Alexander Turchinov
Ukrainian politics undoubtedly boasts many controversial or enigmatic figures. Some arouse more suspicion than others. The biographies of virtually every one of them contain evidence implicating them in various schemes or even crimes. Oleksandr Turchynov, the current Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, the first and only Acting President of Ukraine, former Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, former head of the Security Service of Ukraine, and a member of parliament of the 3rd-8th convocations, is no exception. Over the course of his career, he has risen through numerous government agencies and political positions, pulled off a multitude of cunning schemes and machinations, yet was never caught red-handed. He was nicknamed the "Bloody Pastor," yet he continued to carry out his "great work." What secrets lie hidden in Oleksandr Valentynov's past?
"Student, Komsomol member, athlete, and simply..."
Oleksandr Turchynov was born in 1964 in Dnipropetrovsk. His father, Valentin Ivanovich, was a USSR Master of Sports in volleyball and a lifelong athlete. Oleksandr Turchynov was a talented child, like his father, playing volleyball (he captained the school team) and was a diligent student (he earned straight A's). After high school, Turchynov attended Dnipropetrovsk Technological University. During his studies, he actively wrote scientific papers and was even predicted to become a great scientist. However, he surprised everyone—immediately after university, he went to work at the Kryvorizhstal plant. Even as a student, Oleksandr Turchynov tested his mettle in the political sphere, being an active member of communist construction brigades. For these achievements, he was even awarded a trip to India, a destination inaccessible to ordinary Soviet citizens.
Realizing that participation in the Komsomol and political life of the country offered numerous privileges, he began his own career alongside his work at the plant, joining one of the Dnipropetrovsk district Komsomols. For his persistence and hard work, Turchynov was eventually appointed head of the agitation and propaganda department of the Dnipropetrovsk regional committee of the All-Union Leninist Communist Youth League (VLKSM). Incidentally, at that time, it was headed by Serhiy Tigipko, the future oligarch, Minister of Social Policy, and Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine under Mykola Azarov's government.
With the collapse of the USSR, Turchynov retired from politics and began exploring the field of journalism. Until 1991, he served as the editor-in-chief of the Ukrainian branch of the UNA-press APN news agency. Incidentally, it was on his initiative that this branch of the foreign publication was opened. He then returned to academic work, establishing and heading the Institute of International Relations, Economics, Politics, and Law. He authored nearly a hundred scholarly papers on the shadow economy and totalitarian systems of governance—at least, that's what his official biography says. This is quite surprising, as journalists have been unable to locate them. What does exist are small brochures co-authored by Oleksandr Valentynov, but not a single one of his "epochal" works has been found.
Coming into "big politics"
Over time, Turchynov decided to return to politics. In 1992, after Pavlo Lazorenko became head of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration, Oleksandr Valentynovych was appointed head of the Committee on Demonopolization and Privatization of Production. This appointment marked the beginning of his remarkable political career, as immediately afterward he was appointed Leonid Kuchma's macroeconomic advisor (and, unofficially, his business partner) and also joined the leadership of the Ukrainian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs. At the same time, together with Pavlo Lazarenko, he was involved in the creation of the All-Ukrainian Union "Hromada," of which he was later appointed chairman.
Pavel Lazarenko
After Leonid Kuchma resigned as Prime Minister, Turchynov retired from politics and returned to academia, taking up the post of General Director of the Institute of Economic Reforms. In 1997, he defended his doctoral dissertation. His research topic was, once again, "The Shadow Economy."
Turchynov first became a people's deputy in 1998 on the lists of the Hromada party, whose head was then Lazarenko, and his future ally Yulia Tymoshenko She then held the post of deputy chair of the party's council. Rumor has it that Turchynov and Tymoshenko began their "close friendship" back in 1989 (and may even have had children together), when Yulia Tymoshenko was just beginning her entrepreneurial career. After all, it was under the auspices of the Dnipropetrovsk regional committee of the LKSMU (where Turchynov worked) that Tymoshenko created the youth center "Terminal."
After Pavlo Lazarenko fled Ukraine and was facing criminal prosecution for "financial misconduct," Oleksandr Valentynovych and Yulia Volodymyrivna left the Hromada party and formed Batkivshchyna. Turchynov was appointed deputy head of the party, and Tymoshenko became its leader.
