Alexander Starukh
When Starukha was appointed head of the Zaporizhzhia Regional State Administration at the end of 2020, many despairingly viewed it as a continuation of the "curse of corruption" that had plagued the region for the past several years. Especially since he had already held this position during Yushchenko's presidency, and had become "famous" for a number of frauds, the most notorious of which was the theft of entire hectares of highly valuable land from Ukraine's cadastral map! Thus, his appointment either closed the vicious cycle of corruption among Zaporizhzhia's governors or launched it into a new spiral.
readership Skelet.Org They understand this problem in Zaporizhzhia well, since the leaders of this region have been the subjects of our exposés more often than others! This is also a constant source of conflict. Evgeny Chervonenko, and a "werewolf" in general's uniform Konstantin Bryl, and the scandalous temporary worker Vitaliy Bogovin.
The latter, incidentally, holds two rather peculiar records. In 2020, Bogovin, having served as governor for only a few months, shortly after our article about him was published, hastily prepared to run for the regional council. And on December 15, while still head of the regional state administration, Bogovin held a "closed meeting" of the regional council, guarded by camouflaged "titushki" (sent by his brother, Yevgeny, who is involved in land raiding), and forced the deputies to elect him as chairman. Thus, Bogovin concentrated two leadership positions in his hands. de facto seizure of power The scandal sparked a resonant scandal that reached the Presidential Office—and on December 18, Bogovin was ousted from his post as governor, and on December 24, he also lost his position as chairman of the regional council, a position he had held for only a week. This "coup" became part of the events that led to the appointment of Oleksandr Starukh as the new head of the regional state administration.
As you can see, Ukrainian corrupt officials love to hide behind "patriot" embroidered shirts and "veteran" camouflage! And although the new Zaporizhzhia governor has no connection to the ATO or even the army, he is one of those "professional patriots," holding a PhD in Ukrainian history—which is how he got into Ukrainian politics.
Court storyteller Alexander Starukh
Alexander Vasilievich Starukh was born on April 28, 1973, in Zaporizhzhia. As a child, he transferred between schools several times, attending schools Nos. 15, 71, and 79. He then enrolled at Zaporizhzhia State University, graduating in 1995 with a degree in history teaching. He married his classmate, Marina Nikolaevna Bessonova, who later and continues to teach at Zaporizhzhia University, the Institute of History of the National Academy of Sciences, and the Grinchenko University of Kyiv.
Marina Bessonova
A quiet, even "homey" young man, whose parents weren't bosses or cooperative members, Starukh didn't fit in with the atmosphere of the 90s. It's unlikely he would have achieved any success if not for a series of fortunate circumstances. For example, while his wife specialized in American history, Alexander Starukh became fascinated with the history of Ukraine during the Cossack era, and with great enthusiasm. Thanks to this, while still a student, he landed a job at the Khortytsia National Historical Preserve (a sort of Ukrainian version of an American Western town). There, Starukh immersed himself not only in the living history of the "glorious Cossack churches," which is truly fascinating, but also in a community of Ukrainian national patriots, for whom Khortytsia is one of the most sacred sites in Ukraine (along with Hoverla and Shevchenko's grave). Thus, as a student, Starukh became involved in Ukrainian politics. And in this field I met and became friends with Sergei Sobolev, by the way, also graduated from the history department of Zaporizhzhya University (but back in 1983)
Sergei Sobolev and Yulia Tymoshenko
Sobolev is known as a people's deputy of seven of the nine convocations of the Verkhovna Rada (except for the 3rd and 5th), one of the founders of the Reforms and Order party (PRP), which he first made an ally of Our Ukraine and then merged with the BYuT and became one of its closest confidants. Yulia TymoshenkoIn fact, Alexander Starukh owed his miraculous rise to power entirely to Sobolev.
Thus, Oleksandr Starukh became one of the first members of the PRP in Zaporizhzhia, although at first it didn't bring him any dividends. The party lost the 1998 elections resoundingly (3,13%), and therefore neither Sobolev himself nor his young friend Starukh (No. 172) made it into the Rada on its list. Starukh was forced to continue focusing on his work at his native Zaporizhzhia University, where he had been a graduate student from 1995-98, then defended his dissertation and worked as a lecturer until 2004. According to sources, Skelet.OrgAt that time, Oleksandr Starukh's additional income came from grants from Western foundations and the Ukrainian diaspora. He was also assisted by another "Party Comrade," Zaporizhzhia businessman Petro Sabashuk, who greatly assisted in the creation of the regional PRP organization, financed it, and led it until Sobolev led the PRP to Batkivshchyna, with whom Sabashuk had a difficult relationship (he preferred Yushchenko, and then Poroshenko).
Petr Sabashuk
The PRP went to the 2002 elections as part of the Our Ukraine bloc, so its leaders Sobolev and Pinzenik They received mandates on the party list, but Starukh's turn never came. Nevertheless, Sobolev didn't forget about him, and in 2004, Oleksandr Starukh moved to Kyiv. Officially, he was hired as a doctoral student at the Institute of Ukrainian Archaeography and Source Studies, but this was a complete sham, and he never received his doctorate. His only source of income became "party money" and those same grants, because with the onset of the first Maidan, Starukh abandoned his teaching career for good and immersed himself in politics.
