Sergey Tigipko
Who is the leader of “Strong Ukraine” leading to the elections?
The Strong Ukraine party of Serhiy Tihypko was the first to publish a list of its candidates for people’s deputies.
It included representatives of the conflicting oligarchs Dmitry Firtash and Igor Kolomoisky, as well as Viktor Pinchuk and Tariel Vasadze.
It should be noted that even on the eve of the presidential campaign, the name of Sergei Tigipko was closely associated with Dmitry Firtash, whose conditional group he headed in parliament until February 2014. But before the elections, the paths of the politician and the disgraced businessman diverged, and information appeared about Tigipko’s financing from Igor Kolomoisky. But, as one of the participants in the Strong Ukraine party list told INSIDER, now their leader managed to come to an agreement with three oligarchs at once.
In the majoritarian constituencies, Tigipko’s party is represented mainly by representatives of regional business and council deputies of all levels from the Party of Regions. Thus, in the Dnepropetrovsk region, the regional council deputy from the Party of Regions Viktor Shinkevich is nominated, in the Zhytomyr region – the city council deputy from the Party of Regions Yuri Samborsky, in the Lugansk region – the city council deputy from the Party of Regions Vladimir Komisarenko, in the Odessa region – the current people’s deputy from the Party of Regions Anton Kisse (read more about him in the article by Anton Kisse: how a physical education teacher became the Bulgarian baron of Bessarabia) and so on.
Most candidates’ connections can be traced back to past work. These are mainly businessmen and CEOs of oligarchs. There are, however, also security forces. Such as Leonid Piata, former head of the “T” department in the SBU.
It was not possible to identify candidates Sergei Dumchev and Anastasia Makarova at all. Even their colleagues on the list, whom INSIDER called, know nothing about these people. “I don’t know who it is,” says number ten on the list, Oleg Shablatovich.
According to the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS), the rating of “Strong Ukraine” now hovers at around 8%. This means that, according to Tigipko’s lists, 25-30 people will be elected to the Rada.
INSIDER analyzed the passage part of the list.
1. Leader of the list Sergei Tigipko. He undermined his rating in 2010-2012, when, as first deputy prime minister and minister of social policy, he introduced pension reform. The innovation was to increase the retirement age for women from 55 to 60 years and for some categories of men from 60 to 65 years.
Tigipko is one of the ten richest people in Ukraine according to Forbes. He owns the TAS financial and industrial group, the name of which is his daughter’s full name. The group includes Dneprovagonmash, Kremenchug Steel Plant and an insurance company.
2. Valery Khoroshkovsky has always been considered close to the oligarch Dmitry Firtash and the former head of the Administration of President Viktor Yanukovych Sergei Lyovochkin. He headed the Ukrainian customs in the government of Yulia Tymoshenko, was the head of the Security Service of Ukraine and the Minister of Finance under President Yanukovych.
In 2013, Khoroshkovsky sold his largest asset, Inter Media Group (owns the Inter TV channel), to his partner Dmitry Firtash and left the country. They said that he fled due to a conflict with Yanukovych’s “family”, taking with him interesting documents collected during his time as head of the SBU.
3. Svetlana Fabrikant in her youth played in the KVN team “Odessa Gentlemen”. She was the general director of the TV channel “My Odessa”, and headed the Odessa regional organization “Strong Ukraine”. In 2012, during the parliamentary elections, she entered the list of the Party of Regions under the Tigipko quota and became a people’s deputy.
4. Andrey Gamov – head of the Zaporozhye regional organization of “Strong Ukraine”. From 2012 to 2014 he worked as deputy to Zaporizhzhya Governor Alexander Peklushenko.
In Zaporozhye he owns the Tata manufacturing company, which he founded back in 1998. The company is engaged in the production and sale of building materials.
5. Igor Mazepa – investment analyst, general director of the investment company Concorde Capital, which he founded in 2004.