Turchynov's second term as a member of parliament was spent as a member of the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc party, handling state budget issues in the Verkhovna Rada. In 2003, the Prosecutor General's Office charged Turchynov and his BYuT colleague Stepan Khmara under three articles of the Criminal Code. According to the investigation, the deputies entered the Lukyanivske pretrial detention center in late June 2003, where they "began insulting and beating law enforcement officers." (At the time, Viktor Shokin, then deputy head of the Prosecutor General's Office, insisted on this version of events. Oddly enough, upon assuming the post of Prosecutor General, he abruptly forgot about this, making no statement.)
Orange Revolution activist, SBU officer, BYuT member
He wasn't idle during the Orange Revolution either – he oversaw Viktor Yushchenko's election campaign headquarters in the Donetsk, Luhansk, Sumy, and Kirovohrad regions. Furthermore, during the final stages of the election, he served as the so-called "financial controller," with the authority to sign financial documents. His efforts were not in vain – after Yushchenko's appointment as president, he became head of the SBU (incidentally, he was the first civilian to receive this honor).
After his arrival, key operatives immediately resigned, taking with them flash drives containing various data. It was the information on these flash drives that became a headache for the Yushchenko regime, as it turned out that Yushchenko and all his cronies were anything but "white and fluffy." On the contrary, the main corruption schemes and criminal elements under Kuchma were controlled by "Yushchenko's new team." They didn't disappear; on the contrary, they were integrated into the new system, this time under Turchynov's leadership and protection.
He served in this position for seven months, resigning after Yulia Tymoshenko stepped down as prime minister. How are these two connected, you ask? Quite simply: while serving as head of the SBU, Turchynov ordered the destruction of documents from the agency's archives, according to which Yulia Tymoshenko was closely linked to the notorious crime boss Semyon Mogilevich. This became known after Wikileaks published correspondence between then-Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko and the US Ambassador. In it, Lutsenko reported that the Prosecutor General Alexander Medvedko He ordered Turchynov's arrest for destroying documents incriminating Tymoshenko in illegal activities. During Oleksandr Turchynov's tenure as SBU chairman, the SBU investigative team investigating the death of Georgiy Gongadze was effectively destroyed (the operatives overseeing the "Tarashcha body" investigation resigned immediately after Turchynov's arrival, and the remaining "small fry" resigned after "Ken" Khoroshkovsky's arrival). On Oleksandr Valentynovych's personal orders, this team simply stopped receiving any information on the case (there was no one left to receive it from). At the same time, the Prosecutor General's Office accused this team of disrupting the extradition of the prime suspect in the case, General Oleksiy Pukach. Having fulfilled his mission at the SBU, Turchynov went on to conquer other heights.
During the 2006 and 2007 parliamentary elections, Oleksandr Valentynovych headed the campaign headquarters of the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc. As a member of parliament of the fifth convocation, he served as the leader of the BYuT faction. After Yulia Tymoshenko's appointment as prime minister, he became her right-hand man, occupying the post of first vice-premier. He held this position until Yulia Tymoshenko's defeat in the 2010 presidential election and Viktor Yanukovych's ascension to the presidency. After Yulia Tymoshenko's arrest in 2011, he led the opposition forces that united under the banner of the Batkivshchyna party. Within the party, he was always responsible for intelligence activities and the so-called "slush fund." Having once again entered the Verkhovna Rada, he actively criticized the current government, without particularly standing out from the opposition crowd.
Recent events
During the Euromaidan, he was wounded by shrapnel from a stun grenade thrown by Berkut officers during one of their assaults. After Yanukovych's "overthrow," he was appointed speaker of parliament and temporarily elected acting prime minister and president of Ukraine. He served in these capacities until the end of the presidential elections. Incidentally, as acting president of Ukraine, he "paid his debt" to the oligarchs who supported the Euromaidan by appointing them governors of the Donetsk region (Serhiy Taruta - ISD) and the Dnipropetrovsk region (Ihor Kolomoisky - Privat).
After a loud quarrel in the Batkivshchyna party, together with Arsen Avakov (Read more about it in the article Arsen Avakov: The criminal past of the Minister of Internal Affairs), Arseniy Yatsenyuk, and several other like-minded individuals left the party. He ran for the 8th Verkhovna Rada with the People's Front party, which took first place on the party list.
In mid-December 2014, by decree of Petro Poroshenko, he was appointed head of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine. At the same time, legislative amendments were introduced that significantly expanded the powers of the NSDC secretary, and with Turchynov's appointment, this position became virtually comparable in authority to the positions of president or prime minister.
