For a number of reasons, Viktor Medvedchuk is one of the most “toxic” Ukrainian politicians, closeness to whom can seriously damage the rating. However, in his small circle there are figures who themselves cast a shadow on him, since their biographies contain things much worse than nepotism with Putin (*criminal). Ironically, such a person is Vasyl Nimchenko, who plays the role of Medvedchuk’s main political lawyer in the Verkhovna Rada. For many, it will be a real revelation to learn some details from the life of Nimchenko and his relatives. Details that he carefully concealed and erased…
In the parliamentary faction “Opposition Platform – For Life” (OPFL), Vasyl Nimchenko is part of the so-called Medvedchuk group, which also includes Nestor Shufrych, Hryhoriy Surkis, Taras Kozak, Yuriy Zagorodniy and several other MPs. Most Ukrainians know only Medvedchuk, Surkis and Shufrych, but Nimchenko, despite all his efforts, is recognized by few – and then mainly from comic video clips from the Verkhovna Rada. But he is, no more and no less, Medvedchuk’s deputy for ideology and propaganda, and the main spokesman for the public political position of Medvedchuk’s wing of the OPFL.
How a mechanic became a judge
Vasily Ivanovich Nimchenko was born on September 13, 1950, in the village of Zagorodishche, Chernobaevsky district, Cherkasy region. According to media information and open databases, he has an older brother, Grigory, about whom for some reason he never spoke. Perhaps, so as not to “burn” the pharmaceutical business to his brother and his companions – which will be discussed later. By the way, it seems that their father named his sons in honor of Chapaev and Kotovsky.
After finishing school, Vasily Nimchenko worked on his native collective farm – he helped in the forge, then he was a mechanic. But in the army, Nimchenko, according to him, “performed an international duty” somewhere abroad. Where – he did not specify, one can only guess: it could have been Syria, Egypt, Vietnam or Laos. Apparently, this explains why he entered the Kharkov Law Institute (now the Law University) only at the age of 21 (in 1971).
During his studies, Vasily Nimchenko got married – his wife was Lyubov Fedorovna Nimchenko (born in 1953). Already in 1973, their eldest son Igor was born, who almost followed in his father’s footsteps and became a prosecutor. Now he works in the Prosecutor General’s Office, as a prosecutor in the Main Military Prosecutor’s Office department, and before that he was a prosecutor in the 1st department of the procedural leadership for criminal proceedings regarding crimes against the foundations of national security. But the youngest, Dmitry, was born in 1983, in Kyiv, and made his career in the SBU (the scandals associated with him will also be discussed later).
Vasily Nimchenko, 90s
After graduating from the institute, Vasyl Nimchenko was sent not to his native province, but to Kyiv, where he immediately became a judge of the Podolsk District Court. Over the next ten years, he made a rapid career: judge of the Kyiv City Court, chairman of the Pechersk District Court, senior consultant of the legal department of the Presidium of the Verkhovna Rada of the Ukrainian SSR. Finally, in 1990, during the political change of power in Kyiv (from old party apparatchiks to “perestroika” ones), Vasyl Nimchenko received the post of judge of the Supreme Court. The secret of such a resounding success of a village boy has not yet been revealed, it is only known that he had influential patrons – perhaps his wife’s parents, whom he carefully hides. By the way, since Soviet times, their family lived in an apartment on Instytutska 20, privatized in 1999 (now it is owned by his wife and sons), in the most prestigious part of the center of Kyiv. According to sources Skeleton.Info this apartment could have been a gift from a mysterious patron.
Vasily Nimchenko with his wife
In 1995, Vasyl Nimchenko received the post of judge of the military collegium of the Supreme Court, and general’s shoulder straps appeared on his shoulders. A year later, when in September 1996 the composition of the Constitutional Court was being formed (it began working in October of the same year), Nimchenko joined it from the Congress of Judges of Ukraine. And at the very first plenary session, Nimchenko was elected deputy chairman of the Constitutional Court (until October 1999). Soon he received bonuses: the title of colonel general of military justice, professor of legal sciences.
