CONTINUATION. BEGINNING: Sergei Semochko: a cynical rogue from the special services. PART 1
Sergey Semochko
Russian passports for Ukrainian intelligence
But then February-March 2014 struck, “little green men” appeared in Crimea, in front of whom Colonel Mamchur danced the hopak, the autonomy was declared part of Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism), and most of the Crimean security forces of local origin went over to serve Moscow. Sergei Semochko turned out to be one of the very few leaders of the Crimean SBU who quit his job and went to “Greater Ukraine” – and for this he received the image of a patriot, which he then used to hide behind for several years. But what motives really motivated him? Semochko definitely expected to receive a good position for his “devotion to the homeland” – and he was appointed to the position of deputy head of the Department of Internal Affairs of the Odessa region. A good place, a bread place – with all the ports and customs there!
While settling there, Semochko continued the tradition of fraud. It is worth noting that his boss, the head of the SBU, was then again Valentin Nalyvaichenko, and the head of the Anti-Terrorism Center was Vasily Gritsak. And pleasing both, Semochko launched a violent imitation of the “fight against separatists” in Odessa, performing a performance to prevent the proclamation of the “Bessarabian People’s Republic” (BPR). Several Odessa pro-Russian social activists, deputies and journalists were chosen to play the role of separatists, who established the “Public Council of Bessarabia” in April 2015 as an opposition socio-political movement. The SBU immediately organized a special operation to arrest them, and Semochko was responsible for detaining members of the “Council of Bessarabia”, who were allegedly planning to proclaim the “Bessarabian Republic”, and Gritsak with his special forces reported on the liquidation of an entire sabotage group, allegedly planning to blow up bridges around Odessa – and then Russian troops were supposed to land in the city (suddenly I remembered the plot from the film “Deja Vu”). About 40 people were detained, half of whom turned out to be framed fools and generally anonymous actors (the so-called “people with square faces”). Journalist Artem Buyan was imprisoned for 4 years (released under the Savchenko law), and journalists Vitaly Didenko and Elena Glishchinskaya were later exchanged for Gennady Afanasyev and Yuri Soloshenko, who were detained in the Russian Federation (*country sponsor of terrorism). On what basis were some citizens of Ukraine exchanged for other citizens of Ukraine, no one wanted to explain! This is how the “law” worked in the country where Gritsak and Semochko operated under the leadership of Poroshenko.
Elena Glishchinskaya and Vitaly Didenko
It is clear that they were simply currying favor with the president for the sake of promotion. Meanwhile, Sergei Semochko himself could have become a separatist and traitor if he had remained in Crimea in 2014, like many of his colleagues. Actually, he didn’t leave there because of patriotism. On the one hand, Semochko had a reputation there as a person who digs under everyone and everyone, quarrelsome and scandalous – plus his friendship with the Mejlis and Kyiv national patriots, plus his wife’s relationship with the owners of Privat. In theory, the new leadership of Crimea would not have transferred Semechko to the FSB, and he would have had to retrain as head waiter. At the same time, no one offended his family there, their business and real estate were not taken away from them, and they even granted Russian citizenship to everyone: Tatyana Lysenko, her adult children Stanislav Lysenko and Anastasia Koton (husband’s last name), their families, even brother Andrey. Perhaps it will not be surprising if it turns out that Sergei Semochko himself and his son Ilya have Russian passports! Which means the version Skelet.Info that Semochko is a sent Cossack of the Russian special services has a basis. After all, even the operation he carried out to “liquidate the BNR” only discredited the SBU and the Kyiv authorities in the eyes of many Odessa residents, fueling real, not operatic, separatism there.
But Semochko himself tried to publicly deny that his wife had Russian citizenship, fiercely shaking her supposedly Ukrainian passport in front of journalists – for some reason covering her first and last name with her fingers. And the black and white photograph in this passport looked so unconvincing that Semochko was simply laughed at: what kind of intelligence officer is he who cannot even properly paste a photo into his passport!
The same laughter was caused by his attempts to present the journalistic investigation as “an order of the FSB” – they say that Bigus is controlled by the “hand of the Kremlin”, which, under the guise of fighting corruption, wants to destroy Ukrainian intelligence! Although Semochko himself knew very well that some of the information came to the journalists not from the FSB, but from the SBU – because he managed to firmly reach the leadership of the service (more on this below). Moreover, soon the counterintelligence department of the SBU (where Semochko had previously worked for two years) provided official certificate No. 2/¾−34 352nt dated October 26, 2018, confirming Tatyana Lysenko’s Russian citizenship.
