Alexander Lishchenko (Lic): From the Life of Kyiv's "Authorities." PART 1
In recent years, our media have written so frequently and in such detail about corrupt officials, corrupt cops, and outlaw radicals that Ukrainians have forgotten the existence of those who are far worse than all of them combined. Meanwhile, the crime bosses of the 90s and their thug henchmen are not a thing of the past, and not all of them are buried in granite cemeteries. Like, for example, Kyiv businessman and deputy chairman of the Boxing Federation, Oleksandr Lishchenko, known in certain circles by the nickname "Lich."
He is clear proof that there are no former "authorities." Even after retraining as entrepreneurs and members of parliament, these people continue to control businesses, markets, banks, and local government, retaining their wolfish nature and still not having shed their old gangster tendencies. If anyone had any doubts about Licha's criminal past (who knows, maybe they slandered the "respected man"), they were finally dispelled after Kyiv City Council deputy Oleksandr Lishchenko repeatedly demonstrated his true colors in a number of conflict situations captured by journalists back in 2012-2013. For example, on December 20, 2012, Lishchenko, during an altercation with UDAR deputy Yaroslav Ginka, grabbed him by the collar and tried to drag him out of the Kyiv City Council meeting room into the hallway to "tell him some sense." The then secretary of the Kyiv City Council Galina Gerega even interrupted the meeting because of this incident.
And on July 11, 2013, during a heated “debate” in the Kyiv City Council (when Yatsenyuk’s glasses were broken), Lishchenko pushed like that Batkivshchyna MP Liliya Hrynevych hit her head on the wall and lost consciousness. Then Lishchenko threatened her faction comrades Alexandra Kuzhel and Leonid Yemets, promising that they "won't live until the evening." Kuzhel immediately trumpeted these threats to the media, sparking a major scandal. The very next day, Lishchenko, who had backed down, complained to the press that Kuzhel had attacked him first, tore his shirt, and threatened "public reprisals." However, no one believed the person who behaved at Kyiv City Council meetings like a thug at a "showdown," insulting opponents with 90s swear words.
Alexander Vasilievich Lishchenko was born on April 30, 1969, in Kyiv. Lacking any thirst for knowledge, after eighth grade he enrolled in Kyiv Vocational School No. 2 (now the Higher Commercial School), which trained cooks, pastry chefs, and salespeople. These vocational schools were considered all-female, and there were ten "girls" for every "guy" (and their female dormitories attracted sexually obsessed young men from all over the city). Overall, Sasha Lishchenko had a lot more fun there than at school! Incidentally, this is Lishchenko's only actual education, as his marketing and economics degrees, earned in 2010 and 2012, according to Skelet.Org, are purchased.
After graduating from vocational school, Lishchenko wasn't drafted into the army—he concealed the reason. However, given that buying his way out of the military draft was extremely difficult back then, and a young man from a humble family had absolutely no money, it's safe to say that Alexander Lishchenko was declared unfit for military service for health reasons entirely legally. However, the specific article under which he was declared unfit remains unknown. Rumors still circulate among his acquaintances that Licha has a "seven-B"—that is, mental health issues. Well, given his behavior, these rumors are credible.
The future "authority"'s first place of work was the Kiev Shoe Factory "Named after the 10th Anniversary of the Komsomol" (July 1987 – October 1988). Then, Alexander Lishchenko simply idled away several months: his biography records that from December 1988 to April 1989, he attended a driver training course at the Republican Training Center. However, such courses were not considered either education or work back then – tens of thousands of young men completed them without leaving their technical school or factory machine. 19-year-old Lishchenko, who had opted out of the army and quit his job at the shoe factory, effectively spent six months without official employment. At the time, this amounted to a charge of parasitism (it was only repealed in April 1991). Another mystery of Lishchenko's past...
Later in Lishchenko's career, his "job titles" rapidly changed: driver for ATP No. 23070 (1989-1990), laborer at the Elektron sports club (1990-1991), welder/straightener at MP Kinteco (1991-1992), and baker at Store No. 1152 (1992-1995). However, Lishchenko was only listed as a baker, as he was "straightening" other people's faces, having already joined Valery Pryshchik's organized crime group in 1991. His childhood friend and classmate, Sergei Onoprienko, also joined the gang. Speaking of their nicknames: Lishchenko was called "Lich" back in school, so he's carried that nickname around with him his whole life, but when and why his friend Onoprienko was nicknamed "Saloed" is unknown.
