START: Sergey Shakhov: for what money does “Rodnyulya” buy grandmothers’ votes and feed the separatists? Part 1
Sergei Shakhov: for what money does Rodnyulya buy grandmothers’ votes and feed the separatists? Part 2
Shakhov’s team: elections, loot and money
How did Sergei Shakhov manage to escape his direct involvement in the work of conversion centers after the scandalous events of 2009? The answer to this question was received a little later, in 2012, when a candidate from “Shakhov’s Team” appeared in electoral district No. 109, Alexander Makarov, a colonel of the SBU, who in 2009 worked as the deputy head of the State Security Service of Ukraine for the Lugansk region. It was he who was called Shakhov’s main savior – who, unlike his partner Stetsenko, who spent three months in the Kharkov pre-trial detention center, was not even arrested. In response, Shakhov generously thanked Makarov, taking him into his team and taking over the conduct of the election campaign. By the way, Makarov went to the elections completely poor, declaring only 2875 hryvnia annual income (since in 2010 he was left in the service without a position or salary) and a tiny one-room apartment in a Khrushchev building. He registered the house, another large apartment and two foreign cars in his wife’s name.
Alexander Makarov
This story had a preface, as well as a tragic ending for Makarov. In 2009, after the defeat of his conversion centers, Sergei Shakhov decided to fight for power (at that time having the mandate of a deputy of the Lugansk Regional Council), and for the first time he chose the seat of the mayor of Stakhanov as his target. However, he did not go to the polls himself: having provided a small financial service to the dying PSPU, he nominated his man Yuri Borisov as a candidate from the progressive socialists – the same one on whose minibus 4.5 million dollars were smuggled. The “trick” of these elections (and all subsequent elections of Shakhov) was “providing social assistance” – a method that Shakhov was taught by former political strategists who arrived from Kyiv Leonid Chernovetskywho no longer needed them. This is how some charitable foundations appeared, convincingly campaigning for Yuri Borisov by distributing food packages (vodka, sprats, herbal tea) or 50 hryvnia.
And Borisov won, immediately taking Shakhov to work in the Stakhanov City Executive Committee. One of the results of their cooperation was the looting of the Stakhanov tram and trolleybus park: in July 2011, 4 trams, 9 trolleybuses and 18 kilometers of dismantled tram tracks were sold for scrap, allegedly to pay off wage debts to city electric transport employees. But the local “minibus operators” rejoiced in vain: first, “social buses of Sergei Shakhov” came on line (with his portraits and inscriptions on the handrails “hold on to Shakhov!”), and then the transportation was given to an enterprise controlled by Shakhov. At the beginning of 2012, Shakhov and Borisov took up the “reform” of Stakhanov’s municipal enterprises: they liquidated some of them (“Stakhanovsvet”, “Kommunalshchik”, “Mercury”), the rest were reassigned to a single communal enterprise “Vozrozhdenie”, controlled by Shakhov. Subsequently, using the same method, Shakhov will “return” the Lugansk water utility to the city and will try to “reform” public utilities in Severodonetsk. The secret of these efforts is simple: Shakhov took the public services market from the local elites, crushing it for himself or fulfilling someone else’s order. And this was done under the slogans of the fight against the “mafia” and oligarchs for the interests of the common people. The grandmothers, who received 50 hryvnia and expected more from Shakhov, listened to him and applauded.
However, the actions of both Borisov and Shakhov himself were not always driven only by their own self-interest: Skelet.Info received information that Viktor Topolov had his own great interests in Stakhanov. In particular, he used Shakhov and Borisov to buy out the Mironovskaya mine – and during this operation he concluded that Shakhov could be useful to him in the future, even despite his shortcomings. And he had a lot of them.
It was reported that in the fall of 2011, Shakhov had one of his drug attacks: for three days in a row he called the police with reports of an assassination attempt, fires, or corpses lying on the streets. As a result, the angry police decided to intimidate Shakhov by opening a criminal case against him under the article “hooliganism” – which, of course, was not pursued. But a year later, Shakhov, who had sniffed cocaine, got into a noose… however, let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
During the 2012 elections, an entire “Shakhov Team” appeared in the Lugansk region. However, in different situations it was called differently. In some places, Shakhov acted in parallel with the Communist Party of Ukraine – providing financial assistance to the communists, and also gathering his faithful grandmothers to their boring rallies.
Sergei Shakhov: for what money does Rodnyulya buy grandmothers’ votes and feed the separatists? Part 2
But basically, Shakhov and members of his team “campaigned” by distributing money through the already finally formed pyramid of “charitable bribery.” It operated in the following way: Shakhov’s proxies recruited quarterly and district “hundred men” for their salaries, who in turn recruited courtyard “foremen” – and they already went from house to house and “bewitched” their retired neighbors. Everything looked like collecting passport data about needy low-income citizens who were promised regular payments from the charitable funds of Shakhov’s Team. The data was entered into special forms, which later turned out to be… signature sheets for nominating candidates from “Shakhov’s Team”! In addition, the full data of naive pensioners (passport number, date of issue, signature) was then used in various frauds. In most cases, those who signed were given special “social books” with thirty tear-off coupons, each worth 50 hryvnia – and it was explained that payments would be made regularly if Shakhov’s candidates won the elections. In some places they simply limited themselves to promises to pay 50 hryvnia before the elections and 50 after. The first payments were made in full – they were made in temporarily rented “offices”, often located in some kind of back room.