Is business a woman's business?
Like most of Ukraine's top officials, Turchynov's businesses are officially registered not to him but to members of his family. Oleksandr Valentynovych's assets are owned by the female members of his family – his wife, Anna Turchynova, his mother, Valentyn Turchynov, and his mother-in-law, Tamara Beliba. Oddly enough, the majority of his business is registered to his mother-in-law (apparently, he holds her in high regard). They own the Institute of Economics and Law, a research institute that regularly receives financial support from unknown investors. The Turchynov family also owns Imkotel, a wireless communications and internet company (its main shareholder is the aforementioned Institute of Economics and Law), Kinotur, a film mastering company (owned by Tamara Beliba), and Ekonomiks Institutas, a company that builds data centers abroad (particularly in Lithuania).
Oleksandr Valentynovych himself says that, compared to other Ukrainian citizens, he is quite wealthy (although, according to his financial declaration, he lives only on his parliamentary salary). Considering the topic of his doctoral dissertation ("The Shadow Economy"), it's not surprising that he was directly or indirectly involved in the creation of the companies Evropa-X, Pharmacor, ZET, VV, SVV, the newspaper Vecherniye Novosti, and the real estate agency Janus.
According to information from the weekly magazine "Business"
The Real "Pastor"
Oleksandr Turchynov is a Baptist pastor and one of the heads of the Church of Christ branch in Ukraine. It's worth noting that upon assuming the post of head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) in 2005, one of his first orders was to cease all investigations related to the activities of the Church of Christ. This is highly unusual, as such organizations are often excellent vehicles for laundering vast sums of money. The church uses the "Hope Worldwide" charitable foundation for such operations. Incidentally, Turchynov's friend, Tymoshenko, is also said to be a member of the church, though for some reason she conceals these facts. Ukrainian and Russian conspiracy theorists link the church's activities to US intelligence activities, specifically attributing collaboration with the CIA.
An incredible amount of material has been written about Oleksandr Turchynov, with various versions calling him an American agent, a homosexual, a thief, a con man, Tymoshenko's lover, a "gray cardinal," a "bloody pastor," and many other pleasant and unflattering names. Yes, many of these claims are pure conjecture, lacking official confirmation, but no one can deny the many "dirty deeds" in his life. And until his criminal activities are officially proven, he will continue to do whatever he pleases behind the backs of Ukrainian politicians, or whatever his patrons whisper in his ear—be it American intelligence agencies, the Freemasons, the global government, or other forces hidden from ordinary Ukrainians.
And finally, a very important question: did Turchynov abandon his "creator" and "patron," Pavlo Ivanovych Lazarenko, who had gone quiet since the Euromaidan? After all, the main witnesses in Pavlo Ivanovych's case were Borys Filatov and Gennady Korban's associates. Filatov has now become the head of the Dnipropetrovsk region. And Mr. Kolomoisky said six years ago, "Sort it out yourselves, I have no claims against Pavlo Ivanovych." And not long ago, Filatov and Korban were "squeezing" the Astoria-Lux and European Hotels in Dnipro from Lazarenko. And Pavlo Ivanovych's mother-in-law, Tamara Tsikova, was handling the matter on his behalf. She sought legal services from To Maxim Lavrinovich, the son of the then Minister of Justice To Alexander LavrinovichWho had an office on Leo Tolstoy Street in Kyiv. However, Gennady Korban also personally visited Lavrynovych's office on those same days... A few days later, Vyacheslav Braginsky, head of the Ukraine-Canada company and associated with Korban, died in a strange gas pipeline explosion in Dnipropetrovsk. Lazarenko's "squeezed" assets were registered to this company. However, just a couple of days before the explosion, the shares and stakes of Braginsky's main companies were transferred to other legal entities controlled by Korban and, rumor has it, Lavrynovych.
...And Turchynov was in power. And he knew that Tsikova had even met with Yulia Tymoshenko asking for help.
Yes, it's hard to imagine that Turchynov wasn't aware of these "showdowns." Couldn't Turchynov have resolved Lazarenko's problems while holding such a position? Or didn't he want the competition? And why has the topic of Lazarenko's return to his homeland been so quiet now?
After Euromaidan, when Turchynov became acting President of Ukraine, the notorious corporate raider Oleksandr Dubovyi was called his "wallet." Read more about him in the article. Oleksandr Dubovoy, Turchynov's associate and professional corporate raider.
Dmitry Samofalov, for SKELET-info
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