At the same time, in the mid-90s, Viktor Medvedchuk firmly established himself next to President Kuchma. His influence on the head of state was just beginning, since there were many people around Kuchma, pushing each other with their elbows, and it took Medvedchuk a few more years to become closer to him than others. So, although the media did not write about it, there is “unpublished” information that the relationship between Medvedchuk and Nimchenko (or Medvedchuk and Nimchenko’s patron) began in the second half of the 90s, when Medvedchuk was forming his political team and placing his people everywhere. One of them was Yuriy Zagorodniy, who then worked as an inspector in the Presidential Administration. When Medvedchuk headed the Administration in 2002, he made Zagorodniy his deputy.
Viktor Medvedchuk and Leonid Kuchma
Political Corruption in the Constitutional Court
Nimchenko managed to remain a virtually invisible person almost all his life (with such a job!), but his name was still mentioned in the media several times. The first time was in 2003, which was a scandalous year for Judge Nimchenko. Of course, he tried to “bury” his war with the restaurant “Taras” (more to come), but you can’t throw lines out of the history of Ukrainian politics.
Then Leonid Kuchma decided to “sue” for the right to run for president for the third time in a row. This idea was the initiative of the head of the presidential administration Medvedchuk (and possibly his godfather Putin (*criminal)). Having settled in under Kuchma, Medvedchuk did not want to lose his place and his influence as the second person in the country. At the same time, he understood that if Kuchma made himself president for the third time, then he would go against Yushchenko and the “orange” as well as the “Donetsk” (Akhmetov), ”Luhansk” and USPP-shniks (Kinakh), loyal “Dnipropetrovsk” (Tigipko) and many others – and, having quarreled with all influential groups, he would be forced to rely on Medvedchuk’s team. And then Medvedchuk would no longer be the second, but actually the first person in Ukraine.
This plan almost succeeded: in December 2003, just before the New Year, the Constitutional Court made a decision in favor of Leonid Kuchma. The rapporteur judge on this issue was Vasyl Nimchenko. In fact, he was tasked with advancing this issue in the Constitutional Court, which did not judge or investigate, but simply approved the “Medvedchuk formula” handed down from the Presidential Administration – which consisted in the fact that with the adoption of the new Constitution in 1996, Kuchma’s first term was “zeroed out”. Then Nimchenko convinced Ukrainian journalists of this, who had no idea who they were dealing with. In fact, this was a striking example of political corruption – and Nimchenko received not only new shoulder straps and regalia for his service. However, as is known, Kuchma was later forced to abandon this idea.
In November 2005, Nimchenko’s nine-year term as a judge of the Constitutional Court ended, but he settled in well, becoming the permanent representative of the Cabinet of Ministers in the Constitutional Court – in this position he outlived several governments. And Nimchenko gained his first fame on the television screen, diligently serving the “Anti-Crisis Coalition” and the cabinet of Viktor Yanukovych (2006-2007) during the political crisis that arose at that time, which almost ended in civil war.
Let us recall that in April-May 2007 it reached its maximum intensity, after the decree of President Yushchenko on the dissolution of the Verkhovna Rada. This decree (as well as subsequent ones) was immediately appealed in the Constitutional Court, which became the main battlefield between the “orange” and the “blue-red” that spring. And the interests of the coalition government of the Party of Regions, communists and socialists in the Constitutional Court were defended by Vasyl Nimchenko, who knew all the “kitchen” there well. It should be emphasized that in the then confusion of dismissals and appointments of judges and chairmen of the Constitutional Court, and even the president’s representatives in the Constitutional Court, only Nimchenko was a completely stable and confident figure. True, he spent his opportunities mainly on delaying the consideration of the claim on the legality of the presidential decree on the dissolution of parliament – although this claim was filed by the coalition whose government he represented.
