Alexandra Kuzhel
"Queen of market traders," "Ukrainian Thatcher," "scandalous woman"—Oleksandra Vladimirovna Kuzhel has been called many things. During her 22 years in power, her reputation is, to put it mildly, unflattering: she's known for quarrels, fights, and arguments involving strong language. But on the other hand, like any woman, Kuzhel adores expensive resorts, designer clothing, fashion shows, and social events. We tell the story of a provincial woman who rose to prominence.
From the market to politics
Alexandra Kuzhel was born in 1953 in Kostyantynivka, Donetsk Oblast, to a family of engineers. She holds two degrees: from the Dnipropetrovsk Metallurgical Institute as a metallurgical engineer and from the Zaporizhzhia Industrial Institute as an engineer and economist.
Alexandra Vladimirovna's business career began in 1990. She became chief accountant at the Joint-Stock Center Vostok in Zaporizhzhia. The company is quite renowned. Her primary focus was facilitating trade in products from Zaporizhzhia factories. The company developed barter schemes that allowed for the sale of goods abroad. Kuzhel handled settlement transactions at Vostok. Under her supervision, loans were taken out from Bank Ukraina, where Viktor Yushchenko served as First Deputy Chairman. Naturally, the loans quickly depreciated due to hyperinflation in the 90s, but Kuzhel and her associates continued to accumulate funds. Alexandra Vladimirovna has an entrepreneurial streak, so she invested the proceeds from her loan scams into a share of the lease at the Central Market in Zaporizhzhia. At this time, it was completely controlled by the Crimean criminal group "Bashmaki," which was engaged in extortion of entrepreneurs and the liquidation of undesirables. Kuzhel found common ground with the gang and was able to establish her own rules in the Central District—for example, she charged "tribute" from every aspiring entrepreneur for a place in the market. However, she quickly became bored with this work and decided to put her economic talents to good use as the chairperson of the board of the Canadian-Ukrainian "auditing" company "Independence." Almost nothing is known about this firm; it is most likely a sham created for illegal transactions to funnel money out of the country. After working there for a year, Kuzhel decided to conquer high politics.
Career of a political defector
In 1994, Kuzhel won her first seat in the Rada and immediately became deputy chair of the parliamentary commission on economic policy and national economic management. It's worth noting that at the time, the country was experiencing a severe shortage of economists. This played into Oleksandra Volodymyrivna's hands, especially given her experience at the Zaporizhzhia market. Kuzhel didn't want to be independent, so without hesitation, she joined the most well-funded parliamentary group – the "Donetsk" group. Its "face" was the Liberal Party of Ukraine (LPU), led by Volodymyr Shcherban. Oleksandra Volodymyrivna befriended fellow party member General Yevhen Marchuk, who hoped to win the presidential election in 1994 with the LPU's support. But this didn't happen: the party's "moneybag," Yevhen Shcherban, who supported Marchuk, was assassinated on the eve of the elections, and the official leader of the LPU disowned him and supported then-Prime Minister Leonid Kuchma. Following this incident, General Kuzhel, a "fan" of the general, was asked to leave the party. She resisted for a long time, but Volodymyr Shcherban simply expelled her.
Leonid Kuchma became president in the 1994 elections. Incidentally, many accused him of murdering Yevhen Shcherban, but it never progressed beyond speculation. And then, Oleksandra Volodymyrivna recalled that Leonid Danilovich was an old acquaintance of hers. Kuzhel met the Kuchma family through Ruslan Korotich, an active member of the "Bashmaki" gang. Naturally, she began to actively support the new President's policies. A year later, Kuzhel received an award – she became the head of the newly formed National Audit Committee of Ukraine. The organization's main purpose is to oversee the use of public financial resources, i.e., to audit the flow of budget funds at the highest level – the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. And Oleksandra Volodymyrivna was the one who was definitely capable of handling this. Three years later, Kuchma transferred Kuzhel to a new position – she headed the State Committee of Ukraine, which deals with issues of entrepreneurship development. Five years of her tenure had passed without any visible achievements for either the state or ordinary entrepreneurs. Several years later, the committee was reorganized and Kuzhel was reappointed to head the newly formed State Committee of Ukraine on Regulatory Policy and Entrepreneurship.
Tandem with Tigipko
In 2000, a new political figure emerged in Ukraine – the young and promising former secretary of the Dnipropetrovsk regional Komsomol committee, banker Serhiy Leonidovych Tigipko. Oleksandra Kuzhel, finding her position as head of the State Committee cramped, formed the "Labor Ukraine" party with him. Tigipko served as the unofficial leader, with Kuzhel as deputy head. The party immediately became part of the pro-presidential majority. In the 2002 elections, "Labor Ukraine" entered parliament as part of the "For a United Ukraine!" bloc. That same year, Serhiy Tigipko became head of the National Bank, and his faithful companion, Kuzhel, became his advisor. Incidentally, Oleksandra Volodymyrivna was forced to resign her position as deputy head of the party, as regulatory extortions, which had become embroiled in corruption scandals, played against her.