The sources of financing for voter bribery were different. Sergei Shakhov invited some candidates for people’s deputies to join his team for an appropriate fee – promising them to organize a professional and brilliant election campaign. He attracted people like Alexander Makarov at his own expense, which was replenished from the Shah’s “shadow business”.
Sergei Shakhov: for what money does Rodnyulya buy grandmothers’ votes and feed the separatists? Part 2
It is curious that one of the members of “Shakhov’s Team” was Artur Gerasimov (the current favorite of the president), who was already supported from Kyiv by Petro Poroshenko. It was even reported that Poroshenko “donated” a certain amount to the election campaign of both Gerasimov himself and the entire “Shakhov Team”.
And here is another scandal of the 2012 elections: in Gorlovka, security services were provided to “Shakhov’s Team” and personally to Gerasimov by Igor Bezler, a future active participant in the armed anti-Ukrainian rebellion and the leader of the militants of the “Lugansk Republic”. Together with Bezler, the opposition candidate and journalists were then attacked by Yevgeny Tatarchuk, who later (since the fall of 2014) was an assistant to MP Gerasimov.
But, despite all efforts, “Shakhov’s Team” lost the 2012 election campaign. The main reason for the failure was the confrontation between Shakhov and Efremov’s Lugansk regionals and some “Donetsk” ones – in particular, those who laid claim to Alchevsk and Gorlovka. The quarrel was obvious: a criminal case was even opened against Shakhov for bribing voters, which forced him to temporarily flee to Russia (*country sponsor of terrorism), to a certain friend of his dashing youth, Igor.
There, Sergei Shakhov had another drug attack, during which he tried to hang himself – as reported by Ukraine Criminal in September 2012.
Sergey Shakhov. Hot spring of 2014 and new elections of 2016
During the second Maidan, Sergei Shakhov rushed between sides, trying to make friends with everyone at once. Therefore, Shakhov and his “titushki” were seen either at the Euromaidan or at the Anti-Maidan. It is known for certain that at the end of February, Shakhov organized the rapid removal of the Luhansk Berkut detachment from Kyiv, saving it from mob violence (or arrest and trial). Shakhov rented two planes and personally persuaded the Euromaidan activists who blocked the runway to step aside (his arguments remained unknown). True, as always, it remains unknown whose money Shakhov paid with. And already on April 2, 2014, Sergei Shakhov was appointed head of the election headquarters of Petro Poroshenko in the Lugansk region. There was no one else: the regionals were hostile, and the local “democratic forces” continued their mini-Maidan in Lugansk, hoping to overthrow the regional power under the guise of a revolution. But it so happened that completely different forces threw her off.
Shakhov under the building of the Lugansk SBU
As soon as the separatists occupied the building of the Luhansk SBU administration, Shakhov was already there: according to him, he convinced the rebels to vacate the premises and part ways with the world. Arriving in Kyiv a few days later, Shakhov already began to convince politicians not to take hasty actions and wait for a peaceful resolution of the events in Lugansk. Shakhov’s concern was largely explained by the fact that among those who seized the SBU building there were many residents of Stakhanov, including “titushki” who worked for Shakhov, whose role in those events remained hidden. In addition, the connection between Shakhov and Bezler remained – who since March 2014 took an active part in the annexation of Crimea (blocked Ukrainian military units), and then arrived with his people in Gorlovka.
As you know, no one touched Lugansk then. Shakhov assured for another whole week that the Lugansk residents would disperse and that everything would soon resolve itself – until on April 19, a detachment of Igor Girkin (Strelkov) entered the region, and on April 27, the emboldened separatists proclaimed the “Luhansk Republic.” But no one blamed Shakhov for deliberately delaying time in favor of the rebels – not even his immediate boss Petro Poroshenko. To some extent, this development of events (the failure of the elections in the Lugansk region) was beneficial. After all, in a different scenario, one and a half million voters could have cast their votes against Poroshenko – and he would hardly have won in the first round. Well, soon Shakhov hastened to rehabilitate his image by providing some sponsorship assistance to the Azov battalion.