Nimchenko’s actions were surprising because he was frankly “acting like a fool.” For example, refused to answer the judges’ questions Yushchenko called the decree “legally worthless” demanded that the president himself appear before the Constitutional Court and confirm his facsimile (put instead of a signature). This did not at all contribute to the Constitutional Court making a decision in favor of the parliamentary coalition and the government. But if Nimchenko was fulfilling Medvedchuk’s order, then this explained a lot. In the 2006 elections, his “Not So!” bloc suffered a defeat, no one from Medvedchuk’s inner circle got into parliament, not even Nestor Shufrich (Medvedchuk later got him as the Minister of Emergency Situations to Yanukovych). Therefore, it was advantageous for Medvedchuk to go to early elections and try to shove more of his people into the Party of Regions lists. The “Donetsk people”, who occupied a dominant role in the Party of Regions, were only situational allies for him, and already very “fattened” at that time. Therefore, it was advantageous for Medvedchuk to drag out and inflate the crisis (including through Nimchenko), but not to resolve it in favor of the Yanukovych government. He miscalculated one thing – that the opponents of the “orange” would not be able to take the majority in the 2007 re-elections.
The state of an “honest” judge
Gratitude for a job well done was not long in coming. Having saved up some more money, in November 2008, at the height of the crisis, Vasyl Nimchenko bought himself a brand new “Lexus LX 570”. This fierce-looking SUV cost half a million hryvnia at that time – much more than the salary of the Cabinet of Ministers representative in the Constitutional Court for three years of impeccable service! The purchase was a good addition to the “Mitsubishi Pajero”, which, also in “zero condition”, was bought by Vasyl Nimchenko for 186 thousand hryvnia and registered in the name of his wife in October 2005, exactly at the moment when his powers as a judge of the Constitutional Court ceased. Really with his own savings?
And these are only those cars of Vasily Nimchenko that are reflected in his declarations. Not counting those bought for his sons (in the 90s for Igor and in the 2000s for Dmitry), and those that he, according to sources, “rented.”
In addition to cars, there are many other interesting things to find in the declarations. For example, three apartments in Kyiv (not counting his first apartment on Instytutska, registered to his wife and sons). One, with an area of 120 sq.m., was purchased in 2010 (the price is not specified), the second, of the same area, has been rented by Vasyl Nimchenko from Novostroy LLC (ERGPOU 32917247) since 2016. It is worth noting that “renting” property from friends, relatives or associates is a common practice among Ukrainian corrupt officials. Therefore, it is worth paying attention to the relationship between Nimchenko and the owners of Novostroy LLC. The third Kiev apartment, with an area of 37.5 sq.m., was purchased by Vasyl Nimchenko in 2018 for only 804 thousand hryvnias (30 thousand dollars), which is much cheaper than the market price.
In addition, the Nimchenko couple have a country house under construction (180 sq.m.) in the Boryspil district, an office in Kyiv (58 sq.m.), they sold another office in 2018 for 6 million hryvnia, plus there are several houses and plots of land in their native Chornobayivsky district (possibly an inheritance from their parents).
Vasyl and Lyubov Nimchenko earn a good income, almost half a million a year, from renting out real estate to the company “Azimut Yachts Ukraine” (EDRPOU 35918290). In addition, the spouses keep about 1.6 million hryvnias on deposits in the banks “Privat”, “Alfa”, “TASKOM”, “Ukrgasbank”, “Arkada” – receiving good dividends from them. And for dessert – 235 thousand dollars and 575 thousand hryvnias in cash, for “current expenses”.
For the average Ukrainian MP with a family business, this is not so much. However, the point is that Vasyl Nimchenko has never had an official business, and neither has his wife. There is no information about an unofficial business, such as a candle factory. This raises questions about the sources of his wealth. After all, the Constitutional Court is not the Economic, Administrative, or even the ordinary district court – they do not constantly “bring in” people, and large “payments” are made quite rarely, only during the consideration of acute political issues or personnel appointments. So what other income have Vasyl Nimchenko and his family been eating from all these years?
