Yuriy Lutsenko. “Terminator” of Ukrainian politics

People’s Deputy of three convocations, twice former head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, a convicted, imprisoned and pardoned official of the Yanukovych regime, and finally, the current head of the Petro Poroshenko Bloc. All this is about Yuriy Lutsenko, one of the most recognizable politicians in Ukraine. Experts say that a large-scale discrediting campaign will soon begin against him, aimed at removing him from the post of head of the BPP. Whether this will be the case is still unclear, but there is no arguing that there are many “dark” episodes in Igor Vitalievich’s past.

Yuriy Lutsenko. “In the footsteps of my father”

Lutsenko Yuri Vitalievich born in December 1964 in the city of Rivne. His father Vitaly Ivanovich was a politician – he first held the post of secretary of the regional Rivne party committee, and later was a people’s deputy of Ukraine as part of the Communist Party of Ukraine. This fact left an indelible mark on Yuri Vitalievich, because from childhood he wanted to be like his father. Lutsenko received his higher education at the Lviv Polytechnic Institute at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering. He began his career path as a site foreman at the Rivne Gazotron plant. At the same plant, he rose to the position of shop manager and chief designer.

He entered politics in 1991, becoming a member of the Socialist Party of Ukraine (SPU). In 1994, he was appointed to the post of deputy head of the Rivne Regional Council. Over time, he became the head of the economic committee of the Rivne Regional State Administration. In September 1997, he was appointed Deputy Minister for Science and Technology. He was a personal assistant to former Prime Minister Valery Pustovoitenko, as well as a consultant to the head of the SPU, Alexander Moroz. At the elections in 2002 he became a people’s deputy on the lists of the SPU.

Yuriy Lutsenko at a meeting of the SPU

The path to ministers

During the Orange Revolution in 2004, he was one of the main organizers and activists of the Maidan, who supported the candidacy of Viktor Yushchenko for the presidency. His hard work bore fruit, and already in February 2005 he headed the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

One of Lutsenko’s first decisions as head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs was the liquidation of the traffic police (there was a feeling that this was his personal revenge on the traffic cops).

As a result, the number of accidents on the roads has increased significantly, and there is a rush to recreate this structure again.

In the summer of 2006, Ukrainian media accused Yuri Lutsenko of friendship and patronage of the famous Russian businessman and deputy Alexander Babakov (Luzhnikovsky organized crime group). In particular, it was said that the connection with Lutsenko helped Babakov avoid inspections of his property in Ukraine. In addition, by order of Lutsenko, the persecution of Babakov’s main business competitor, Maxim Kurochkin, began. It should be noted that the facts of cooperation between Babakov and Lutsenko were also indicated by their repeated meetings in Kyiv.

Alexander Babakov

After his resignation, Yuri Vitalievich took up a new political project called “People’s Self-Defense.” By the way, its main sponsor was David Zhvania, a former regional player, about whose machinations we wrote in Nikolai Martynenko’s article. Why is the “nuclear oligarch” being actively dumped?

When he was head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, he made a certain citizen Leonid Pristuplyuk (who had previously worked as a driver in the city of Rivne) his personal driver-bodyguard. So, in 2 years, Lutsenko pushed him to the rank of lieutenant colonel, while simultaneously awarding him the highest awards that were at the disposal of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In addition, this “comrade” received an apartment in Kyiv out of turn. Experts state that it was under Lutsenko that complete chaos began in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In all regions, police officers were illegally awarded special ranks, followed by the payment of substantial money.

Yuriy Lutsenko. “Terminator” of Ukrainian politics

Over time, deputies did not like the fact that Lutsenko solely controls the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Over the course of a year and a half, the Verkhovna Rada tried to dismiss him nine times (people’s deputies succeeded only in December 2006).

Lutsenko went to the 2007 elections at the head of the united electoral bloc “Our Ukraine – People’s Self-Defense”. After the formation of a new government, he was again appointed Minister of the Interior. This time he held the position until the end of January 2010.

In May 2009, Yuriy Lutsenko was detained at one of the airports in Germany. According to the police, Yuri Vitalievich was intoxicated. While being detained by police, he resisted, resulting in a fight. Lutsenko himself, commenting on this case, claims that he was not drunk, but was only protecting his son, whom he was taking home after surgery. Because of this episode, a loud scandal occurred in Ukraine, as a result of which Yuriy Lutsenko even submitted his resignation, but the government led by Yulia Tymoshenko did not accept it.

Report on the episode with Lutsenko at the airport in Frankfurt am Main:

Yuriy Lutsenko. “Criminal cases”

After Viktor Yanukovych’s team came to power, the prosecutor’s office opened a criminal case against Lutsenko (November 2, 2010). According to the case materials, Yuriy Lutsenko and his former driver Leonid Pristuplyuk were accused of “abuse of official powers with the aim of taking possession of someone else’s property.” At the beginning of the winter of 2010, he was arrested and placed in custody in the Lukyanovsky pre-trial detention center. During the court hearings, his prison term was extended several times, and he himself was imprisoned in the Menskaya colony. At the end of February 2012, the notorious Pechersk court sentenced Lutsenko to four years in custody and also ordered the confiscation of all his property. At the beginning of April 2013, Yuri Vitalievich received a pardon from President Viktor Yanukovych and was released early from custody.

After leaving prison, Lutsenko withdrew from political affairs, however, with the beginning of Euromaidan in Ukraine, everything changed dramatically. On its wave, Yuri Vitalievich again became a politician of the first order.

After the presidential elections in 2014, which Petro Poroshenko won, Lutsenko became his freelance adviser, and later headed the Petro Poroshenko Bloc faction.

The wife is the main breadwinner in the family

Yuri Vitalievich’s wife Irina Lutsenko is the main businessman in the family. For a long time she worked at the Ukrainian New Telecommunications company, which belongs to their godfathers – the Voskoboynikov family. In this company she served as financial director. There is nothing terrible in this fact itself, but Yuriy Lutsenko, being the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, ordered all communication services to be ordered, using the then little-known company “Ukrainian New Telecommunications” as an intermediary. As a result of such an order, money poured into the company, which was headed by his wife, like a river. In fact, the company took control of all the funds of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which were used to provide mobile communications.

Yuriy Lutsenko with his wife

By the way, after the arrest of Yuriy Vitalievich, Irina Lutsenko herself went into politics, and even became a people’s deputy from the Batkivshchyna party. In its composition, she topped the so-called list of “the richest families of the opposition.” According to her, after being elected to the Rada, she sold most of the business, and transferred the rest (beauty salons and real estate agencies) to her son.

Yuriy Lutsenko himself, according to his income statement, already lives a lot on his salary alone. For 2014, for example, he declared only 20 thousand UAH (with a total family income of 3 million UAH). What can we say about truly gigolo, “the poor breadwinner of a rich family.” Now Irina Lutsenko, like her husband, is a member of the Petro Poroshenko Bloc party.

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The family of Yuriy Lutsenko made their financial fortune thanks to his abuse of official position as head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, as well as connections with “criminal” Russian oligarchs. Having successfully started “making money” in 2005, and continuing in 2007, he managed to provide for his family before going to prison. For a man who swore and swore that he would eliminate corruption in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, nepotism and bribery are quite good, especially if you remember the episode with the “rapid career growth of his driver” and all kinds of assistance from the Ministry of Internal Affairs to enterprises controlled by his family. Now in the political system of Ukraine a total redistribution of spheres of influence between parties, officials and oligarchs is coming. In this difficult situation, the question arises: “will the “unsinkable” Yuriy Lutsenko be able to stay in his place?”

Dmitry Samofalov, for Skelet.Info

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