Valeriy Pryshchik (left), Alexander Lishchenko (center) and Sergey Onoprienko (right) in the wild 90s
Onoprienko, Pryshchik and Lishchenko, several years later
Let's reiterate that all of this wasn't simply controlled first by Pryshchik's organized crime group and then by his heirs (including Alexander Lishchenko); it was their primary source of income. Moreover, certain businesses, such as alcohol fraud, were later developed separately. But beyond the semi-criminal shadow economy, corporate raiding and extortion, the Pryshchik-Lishchenko organized crime group committed crimes that have no statute of limitations.
One of the most notorious gangland showdowns in Kyiv in the early 90s was the "Lesnoye massacre," when Pryshchik's group "set up a showdown" with the "Lesnikovskie" gang, led by a certain Monakh. Both bladed weapons and firearms were used in the battle: according to media reports, Saloed, Licha's friend and classmate, personally shot one of the "Lesnikovskie" gang members with an automatic rifle, while Pryshchik's henchmen beat another "Lesnoye" gang member to death with bats. Licha himself allegedly took no part in this "showdown," as he was serving time in pretrial detention on car theft charges. However, after this confrontation, he was immediately released "in peace," which gives rise to some speculation. However, the moles in Pryshch's organized crime group were dealt with brutally: they said that one of their "brigadiers," suspected of working either for the secret service or for another gang, was tied to jeeps and torn to pieces, and Licha was certainly involved in this bloody affair. They also said something else: it was precisely by skillfully framing other "brigadiers" that Licha managed to rise to the rank of Prishchyk's closest aide and partner. It's no wonder Lishchenko is still referred to as a "rotten man."
Another high-profile murder in which Licha may have been involved occurred in 1997. Then, Pryshchik's gang members staged a robbery against businessman Ryzhkov. This wasn't just a simple hit by a few gangsters on another businessman; the case turned out to be quite large-scale. Ryzhkov filed a police report, gave numerous testimonies, and an investigation was conducted, resulting in Pryshchik himself being placed on the wanted list! However, Ryzhkov, as the main victim and witness in the case, was soon shot dead: the murder took place in his home village of Semipolki, near Kyiv.
The press also reported at the time that in the 90s, at the Troyeshchyna market, a group of "unknown racketeers" (and who would have dared to do such a thing there, except Pryshchik's people?) brutally beat several traders, one of whom died from his injuries.
From 1997 to 2001, 15 criminal cases were opened against members of Pryshchik's organized crime group, with 24 criminals imprisoned. However, Pryshchik himself remained on the wanted list—even though he wasn't particularly hiding from anyone, continuing to visit the Troyeshchyna market "on inspections," and all law enforcement agencies were well aware of this. How so? That's right! In the 90s, the vigorous activities of Pryshchik's organized crime group were covered up not only by the Moscow officials he "fed," and not only by the journalists he bought, who published indignant articles about the "lawlessness against entrepreneurs." as "Mirror of the Week" did Yulia Mostovaya. Pryshchik and his turbulent activities were effectively covered up by the Kyiv Organized Crime Control Department and the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). They covered up until one day they no longer needed him.
How the Teapot Was Killed
Most Ukrainian organized crime groups have almost identical histories: they were founded by certain "authorities," who were killed and led by other "authorities," but they too did not last long, after which their inheritance was divided among their nimble assistants and associates. Skelet.Org I have already told similar stories more than once in my materials about Vasily Petevka, Valeria Dubile, Alexandre Angert, Maxim Efimov, Alexandra Nalekreshvili, and other odious characters of Ukrainian politics and big business.
Few people remember today that former cycling coach Valeriy Pryshchik started out as a "foreman" in the organized crime group of Vladimir Polischuk, nicknamed "Chaynik" (The Teapot), a former career military man. Polischuk himself claimed to have served under the command of the famous combat general Boris Gromov (who became Moscow governor in 2000). However, it turned out that Polischuk actually served in a group of Soviet troops in Czechoslovakia, where he made a good profit from stealing property and selling consumer goods, after which he decided to start his own business, transporting goods from Europe to Kyiv. Polischuk then founded several clothing markets in Kyiv, one of which, "Patent," later grew into the Troyeshchyna market.