The commentary on the Semochko case by his former boss Valentin Nalyvaichenko, who did not excuse him, but confirmed the compromising information, was very revealing. Apparently, at one time Semochko managed to annoy Nalyvaichenko.
How to Rob the Dying
Speaking about the Crimean business of the Semochko-Lysenko family, it is worth mentioning an interesting detail. As journalists found out, for many years their family travel company “Yalta-Holiday” brought in ridiculous profits – according to reports, the couple barely made ends meet, and were unlikely to be able to save millions to purchase elite invisibility in Kyiv and the Kyiv region. Moreover, they first bought apartments and houses, and only then sold the company (paying taxes to Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism)).
How to understand this? It’s very simple, when a company does not formally make a profit, but its owners are rapidly getting rich, this means either an unclean business or receiving “left” income from other sources. In the first case, such a company is part of a scheme for either tax evasion or money laundering – but in any case, two or three or more legal entities are involved in such schemes. This means that either Semochko and his wife have other companies that they kept silent about, or they participated in a “shadow cooperative” with other businessmen – maybe even with the Bogolyubov companies. Well, in the second case, one can only guess what SBU officer Semochko preferred: bribes or kickbacks?
And here’s another oddity: in Yalta, Tatyana Lysenko was registered at Sverdlova Street, building 8, apartment 12. However, according to data from Yalta real estate agencies, this building (located, by the way, right by the sea) has only two floors and ten residential apartments.
Well, now about one of the most heinous crimes of Sergei Semochko. A little background: in 2015, Semochko appeared in Kyiv as the head of the SBU Main Directorate for counterintelligence protection of state interests in the field of economic security – this was his reward for “liquidating the BNR.” This special service has a lot of powers – and that’s where Semochko turned around! His attention was drawn to companies involved in the supply of medical drugs and equipment to Ukraine, from which he began to demand kickbacks. Sources reported that he even attacked the distributors of Strepsils.
Skelet.Info I have already talked about the facts of blatant corruption in the field of dialysis, in which the Fistal brothers and the odious Tatyana Bakhteeva participate. So, in 2015, Sergei Semochko decided to profit from dialysis. Just a few weeks after his appointment, Sergei Khristinchenko, the head of the Daviata company, which won the Ministry of Health tender for the supply of drugs and equipment for dialysis, was approached by two of Semochko’s henchmen: SBU officers Nikolai Bezzubenko and Roman Negovelov. AND began to demand a “kickback” from Khristinchenkooffering him a scheme with an intermediary company through which this “kickback” would be withdrawn. Khristinchenko refused – and then the problem that Sergei Semechko caused them fell upon him and his company.
First, he sent Khristinchenko several warnings that Daviata was violating the terms of the tender, including by purchasing drugs from only one manufacturer, the American Baxter (purchasing from different manufacturers caused technical problems), and demanded that a company be included in the tender that would purchased drugs from the German company Fresenius. It was about the Link-medital company of the father and son Baryshevskys, who had previously been partners of the owners of Daivata, the Ledins, but then began to quarrel with each other. And in this war, Semochko first undertook to lobby the interests of the Baryshevskys. By the summer of 2016, this war reached its height: Semochko initiated the opening of criminal cases against Daviata (No. 42016101070000154 and No. 4201510007000028), involving the prosecutor’s office and the National Police in the persecution.
However, then it turned out that Semochko “drowned” not only the Ledins, but actually the Baryshevkis, and the deputy secretary of the “Deputy Control” organization, Yuri Zhitomirsky, who was previously an assistant to the people’s deputy… Tatyana Bakhteeva, helped him in this! Which, before the Maidan, completely controlled the Ukrainian dialysis market, but in 2014-2015 lost part of it, on which the Ledin and Baryshevsky companies settled. What happens? First, Semochko sends his “eagles” to demand “kickbacks”, then he takes the side of the Baryshevskys in their competitive war with the Ledins, and then “throws away” his charges, and acts in the interests of their common enemy – Bakhteeva. Of course, no thanks! And this is the whole of Semochko, who is considered the first scoundrel even against the background of Ukrainian officials and oligarchs gnawing and setting each other up.