6. Evgeniy Zhadan – head of the Dnepropetrovsk regional organization “Strong Ukraine”. Deputy of the Dnepropetrovsk City Council. He worked as deputy governor of the region Alexander Vilkul.
In 2005-2009, he headed the Alef-Vinal company, part of the Alef corporation of Dnepropetrovsk businessman Vadim Ermolaev.
7. Larisa Melnichuk worked for 17 years in senior positions in Victor Pinchuk’s Interpipe and EastOne structures. In 2012, she was elected to parliament on the Party of Regions list.
8. The two-time head of Ukravtodor in the Tymoshenko government, Vadim Gurzhos, got into trouble in 2010. When the Road Service was once again headed by Yanukovych’s “road worker” Vladimir Demishkan, Gurzhos was accused of embezzlement.
After leaving Ukravtodor, Gurzhos, according to him, was engaged in legal and consulting business with foreign partners.
9. Alexander Volkov in 2006 became a people’s deputy for the first time from Viktor Yushchenko’s Our Ukraine bloc. In 2007 and 2012, he entered the Rada on the lists of the Party of Regions.
10. Oleg Shablatovich has been a member of the Shevchenko regional organization “Strong Ukraine” in Kyiv since 2009. In 2012, he was elected to the Verkhovna Rada on the list of the Party of Regions. He and Fabrikant were the only deputies whom Tigipko managed to get on the PR list.
He has been involved in business since the 2000s. Owner and co-owner of many firms engaged in legal services and trade. Among them: “Transvest-Group”, “Central Gastronome”, “Kriti Ltd”, “Scart”, “Valenta-Rent”, “Ariana”.
11. Tariel Vasadze is the owner of the Ukravto corporation, which produces and sells cars. Included in the hundred richest Ukrainian Forbes.
I visited all the political camps in the country. In 2002, he became a people’s deputy for the first time from the pro-presidential party “For a United Ukraine!” In 2006 and 2007, he was elected to parliament on the BYuT list. In 2010, he reoriented himself again and at the last parliamentary elections entered parliament on the list of the Party of Regions.
The businessman’s main asset is the Zaporozhye Automobile Plant. In August, he announced the suspension of production. Vasadze explains the problems of his enterprise with insufficient policies to support domestic producers.
12. In 2010, when Valery Khoroshkovsky headed the SBU, Leonid Piata headed the department for the protection of statehood (“T”) in this department. Before this, Piata was the head of the SBU department, which oversees the fight against extremist organizations.
Such details were reported in Focus magazine by journalist Sergei Vysotsky, who is now running for parliament on the list of Arseniy Yatsenyuk’s “People’s Front”.
13. Alexey Slyusarev – manager of Victor Pinchuk. According to the information disclosure system of the National Securities Market Commission, until 2013 he was a member of the supervisory board of PJSC Interpipe Nizhnedneprovsky Pipe Rolling Plant.
14. Nikolai Dzhiga – 65-year-old police colonel general. In 2010-2012 he was the governor of Vinnytsia region. In 2000-2001 worked as first deputy head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Yuri Kravchenko.
In 2006, he was elected as a people’s deputy on the Party of Regions list. In 2012, he was elected in a majoritarian district and joined the Party of Regions faction.
15. Alexey Logvinenko was elected to the Rada on the BYuT list in 2006 and 2007. He received his education in Kharkov. He worked there in the regional administration, at the Institute of Regional Policy and as head of the supervisory board of Megabank.
16. Svyatoslav Piskun – scandalous prosecutor. Three times – in 2002-2003, 2004-2005. and 2007 – headed the Prosecutor General’s Office. In 2004, Piskun obtained a decision in the Pechersky District Court of the capital that his dismissal in 2003 was illegal.
In 2006 and 2007, he was elected to the Verkhovna Rada on the lists of the Party of Regions. In 2012, he tried to be elected to the Rada in a majoritarian constituency in the Zhytomyr region, but failed.