Shakhov with Azov fighters
And here’s how interesting: soon after this, fighters from Azov and the scandalous Shakhtersk captured Stakhanov’s mayor Yuri Borisov, subjecting him to a series of interrogations. But everyone knew that after 2012, as they say, the cat ran between Shakhov and Borisov. Another “accident” was the capture of Alexander Makarov so-called. “MGB” of Lugansk separatists. The seizure was led by Arkady Kornievsky, also a former SBU employee and a former competitor of Makarov in the 2012 elections, who also ran in the 109th Stakhanov constituency. During the days of the Lugansk uprising, Kornievsky gathered a detachment and robbed supermarkets with it, then became an “investigator of the military prosecutor’s office of the LPR,” and then found a place in the MGB. The fate of Makarov (during his arrest, Kornievsky’s people plundered his house) remained unknown: he spent more than two months in the “basement”, and no more was reported about him. Among the various opinions expressed about this sad matter, there were also hints that Makarov knew too much about Shakhov’s past…
Despite the failure, Bankova decided to leave Shakhov “overseeing” the elections in the region. In the fall of 2014, according to information Skelet.Infohe distributed the districts among the necessary candidates, trying to prevent “revenge of the regionals” – in fact, to help those people whom he agreed with the new president get mandates. True, Shakhov’s influence did not extend to the entire region, being limited only to the industrial cities of the center, primarily the new regional center of Severodonetsk and its neighboring Lisichansk. And for the 2015 local elections, Shakhova was given the opportunity to head the local branch of the Our Land party, a new project of Bankova, specially created as a “pro-Kiev” alternative to the “Opposition Bloc.” In the Lugansk region, this project was immediately supported by Shakhov’s long-time business partner in Stakhanov, Viktor Tolopov, a non-public man, but very wealthy and in need of his people in power.
In Severodonetsk, Sergei Shakhov initially only managed to get elected to the city council – where, with his “titushkas” and grandmothers, he immediately joined the local war for the mayor’s seat, supporting the suspended Valentin Kozakov against the alliance of the “Opposition Bloc” and the “Radical Party”. However, the “by-elections” to the Verkhovna Rada, held in the city in 2016, sharply aggravated the already difficult socio-political situation in this front-line region (38 km to the separatist positions). And it wasn’t just the traditional bribery of voters, during which Shakhov was already generous with 200 hryvnia each (100 before the elections, 100 after), and also gave the Severodonetsk residents a “sweet winter” by distributing 5-kilogram bags of sugar.
Another of his innovations was a certain social card of the Nash Krai foundation, which promised its owners “social bread” and discounts on utility bills. The offers were tempting, but deceptive: no one received anything. Products with discounts using this card can only be bought in “Nash Krai” stores (in Severodonetsk we have never heard of such things), and discounts on utility tariffs were the original deception: the poor receive a subsidy, and no cards from “Nash Krai” are used in this system are provided. Thus, people were bought for a piece of plastic and impossible promises – which cost Shakhov much less than 200 hryvnia!
At the same time, provocations and violent intimidation began. First, some “activists” showed up at one of the sugar distributions (in the yard, from a truck), shouting “they are buying up votes!” They began to take away sugar from the old people who were crying out of fear and resentment. Who needed this, why did they attack ordinary pensioners? After all, as a result of this stupid provocation, the old people only fell in love with their benefactor Shakhov even more, and the reputation of national patriots in the city became even lower.
And in the summer of 2016, direct physical intimidation of candidates and reprisals against objectionable members of the election commission began (many of whom left in fear). Unknown “tishuks” attacked the candidate from the association of ATO veterans Taras Kostanchuk at night, “advising” him to withdraw his candidacy and not oppose Shakhov. Then the chairman of the district election commission, Yevgeny Bayramov, whom Shakhov had been trying to replace for a long time, received numerous threats. The fact that it was generally difficult to buy Bayramov was evidenced by his financial condition: no car, a modest two-room Khrushchev apartment without expensive repairs, he traveled to work by trolleybus. Unknown people took advantage of this, ambushed him at the entrance in the evening and severely beat him, knocking out his eye.
Evgeniy Bayramov
As soon as the news of the attack on the chairman of the election commission hit the media, Sergei Shakhov immediately stated that Bayramov was allegedly beaten in a restaurant, where he allegedly drank with money paid to him by a candidate from the Opposition Bloc. Such a monstrous and inappropriate “joke” was incomprehensible: did Shakhov really not know that Bayramov was beaten on the threshold of his own entrance, or did he want to demonstrate that he allegedly did not know all the circumstances of the incident? And one more detail: according to the testimony of neighbors, Bayramov was crippled by professionals: the beating lasted no more than a minute, the attackers acted extremely cruelly and silently, after which they left in a car that was waiting for them.
Having bribed the voters of Severodonetsk with “free” sugar and 200 hryvnias, and intimidating all his competitors, Sergei Shakhov won these elections, finally receiving the coveted mandate of a people’s deputy. Well, what “Rodnyulya” does in the Rada recently became known throughout Ukraine.
Shakhov’s ridiculous excuses about “this is my friend’s adopted daughter” and “he doesn’t have his own phone” amused some people, but also greatly upset many. Still, this is not some kind of clown, not even an official has been appointed, but a people’s deputy elected by the people, who treats these people as cheap suckers. However, let us emphasize once again that this is not the worst quality of Sergei Shakhov.
Much worse than the Shah’s lies was always his evil cruelty and desire to “remove” those who interfered with him at any cost. And now it turns out that Shakhov is being interfered with by journalists accredited in parliament who spied on his correspondence with his “friend’s daughter.” Literally immediately after this scandal, strange “murderers” appeared in the press box of the Rada session hall, who, according to journalist Alexander Dubinsky, tried to find out the author of the scandalous revelation of Shakhov.
Sergey Varis, for Skelet.Info
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