Since Polischuk's business was "diversified," including shadow and criminal ones, and required strong men to defend his own territory and seize others', he formed his own organized crime group. Its core consisted of similar officers who had retired from the army, and Polischuk literally earned his authority in the war with Chechen ethnic groups. Back then, at the turn of the 80s and 90s, the "highlanders" attempted to seize control of Kyiv's bazaars and stalls, but local "Slavic" organized crime groups opposed them, forcing them out of the city altogether. It seems that a similar war then swept across Ukraine, as Chechen groups were never able to gain a foothold in any major city in the country, and to this day their influence and presence are minimal. Only a little later, towards the end of the 90s, through the efforts of the "Rukh" Ministry of Foreign Affairs, emissaries of Dudayev's Ichkeria took control of the Kherson Oil Refinery, and Eduard Gurvits kindly invited them to Odessa (from where they were later driven out Angert's people, but not completely).
Expanding his organized crime group, Polischuk-Chaynik allied with Valery Pryshchik's "brigade," comprised of athletes and ordinary "gopniks" like Licha. For Pryshchik, who had yet to achieve much clout or reach, surviving by racketeering street vendors and robbing wealthy Kyiv residents, this offer proved lucrative: they were put in charge of overseeing the expanding markets. But Pryshchik quickly realized that his "brigade" was simply being used as "foot soldiers" in a turf war. In early 1992, when the aforementioned "massacre on Lesnoy" (leaving two dead and a horde of injured) occurred, Pryshchik's "brigade" found itself in deep trouble—and he insisted that Chaynik "bury" them somewhere. Polischuk then sent Pryshchik's men, including Saloed and Vova Bandit, joined by Alexander Lishchenko, who had just been released from prison, to the Czech Republic. There Polischuk had something like his own “business representative” of his closest people, his army friends, who opened a number of companies.
However, upon arriving in Europe, Pryshchik, Licha, Saloed, and Vova Bandit, seeing the incredible number of wealthy people, went off the rails and committed a series of crimes, including murder. Specifically, their victims were some Arab businessmen, from whose corpses Pryshchik and Licha took $300. So that's how Licha, who was working as a peaceful baker at a grocery store in Kyiv at the time, spent his time!
Polischuk's people tried to make claims against these "outlaws": saying, "If you've come to sit it out, then keep quiet!" But for this, as sources reported Skelet.OrgPryshchik's team (including Licha) simply... killed them. Two were shot in the woods, and the third (Davydovsky) was killed in his sleep with an automatic weapon—making it look like an accident (he was sleeping with a Kalashnikov). Pryshchik not only managed to convince Polischuk that this was the work of a rival gang, he also managed to significantly strengthen his position within the organized crime group. And then Pryshchik decided to eliminate Polischuk himself.
Returning to Kyiv in the fall of 1992, Pryshchik met with Polischuk and had a far from friendly conversation with his "boss." Pryshchik confronted Polischuk, claiming he hadn't been helping my family in my absence! It turned out that the "family," Pryshchik's 18-year-old wife, Victoria, was simply embezzling the money Chaynik was giving them, but this was revealed later. Then, in the ensuing conflict, Pryshchik, accompanied by Victoria and his loyal, bloody henchmen Licha, Saloed, Vova Bandit, and the Mayachkov brothers, drove to Polischuk's house, summoning him into the courtyard for a talk. The Mayachkov brothers then eliminated the guards, and Pryshchik, Licha, and Saloed shot Chaynik.
The grave of Vladimir Polischuk (the Teapot)
And here are different sources Skelet.Org They provide somewhat contradictory information. Journalists at the time wrote that Pryshchik's gang was "caught" by the Organized Crime Control Department, but former Kyiv Deputy Prosecutor Sergei Vinokurov (Deputy Prosecutor General of Ukraine from 1998 to 2010) I toldthat Pryshchik himself called him, asking to be arrested—in a panic, fearing retaliation from the "brothers." His request was honored, Pryshchik's team was arrested, but... then transferred to the SBU pretrial detention center. Where officers from Department "K" took a keen interest in them: then-operative Igor Grebennik (died in July 2019) and his boss, Colonel Andrienko. Apparently, they had come to some sort of agreement with Pryshchik, as he and his accomplices were soon released, and Polischuk's murder was pinned on Igor Shupik, who was also on the wanted list—also a gangster, a former boxer who had killed a man in a fight and fled the courtroom.
Sergey Varis, for Skelet.Org
CONTINUED: Alexander Lishchenko: From the Life of Kyiv's "Authorities." Part 2
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