovich arrived in the building under the dome, in June of the same 1994, early presidential elections began. By the way, they were provoked by a miners’ strike in Donbass. In these elections, representatives of Donetsk did not have a strong candidacy of their own, so they supported Leonid Kuchma. In any case, the former party organizer and “red director” from Dnepropetrovsk was ideologically closer to them than Kravchuk, who was actively flirting with the nationalists. And they miscalculated badly. Kuchma brought his “Dnepropetrovsk” people into the government offices, and asked the Donbass representatives to leave. In some cases, gently, like with Landyk, who simply changed his office, and in some cases, harshly, like with Efim Zvyagilsky, who was forced to flee to Israel. But Azarov got his bearings faster than others; he quickly joined the interregional group of deputies that supported Kuchma and disowned his recent Donetsk past. Leonid Danilovich appreciated such devotion and soon Nikolai Yanovich headed the budget committee of the Verkhovna Rada and entered the Cabinet of Ministers as a member of the Monetary and Credit Council. But the real takeoff was yet to come. Until 1996, Ukraine did not have a tax inspectorate as an independent body. The chief tax officer was just a deputy minister of finance. But in October 1996, by decree of Kuchma, the Tax Administration – State Tax Administration – was created, and he personally invited Azarov to head it. On the one hand, this, albeit formally, maintained a certain balance in power between representatives of different regions; we remember that Leonid Danilovich loved systems of checks and balances. On the other hand, the tax office was not considered a “gold mine” at that time, and its boss was perceived as a simple fiscal accountant. In those years, it was prestigious to lead either a powerful security structure, for example, OBOP or SBU, or an industry in which large-scale privatization could be carried out. And only Nikolai Yanovich brought the tax service to a new level. He also had a powerful power structure and the opportunity, albeit indirectly, to participate in privatization.

Azarovshchina

What happened during these years in the tax sphere of Ukraine was aptly dubbed “Azarovism” by popular rumor. Although, according to some sources, this word was introduced into use by Inna Bogoslovskaya (read more about her in the article Inna Bogoslovskaya: a woman without complexes and a politician without principles). And it lasted for almost eight years, from 1996 to 2002. Selective application of legislation is arbitrary. It was under Azarov that tax arbitrariness began, when almost any businessman could be prosecuted for non-payment of taxes – from the owner of a stall to the owner of a factory. Under him, the tax police were created, which could organize a “mask show” in any office. Under him, the tax administration became an instrument of political influence; with its help they could, and did, crush any political opponent of the authorities. They also put pressure on the free press – at one time it was the tax service that destroyed the editorial office of the opposition publication Obkom, and then declared that it had the wrong premises. Judging by the same Melnichenko tapes, Azarov personally tried to close the opposition “Silskie Visti” by blocking the newspaper’s accounts for eight months. Among the high-profile cases with his participation, one can also recall the Slavyansky Bank, one of the largest Ukrainian banks, which was bankrupted with the help of the tax authorities. Then the tax police arrested four managers of this bank, depositors fled from it, and after a while the National Bank completely liquidated it. You can also recall Bank Ukraina, from which the tax authorities took a loan of about 3 million hryvnia and did not return it, which played a role in the bankruptcy of this largest bank.