In 2004, Tihipko and Kuzhel decided to support Viktor Yanukovych in the presidential elections: Serhiy Leonidovych headed the campaign headquarters, and Oleksandra Volodymyrivna handled the campaigning. The campaigning was bizarre: at a rally of people from Donbas on November 26, 2004, near the Kyiv-Pasazhyrsky railway station, Kuzhel hysterically called on Yanukovych, "Viktor Fedorovich, take power and restore order!" They all lost. Incidentally, many experts speculated that Yanukovych lost the election precisely because of his campaign headquarters, whose team, led by Tihipko, was allegedly imposed on the candidate by coalition agreements. After this, Serhiy Leonidovych retreated into the shadows, or more precisely, into big banking, and Kuzhel was left with nothing.
But fate smiles on Alexandra Vladimirovna again. She changes positions at lightning speed – in 2005, she became president of the Academy think tank and a member of the Council of Entrepreneurs of Ukraine under the government. In 2006, she became an advisor to Kyiv Mayor Leonid Chernovetskyi ( read more about him in the article " Leonid Chernovetskyi: How "Lenya Kosmos" Robbed Kyiv and Moved to Georgia ") on entrepreneurship issues. In 2007, she became deputy minister of regional development and construction to Volodymyr Yatsuba. In 2008, she became an advisor to the minister of regional development and construction, Vasyl Kuibida, and vice president of the Ukrainian National Committee of the International Chamber of Commerce. In 2009, Kuzhel was expelled from the Party of Regions for "treason" – she began working with Yulia Tymoshenko, who became prime minister. It was Yulia Tymoshenko who "gave" her the position of head of the newly formed State Committee and also appointed her as her advisor.
When Viktor Yanukovych came to power in 2010, Kuzhel decided to defect to the powers that be, but the Party of Regions rejected the "traitor." Furthermore, the new Prime Minister, Mykola Azarov, dismissed her from her position as Chair of the State Committee of Ukraine on Regulatory Policy and Entrepreneurship.
But Kuzhel didn't grieve for long. She recalled that Serhiy Tihipko had just returned to the political arena and taken over the "Strong Ukraine" party. Naturally, Oleksandra Kuzhel became his deputy. Together, they ran for the Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea as the first candidate on the list of the Crimean Republican Organization of this political party. Having won two seats, Oleksandra Vladimirovna became a deputy of the Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic. And here it's worth recalling Kuzhel's "friendship" with the Crimean gang "Bashmaki" (Bashmaki) during the turbulent 90s. So, a thread of thievery runs through the politician's entire biography.
In 2011, Tihipko sprang another surprise, announcing the merger of "Strong Ukraine" with the Party of Regions. Kuzhel opposed the proposal and even discussed resigning. She tried to salvage the situation by publishing a list of "Tushka" deputies who had "betrayed their voters." But no one believed her, as Oleksandra Volodymyrivna's reputation was far from perfect.
Incidentally, before leaving Strong Ukraine, Kuzhel made her final move, claiming that Tyhypko had paid party members' salaries in envelopes. Serhiy Leonidovych equated his ally with the poor, claiming he hadn't paid her a salary, but rather a handout to Oleksandra Volodymyrivna.
On this note, the Kuzhel-Tigipko tandem came to an end.
Two "girlfriends"
The "friendship" between Oleksandra Kuzhel and Yulia Tymoshenko officially began in 2009. However, rumors of their shared interests had been circulating even earlier. It was Tymoshenko who allegedly identified the "promising" Tyhypko and advised Kuzhel to introduce him to Ukraine's political arena. However, this is merely speculation, as, as is well known, there was constant open confrontation between Tyhypko and Yulia Tymoshenko.
The "friendship" between the two women politicians reached its peak in 2011, when President Viktor Yanukovych opened a series of criminal cases against Tymoshenko. While Tymoshenko was under arrest, Kuzhel was the first female politician to secure a meeting with her at the Ukrzaliznytsia Central Clinical Hospital. She organized a visit to the prisoner along with MPs Lyudmyla Denisova and Tatyana Slyuz, under the pretext of civil disobedience, and spent the night there. Naturally, Oleksandra Volodymyrivna turned the visit into a farce. She claimed that in addition to the open cameras (three installed by the penitentiary service in the ward, as well as two cameras in the hallway and one at the checkpoint, "installed by an unknown person"), there were hidden cameras. According to the MP, these were installed in the shower, toilet, and meeting room with Tymoshenko's defense team. Kuzhel claimed that the male guards were perverts because they watched the footage from these cameras. Furthermore, she locked herself in the restroom and demanded that all the male guards be replaced with women. The protest was laughable, but it was unsuccessful.