However, calling what Alexander Starukh was doing politics wouldn't be entirely accurate. Back then, he was simply a member of a large political club, in which he was not even a secondary, but a tertiary member. There were politicians, fixers, career officials, businessmen and "wallet-seekers"—and a whole crowd of party-going sycophants, of which Starukh was one. But he was lucky to be Sobolev's man, who helped him enter the entourage of the "people's president." This is where Starukh's extensive knowledge of the history of Cossack Ukraine, his work at the Khortytsia Nature Reserve, and his polished, correct Ukrainian speech came in handy. Starukh told Viktor Yushchenko several fascinating stories about the "Characternik Cossacks," which he enjoyed so much that he decided to make him his court storyteller. Believe me, this is not ironic! As sources reported. Skelet.Org From Yushchenko's then-entourage, from 2002 to 2007, Viktor Andreevich deliberately surrounded himself with people who sang in his ears about his sacred mission, about the revival of the Ukrainian nation, about the heroic past and European future, about democracy, about the soul, and so on and so forth. The president simply became intoxicated by such speeches and disappeared somewhere into the astral plane, like a drunken gentleman surrounded by gypsies.
To cement Starukh's new status and provide him with a steady income, he was given a position in the Presidential Secretariat. From April 2005, Alexander Starukh worked there as the chief consultant-inspector of the Regional Policy Department (then headed by Anatoly Medved), and upon his arrival in December 2006, Viktor Baloha He rose through the ranks in this department until he took over in September 2007. Considering that under Yushchenko, the central government's regional policies only further divided Ukraine, one can guess that Starukh spent his time doing anything but practical work. He mostly helped Viktor Andreevich choose towels and straw hats at fairs.
Alexander Starukh
Lies and corruption
Life forced Oleksandr Starukh to become a professional sycophant, which required not only skillfully pleasing his "breadwinners" but also even more skillfully lying to them when necessary, and betraying them at the right time. This is precisely what happened in 2006, when the PRP left Our Ukraine and ran in an alliance with the Pora party, only to lose again (and Sobolev failed to secure a mandate for the second time). In 2007, PRP leaders Sobolev and Pynzenyk even decided to ally with Yulia Tymoshenko and run in an alliance with the BYuT. Naturally, this greatly displeased Viktor Yushchenko (as did Baloha), so Starukh had to work hard to pretend that his service to the president was far more important than his friendship with Sobolev. And it paid off.
In December 2007, Yushchenko, having fallen out with Yevhen Chervonenko, fired him as head of the Zaporizhzhia Regional State Administration. However, the position was then warmed for another five months by Deputy Governor Valeriy Cherkaska. Cherkaska was called Chervonenko's trusted confidant, although prior to that, he had been an equally trusted confidant and deputy to Yevhen Kartashov (mayor of Zaporizhzhia from 2003 to 2010). In May 2008, Cherkaska was also removed, And the question of a new Zaporizhzhia governor became pressing: it hinged on both the internal conflict in Zaporizhzhia (around Zaporizhstal) and the confrontation between the presidential and prime minister's teams in the capital. And so it turned out that Oleksandr Starukh became almost a compromise figure for everyone. Yushchenko and Baloha considered him one of their own, Sobolev considered him one of their own, and he quickly found common ground with Kartashov. Everyone understood the main thing: Starukh was not an independent figure at all; he would not play his own big game, he would not even be the "master's watchdog"; he was simply a "papier-mâché governor" who avoided conflict and quietly did what he was told.
Alexander Starukh and Evgeny Kartashov
True, at the very beginning, in public and in front of journalists, Starukh tried to portray that same stern, principled politician. So much so that he went way overboard, demonstrating his loyalty to Viktor Yushchenko. interview with journalists from the newspaper "Subbota Plus", in which he stated that he would not consider the issue of a new president (not Yushchenko) until 2016. And he effectively avoided all questions on economic issues.
So, on May 31, 2008, by presidential decree No. 497/2008, Oleksandr Starukh was appointed acting head of the Zaporizhzhia Regional State Administration, and by decree No. 848/2008t on September 25, 2008, he was appointed plenipotentiary chairman. Interestingly, just a month after his appointment (in June 2008), he acquired an elite apartment in Kyiv, with a total area of 135 square meters, which he still owns. According to sources Skelet.OrgStarukh simply privatized (for next to nothing) the official housing he received while working at the Secretariat. What a parting gift from the kind and generous Viktor Andreevich!
Oleksandr Starukh held the Zaporizhzhia governor's seat until March 18, 2010, when he was dismissed by Viktor Yanukovych. During this time, he was remembered by Zaporizhzhia residents for two things. First, for the rampant level of corruption in the region, which Governor Starukh simply "ignored" (as well as the merger of criminal groups with the government). He, of course, spoke regularly. in front of Zaporizhzhia officials He made speeches about the dangers of corruption and even signed plans to combat it, but in reality, the opposite was true. For example, during Starukh's governorship, the number of reported corruption cases... decreased by half, and the overwhelming majority were minor (like extortion at a school or hospital) and resulted in administrative charges. This even allowed Starukh to report that corruption in the region was almost eradicated! Secondly, Alexander Starukh himself became embroiled in extremely nasty corruption schemes involving land embezzlement. And this deserves special attention.
Mikhail Shpolyansky, Skelet.Org
CONTINUED: Alexander Starukh: How a Zaporizhzhia swindler became governor twice. Part 2
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