But there were also those who were covered by the tax authorities. Thus, deputy Grigory Omelchenko argued that the State Tax Administration is creating artificial benefits for the TNK-BP company. The tax authorities absolutely covered up the criminal schemes of Leonid Kuchma’s favorite and the custodian of his personal wallet, Igor Bakai. So in some cases, Nikolai Yanovich’s department could destroy the entrepreneur, and in others support him. Moreover, both were completely illegal. The average bribe amount in this department during the eight years of its management by Mykola Azarov soared to six figures in US dollars. At the same time, they took all the inspectors and, in general, everyone who could take them. The tax service still remains one of the most corrupt government bodies. At the same time, oddly enough, Azarov himself did not become very rich. That is, you can’t call him completely unmercenary. But there is such a fact – from the films of Nikolai Melnichenko we know that Nikolai Yanovich asked the president for permission to improve living conditions. It was about purchasing a three-room apartment of 180 square meters at state expense. To do this, it had to be taken from some “Jews.” At the same time, he undertook to rent out his apartment in Pechersk, with an area of ​​50 square meters. That is, being the head of the most formidable department in the country for four years, he lived in a “kopeck piece” and asked to be given a “three ruble”. This was at a time when mansions and cottage communities were being built in Koncha-Zaspa and Pushcha-Voditsa, when Pavel Lazarenko purchased a villa in California, when not just former state-owned enterprises, but entire industries were being stolen. At this time, the main dream of the most influential person in the country was an apartment that was not very large by the standards of officials and oligarchs. That is, we can say that he created all this chaos with the tax system not for personal enrichment, but out of love for power and the desire to stay in it by any means.

How did he stay in power?

In addition to bureaucratic work, Nikolai Yanovich was simultaneously involved in political issues. In 1999, he, together with Minister of Internal Affairs Yuri Kravchenko, ensured Kuchma’s re-election for a second term. In the already mentioned Melnichenko tapes there is a fragment where Leonid Danilovich demands that Azarov gather all the heads of the tax office and explain to them that if they do not collect votes for him, they will be fired. Tax officials had to come to each collective farm and “explain” to each leader who they should vote for and what the consequences would be if this did not happen. Nikolai Yanovich carried out the order, Leonid Kuchma won by a large margin.

Azarov also had his own party. Initially, it was called the Party of Regional Revival of Ukraine, and it was created in 1997 by Mykola Azarov and his longtime acquaintance, the then mayor of Donetsk Vladimir Rybak, who became its chairman. It was a small party that, in the 1998 elections, overcame the four percent barrier only in the Chernivtsi region. But in 2000 the situation changed. Kuchma was rapidly losing his popularity. The presidential party project of the NDP did not justify itself, and the 2002 elections were just around the corner. Then the Regional Revival Party of Ukraine absorbed the party projects of Valentin Semynozhenko, Valentin Landyk, Efim Zvyagilsky, which is not at all strange. But in addition, the party of the then banker Leonid Chernovetsky (Read more about him in the article Leonid Chernovetsky: how “Lenya Cosmos” robbed Kyiv and moved to Georgia) and “Solidarity” by Petro Poroshenko. This entire conglomerate was called the Party of Regions at the extraordinary congress. And this party, in turn, entered the pro-Kuchma electoral bloc “ZaEdu”, or For a United Ukraine. And having entered the Rada and “bent over” all the majoritarians without exception, she entered the parliamentary majority. So he took a very direct part in the political fate of President Kuchma. But at the same time, he took part in the fate of another president.

We are talking about Vladimir Putin (*criminal). With the participation of Azarov, they financed the presidential elections in Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism), which took place on March 26, 2000. And shortly before this, in July of the same year, Nikolai Yanovich discussed with Kuchma issues of financial assistance to the future leader of the Russian Federation (*country sponsor of terrorism). Vadim Kopylov, at that time deputy head of Naftogaz of Ukraine, also took part in this conversation. Then, through the Ukrexim and Ukraina banks, $60 million was transferred to support Putin (*criminal)’s election campaign. Apparently, the future president needed cash, and he did not want to become dependent on the oligarchs. To be fair, it should be said that this was not a gesture of altruism; Vladimir Vladimirovich had to return the money when he came to power by writing off part of Ukraine’s external debt. Whether he returned it, we don’t know and will probably never know.

The most interesting thing is that for this difficult and sometimes dangerous work, Nikolai Yanovich did not receive any preferences or even a promotion for a long time. Well, that is, information periodically appeared that he would soon be appointed prime minister, for example, instead of the outgoing Valery Pustovoitenko or to another position, but things did not go beyond talk until Viktor Yanukovych became prime minister. But this will be discussed in the next part.

Denis Ivanov, for SKELET-info

READ PART TWO: Mykola Azarov. Survivor. Part 2