17. Vasily Polyakov is a Kharkov businessman, co-owner of the automobile dealer “Avtoinveststroy” (AIS) together with Dmitry Svyatosh, a people’s deputy from the Party of Regions.
He was a people’s deputy in 2006-2007 from the Socialist Party. In 2013, the partners had a conflict with Kharkov businessman Alexander Yaroslavsky, who demanded that AIS return debts to UkrSibBank in the amount of $100 million.
18. Alexey Miroshnichenko – Deputy Head of the Federation of Employers of Ukraine. The head of this organization is businessman Dmitry Firtash, who is currently under house arrest in Vienna.
19. Vadim Grib is the owner of the Tekt group of companies, which deals with investments and fund management. As INSIDER reported, Tect operates a small solar power plant called VinSolar.
Candidate’s business partner – Vasily Khmelnitsky (read more about him in the article Vasily Khmelnitsky: misplaced oligarch). Grib was an adviser to Valery Khoroshkovsky when he headed the SBU.
20. Sergey Dumchev.
21. Gennady Fedoryak was elected as a people’s deputy in 2012 on the list of the Party of Regions. Before becoming a deputy, he worked as the head of the board of the gas distribution company Chernivtsygaz, which is controlled by businessman Dmitry Firtash.
22. Vadim Pushkarev – financier with 20 years of experience. Since 2006, he has been working as chairman of the board of the Ukrainian VTB Bank, which belongs to the Russian government Vneshtorgbank.
23. Andrey Mochenkov from 2012 to 2014 worked as deputy governor of the Kharkov region Mikhail Dobkin. Has a stake in the Kharkov companies Neon-A, Helium, and Proconsul.
Since 2001, he headed the Kharkov regional organization of the Labor Ukraine party, the first party created by Sergei Tigipko.
24. Artem Ivanchenko is one of the top managers of the cellular operator Kyivstar. Back in 2002, he ran for the Verkhovna Rada from the Green Party.
25. Sergei Kuzyara – former adviser to Eduard Stavitsky, Minister of Energy and Coal Industry in the government of Mykola Azarov.
Kuzyara worked in senior positions in coal companies. Forbes considered him a member of the team of Alexander Yanukovych, the eldest son of the fourth president.
26. Andrey Zaika – Kyiv developer. Owner of the construction company HCM Group.
In 2008, Zaika, together with Kharkov businessman Alexander Yaroslavsky, announced the construction of a multifunctional complex “Podol Business Park” on the territories of two former industrial enterprises of the Kyiv Automobile Repair Plant and the Kyiv Furniture Factory.
In the spring of 2010, the Lithuanian company BT-Invest, the investment and construction company Stolitsa and the HCM Group company announced the merger of their development assets.
27. Anastasia Makarova.
28. Pavel Kravchenko is the general director of the Zaporozhye Ferroalloy Plant, which is controlled by the Privat group of Igor Kolomoisky. Deputy of the Dnepropetrovsk Regional Council.
29. Evgeniy Kharkovshchenko in 2005-2008 headed the Ukrainian Media Resource company, which, according to the Telekritika website, acted in the interests of Valery Khoroshkovsky’s Inter Media Group.
30. Yuri Kruk – people’s deputy of all convocations, except the first. Over the years he was a member of the factions “United Ukraine”, “Labor Ukraine”, and the People’s Democratic Party.
At the last elections in 2012, he was elected on the BYuT list, but after Viktor Yanukovych won the presidential elections, he switched to the Party of Regions.
Thirty-first is Vladimir Makeenko, a deputy of all convocations of the Verkhovna Rada, except the second. For the last three convocations, he was a member of the Party of Regions faction and headed the parliamentary ethics committee. Makeenko is confident that he will work in the next convocation.
He became widely known when at the end of 2013 he was appointed head of the Kyiv State City Administration by Viktor Yanukovych and in this post on February 19 spoke out against stopping the metro, thereby sabotaging the president’s decisions.
Sergiy Golovnyov, INSIDER