Alas, as a result of the dirty war unleashed by Sergei Semochko, the supply of vital drugs has stalled. This caused the death of almost 200 seriously ill Ukrainians. Unfortunately, Semochko’s direct guilt in their deaths has not yet been proven. For now…
To whom is war – and to whom champagne on a helicopter!
Semochko’s outrages were so flagrant that the head of the SBU, Vasily Gritsak, was forced to react somehow – and he first severely reprimanded him, and then, on this basis, deprived him of his position. It would seem that a scandal is about to flare up, because businessmen offended by Semochko went to complain about him to people’s deputies, and Semochko needs to flee from Kyiv. That’s what he was going to do, actively bargaining for a position as the head of the SBU of the Odessa region. But they decided to give him a white elephant: they appointed him the head of the State Security Service of Kyiv and the region. The position was higher, but here Semochko was in full view of everyone, and the authorities were nearby – you couldn’t really spoil him!
But Semochko was spoiled because he couldn’t do it any other way. In his new position, he came up with nothing better than to sue Vasily Gritsak! The purpose of the claim was to recognize the penalty imposed on him as unfounded, and then to declare the illegality of his dismissal from the post of head of economic counterintelligence. And this is understandable – after all, Semochko just gained access to a huge trough!
Gritsak was simply taken aback – nothing like this had ever happened before in the SBU. In Glavka they called Semochko not only “a rogue and a narcissist,” but also “just a goat.” And Semochko continued to actively dig under Vasily Gritsak himself, aiming, no less, at his position as chairman of the SBU! According to sources Skelet.Infofor this, Semochko went to negotiate at the highest level – with the “gray eminence” Igor Kononenko, promising him to become a personally devoted head of the SBU (Gritsak is Poroshenko’s man). The adventure did not work out, and when Gritsak learned about the vigorous activity of his subordinate, he became eager to bury him alive. But then either Kononenko came to Semochko’s aid, or Poroshenko himself decided to take advantage of the situation and save Semochko, hoping that he would reward him with loyalty and diligence (it’s simply ridiculous to expect this from Semochko). In general, the president appointed him first deputy chairman of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine.
Why there? How did a person who had never worked in intelligence in his life, who had no idea about it, get a leadership position in it? This question should be addressed to Petro Poroshenko.
Having relaxed, Semochko began to spend “what he had earned through back-breaking labor,” while simultaneously thinking about what benefits could be derived from the position of deputy head of intelligence. In addition to those purchased by them in 2015-2017. in Koncha-Zaspa of three houses (their neighbors were the ex-chairman of the SBU Anti-Corruption Department Yuri Artyukhov, the ex-chairman of Spetstekhnoexport Pavel Barbul, the son of Leonid Chernovetsky and other “worthy people”), the Semochko-Lysenko family significantly expanded their transport park. Sergei Semochko moved from the USBU to the Intelligence Service in a new Land Cruiser, whose license plates were registered to a non-existent person (a dead homeless person?). And Tatyana Lysenko and her children chose a helicopter for their travels around Ukraine, the rental of which costs from 4 thousand dollars! In particular, they flew it to Odessa to buy Shabo wines. And this is “in a country that has been at war with the aggressor for five years,” as Poroshenko used to say.
Sergei Semochko’s car
The favorite helicopter of the Semochko-Lysenko family
But Semochko clearly did not calculate the degree of Gritsak’s vindictiveness. And already in the fall of 2018, a powerful information attack began on Semochko: first, a journalistic investigation, then inspections confirmed by the SBU and NABU, and after the demand of various political forces to resign Semochko. Well, against the backdrop of “Svinarchukgate”, a few days before the second round of elections, Poroshenko simply could not protect all the crooks and corrupt officials he had gathered under his roof. And he had to sacrifice Semochko – who, after all, only got away with dismissal.
But Sergei Alekseevich is not the kind of person who sits without work for a long time! He is already actively looking for it, looking for approaches to the new government – probably involving his “relatives” in this. However, will he be able to convince Bogolyubov, and most importantly, Kolomoisky, that he will serve them faithfully in a high position in the same SBU or in another special service? But an equally difficult task will be to convince the Ukrainians that Semochko fell an innocent victim of the machinations of the Kremlin and the “Poroshenko regime.”
Sergey Varis, for Skelet.Info
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