Sergey Kaplin. Levochkin’s “project”, aimed at becoming the leader of the opposition

A few days ago MP Sergei Kaplin left the Petro Poroshenko Bloc factionwho held the position of deputy head of the committee on social policy in the Rada. As the people’s deputy himself stated, his resignation was due to the failure of the vote for the resignation of the Cabinet of Ministers. He believes that now in Ukraine there is no opposition capable of resisting the pro-presidential forces; he, in turn, intends to create one and take on the “burden” of the opposition leader. Ukraine, of course, needs a new opposition leader, but Kaplin and his “Party of Ordinary People,” which is called the next project of the “gray cardinal” of the Yanukovych era, Sergei Levochkin, is clearly not the person Ukraine needs (read more about Sergei Levochkin in the article Levochkin. “Grey Cardinal” and his sister). Read below about what else is hidden in Sergei Kaplin’s past.

“Political prodigy”?

Sergei Kaplin was born in the village of Oprishki, Poltava region. He received his higher education at the Ukrainian State University of Food Technologies. According to the official biography that political strategists “drew” for Sergei Nikolaevich, his father was one of the liquidators at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and he died of cancer. According to another version, voiced by Forbes magazine, his father Nikolai in the mid-90s was a personal adviser to the Prime Minister of Ukraine Valery Pustovoitenko. It is this factor that is called the key in the development of Sergei Kaplin’s political career.

At the age of 19 (!), he was appointed advisor to the State Committee of Ukraine on issues of entrepreneurship development and regulatory policy. At the same time, he managed to be an assistant to the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada on industrial policy issues. In 1998, he initiated the creation of the All-Ukrainian public organization “Ukrainian League of Young Entrepreneurs”, which was engaged in the protection of aspiring businessmen. Since 2001, he worked as executive director of the Kremenchug leather and saddle factory. In parallel with his work, he was engaged in political activities, and was a member of the political council of the Party of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs of Ukraine. In 2006, Kaplin founded the public organization “Union of Depositors”. It should be noted that Sergei Aleksandrovich, who has been involved in social activities since his youth, like most activists, is accustomed to stealing financial resources that were circulating in one organization or another.

Sergey Kaplin

The capable “activist” Kaplin was quickly noticed in the Verkhovna Rada and was adopted by influential Ukrainian politicians and their satellites. For example, from 2007 to 2010, Sergei Alexandrovich simultaneously worked as an assistant to the people’s deputy from the Party of Regions, Anatoly Kinakh, and also as an assistant to the then “regional boss” in the BYuT, Natalya Korolevskaya. No one was surprised by her transition to the “Opposition Bloc” to Sergei Lyovochkin, especially considering all their joint machinations, which we wrote about in the material: Natalia Korolevskaya. Second “Lady Y” or first “Lady N”?. It should be noted that Kaplin and Korolevskaya, in addition to their common political activities in the past, are connected by one more factor – each of them is cared for in their own way by Sergei Levochkin. It’s not for nothing that the “Party of Ordinary People,” which Kaplin officially registered in January 2015, is openly called another “Levochkin project.” If we analyze the statements of Sergei Alexandrovich, we can trace one pattern – each of his public statements is aimed at discrediting the current government, President Poroshenko and his former “comrade-in-arms” Prime Minister Yatsenyuk (in 2010-2011, Kaplin served as deputy of the Kremenchug cell of the “Zmin Front” ).

During his career, Sergei Kaplin managed to work in a wide variety of organizations and government bodies, from the Institute of Water and Energy Conservation (director) to the State Customs Service (member of the public board) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (member of the public board). In 2012, Kaplin, as a member of the UDAR party, became a people’s deputy for the first time in the 144th electoral district (Poltava region). In 2014, he again became a people’s deputy, however, from the Petro Poroshenko Bloc party.

Sergei Kaplin in the Verkhovna Rada

Contender for the position of “chief radical”

With his actions, Sergei Kaplin resembles the early Oleg Lyashko. Despite the fact that the Internet is being carefully cleaned of the facts of his old “exploits”, something still remains. For example, his hunger strike at the Neftekhimecology enterprise. On the territory of this enterprise, he handcuffed himself to a radiator and “starved” for 9 days. His actions were aimed at protecting the interests of the Institute of Water Treatment Technologies company, which is attributed to his ownership. According to Kaplin, employees of the Lugansk prosecutor’s office, together with the security company Security Business Company, terrorized the staff of the Institute of Water Treatment Technologies, thereby preventing the state from reimbursing the debt for the unlawful use of the state-owned enterprise’s trademark.