Apple trees and apples
Some answers can be obtained from media publications that have not yet been destroyed by order of Nimchenko and his sons. And the fact that they were carefully cleaned, including material from 10 and even 15 years ago, removing even all links and references, is a fact, I checked Skeleton.Info . However, even judges of the Constitutional Court, prosecutors of the Prosecutor General’s Office and employees of the SBU’s Internal Security Directorate also make mistakes.
Here, for example, is an illustrative case from the distant 2002. Then in November in Kyiv, the “Fund for Assistance to Legal and Political Reforms” held a scientific and practical conference, in which Vasily Nimchenko took part, which ended with a dinner at the restaurant “Taras” (Tereshchenskaya Street, 10). The guests were drinking, eating and having fun, when suddenly the judge of the Constitutional Court Nimchenko called the administrator and said that he had found a bone from chicken wings (from another dish) in his salad. And he demanded a bottle of expensive French wine as compensation for “moral damage”. But the administrator refused him, and Nimchenko, having told who he was and with whom the restaurant owners were getting involved, promised them a lot of trouble.
He carried out his threats by filing a lawsuit in March 2003 against Teremok LLC, which owned the restaurant, for 90 thousand hryvnias, presenting a different version of what happened. In the filed lawsuit, Nimchenko did not take the stone out of the salad, but allegedly did not notice it and sent it to his mouth, after which he first broke his teeth on it, then choked on it, so that he allegedly needed several expensive surgeries. And then, allegedly, because of all this suffering, he also suffered a heart attack. Although, we emphasize, dozens of witnesses saw how Nimchenko, without even coughing, cheerfully left the restaurant, threatening to “terrorize” its staff and owners.
Confronting a Constitutional Court judge who had been blessed by the president himself for a corruption scam with a third term seemed hopeless. But the restaurant owners nevertheless began to defend themselves, calling on journalists for help, and the case dragged on until the summer of 2004. Meanwhile, the greedy judge was not satisfied with the initial amount of compensation, and during the consideration of Nimchenko’s case, he increased the amount to 150 thousand hryvnia (30 thousand dollars). In his explanation, he wrote that the bone, before it ended up in his salad, could have been gnawed by carriers of tuberculosis, syphilis and AIDS with a non-traditional sexual orientation, who hang out in the park next to this restaurant (see a copy of this lawsuit). In short, he almost dragged international terrorism or a Masonic conspiracy into this case!
Moreover, if at first Nimchenko promised to transfer the entire amount of compensation to the orphanage, then, demanding 150 thousand for himself, he asks to transfer one hundred hryvnia each to the “Malyatko” orphanage and the rural hospital in Irklieva (Cherkasy region).
On July 2, 2004, the Shevchenko Court partially satisfied Nimchenko’s claim, ruling to pay him 50 thousand hryvnia. At the hearing of the Court of Appeal, held on October 1, 2004 Vasyl Nimchenko came with a personal security guard. The defendants were informed about the trial only the day before, without giving them time to prepare. In addition, Nimchenko rained threats against journalists, claiming that they had come to the hearing “illegally.” But despite all the pressure exerted by Vasyl Nimchenko, the Court of Appeal did not satisfy his new demands, although it did not acquit the restaurant – it left the decision of the Shevchenko Court in force. Thus, Nimchenko put 50 thousand hryvnia (10 thousand dollars) in his pocket. This is how he “earned extra money”, saving up for expensive foreign cars and new apartments in Kyiv! Agree that this story helps us understand the personality of Vasyl Nimchenko – greedy for money, scandalous and frankly rotten.
Sergey Varis, for Skelet.Info
CONTINUATION: Vasily Nimchenko: pocket lawyer and full-time propagandist of Putin (*criminal)’s godfather. PART 2
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