By the way, Kaplin made his financial fortune from water purification. Or rather, on the trade in reagents that are needed for this. As the ZIC Chairman of the Energy Resources Corporation, he receives very impressive dividends from the financial activities of the company. By the way, in Severodonetsk, where Sergei Alexandrovich handcuffed himself to a radiator, another company, the Institute of Water and Energy Saving Problems, is located. Dnepropetrovsk businessman Anatoly Karaul took him into a share of this enterprise; he is little known to the public, but in the narrow circles of the “heating” and “cleaning” business he is a very significant figure. At one time, in order to lobby his own interests, he created the International Water Institute and the Energy Alliance, in which Sergei Kaplin previously held leadership positions. This business was shut down with the coming to power of Alexander Vilkul, who actually closed the “financial crap” flows flowing from the state budget (read about Alexander Vilkul in the article Alexander Vilkul. The forgotten past of the candidate for mayor of Dnepropetrovsk). Then Kaplin’s sponsors sent him to the Verkhovna Rada to make a scandal, and he raised a fuss, criticizing the actions of Azarov’s government, for which he was escorted out of the parliament meeting room by security. It was then that he came up with the idea of ​​becoming an “opposition radical,” the implementation of which he had to postpone for a long time due to the outbreak of revolutionary events in Ukraine.

How Kaplin went to Mamaia

In November 2014, Sergei Kaplin broke into the building of the Poltava City Council with an ax during a visit of investors in the construction of a social house in Poltava. Sergei Aleksandrovich used an ax to break down the doors to the office of the head of capital construction, to the office of the mayor of Poltava Alexander Mamai, and also cut through the doors to the office of his first deputy.

The security of the building and law enforcement officers did not interfere with him in any way, so he completely went wild – he covered Mamai’s office with salt, and called him “regional,” pointing to the portrait of the then fugitive President Yanukovych, which was hanging on the wall.

Video footage of the incident:

Experts say the reason for such actions is Kaplin’s desire to discredit Mamai in the public eye. Rumor has it that it was he who was being prepared for the post of mayor of Poltava, however, it didn’t work out. It should be noted that the media showed Kaplin’s actions from a positive side only on the Inter channel of the aforementioned Sergei Levochkin and channel 112-Ukraine, which Kaplin goes to visit as if it were his home. It is also not surprising that Sergei Alexandrovich came to the defense of the Inter TV channel (more details about the Inter TV channel in the article Kremlin gang on Inter. Stolyarova, Deserted, Nikitin), when the parliament was preparing to pass a law prohibiting foreign companies from owning shares of Ukrainian television and radio companies (of which Inter is).

“Tell me who your friend is…”

Sergei Kaplin’s “Party of Ordinary People” has gathered a very interesting contingent. Some of its members are very influential figures, while others are “dark horses” about whom it is almost impossible to find information on the Internet. For example, Peter Farilo, who was the first head of the “Common People Party”. During the parliamentary elections in 2014, he was Kaplin’s competitor in the 144th district in Poltava. Then Kaplin won the elections in this district, but Farilo received as many as 112 votes – the worst figure in the district. In fact, he was a technical candidate to simulate the possibility of “choice” of voters.

Another member of the political force is the owner of the 112-Ukraine TV channel Andrey Podshchipkov. By the way, the media associate this channel with former head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Vitaly Zakharchenko. Knowing that Podshchipkov is Kaplin’s ally, it is not surprising that he often appears on the channel’s air, “broadcasting” anti-government statements (read more about Channel 112 in the article Victor Zubritsky. Who is behind TV channel 112).

A strange fact is that there are actually no influential entrepreneurs in the “Party of Ordinary People”, which means that the party’s sources of financing are also very questionable (let’s not forget about the “contribution” of Sergei Lyovochkin, of course). The only “influential” businessman of the force is Ivan Nadein, who is directly connected with the construction company “ZENACO”, the Ukrainian Association of Manufacturers of Alternative Solid Fuels, as well as the “Committee for Energy Independence of Ukraine”. In 2012, he and Kaplin ran for the Rada from the UDAR party, but he failed to win in his district.

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Sergei Kaplin is one of the most active media figures in Ukrainian politics. He quite often appears on TV screens, making radical proposals, criticizing both the president and the prime minister and doing everything to lower the rating of the current government. But bad luck, his “ideas” did not find support from the opposition due to their meaninglessness and inconsistency. His recent statements that he is “ready to become the new face of the opposition” look very stupid. He may be ready to become the new “face” of the opposition, but besides him, it’s unlikely that anyone else is waiting for this.

Dmitry Samofalov, for SKELET-info