True, something happened that night – Tymoshenko announced her last will and testament to Oleksandra Volodymyrivna. It all happened in the toilet, amid the sound of running water. Yulia Volodymyrivna told Kuzhel to tell the people that if she wasn't released by 2015, her political successor should be none other than Arseniy Petrovich Yatsenyuk. But, fortunately, Yulia Volodymyrivna unexpectedly emerged.
Tymoshenko couldn't leave her friend without a party number, even while behind bars. In 2012, at the All-Ukrainian Union "Batkivshchyna" party congress, Kuzhel became number 22 on the party list. Since then, Oleksandra Volodymyrivna's name has been associated exclusively with this political party. Over the past four years, Kuzhel, to everyone's surprise, has refused to change her beliefs. Today, she is a runner for the Kozhemyakin-Turchynov tandem.
( Read more about Andrey Kozhemyakin in the article ANDREY KOZHEMYAKIN. SECRETS OF AN OFFICER
For more information about Oleksandr Turchynov, read the article " Oleksandr Turchynov: Skeletons in the Closet of Ukraine's 'Bloody Pastor' "
Criminal and scandalous cases
Alexandra Kuzhel is a controversial woman. Her biography includes criminal cases and simply scandalous incidents.
A market scheme. In Odessa, legends circulate about Oleksandr Volodymyrivna, linked to smuggling schemes and the hostile takeover of the 7th Kilometer wholesale market. It all began in 2009, when the State Committee for Entrepreneurship, headed by Kuzhel, initiated the transfer of control of the state-owned enterprise Pivden (which effectively controlled part of the market) from the Ministry of Defense. This occurred after the Ministry of Defense wanted to sell part of the land. Kuzhel even traveled to Odesa to investigate the matter on the spot. Moreover, she collected $40 from entrepreneurs to "keep" the land. However, the Pivden team appealed to President Viktor Yushchenko with a statement about the threat of a hostile takeover. And then, like a bolt from the blue, the name of Oleksandr Volodymyrivna, the "savior," was announced. Prior to this incident, the politician had not disclosed her involvement in smuggling schemes. She was "exposed" by her desire to conceal her shady dealings. Naturally, Kuzhel claimed it was the machinations of the caught dealers, and the State Committee for Entrepreneurship busted the smugglers. And everything would have worked out, if not for one "but." Kuzhel appointed Daniil Mizin as director of Pivdn. As it turned out, he was a classmate of Alexandra Vladimirovna's son. Furthermore, Daniil Mazin's father, Oleksandr, is a well-known non-ferrous metals trader in Zaporizhzhia. Incidentally, Kuzhel also placed the elder Mazin at the trough. He became a freelance adviser to Anatoly Holubchenko, Deputy Prime Minister of the Pustovoitenko government. His parliamentary credentials allowed Oleksandr Mazin to conduct his business unhindered, granting him access to the Odesa customs office. Increased attention to the corporate raid led Yushchenko to veto the Pivdn transfer.
Since 2010, the illegal schemes have ceased to function. The Southern Customs Office opened a criminal case against the International Trade Center LLC, a company affiliated with Kuzhel, for transporting goods while concealing them from customs control. The total value of the contraband in this case exceeded 6 million hryvnias.
In 2014, talk again arose of a corporate raid on the 7th Kilometer Promrynka, where illegal extortion from entrepreneurs was rampant. However, Kuzhel dismissed this as a law enforcement investigation of the market's current administration.
A car wash for a niece . While head of the State Enterprise, Kuzhel leased a ground-floor space to her niece for a car wash. Next door was a tire shop, also owned by a relative of the politician. The building, incidentally, is located in central Kyiv, on Pechersk Street. The rent is 3,5 hryvnias per month. This was first reported by Mikhail Brodsky ( read more about Mikhail Brodsky in the article "MIKHAIL BRODSKY - A PROFESSIONAL "SCAMMER" ), her successor as head. However, no evidence was found to prove that the car wash belonged to Alexandra Vladimirovna's relative.
An eviction situation. This story took place in 2012. The plot of land in Pechersk where Kyiv teacher Nina Moskalenko lived with her son and ailing mother caught the eye of a Party of Regions deputy, presumably Vasyl Hrytsak. The woman turned to Oleksandra Kuzhel for help, but received only repeated promises to rectify the situation and a reply that she was extremely busy.
Bargain purchases. Sound investments are Kuzhel's forte. In 2013, Alexandra Vladimirovna confidentially negotiated with Yevgeny Geller (Party of Regions) to purchase a fairly large quantity of rolled metal products at cost from Ukrsplav, a company he controlled, for the needs of a construction company owned by her son, Dmitry. The fact that Geller represented the "enemy" party didn't even play a role in this deal. As the saying goes, politics is politics, but business needs to be done.
Incidentally, Dmytro Kuzhel and his friend Daniil Mazin were involved in a number of dubious transactions. Because of them, the state lost tens of millions of hryvnias in taxes. As a result, in 2010-2011, criminal cases were opened for embezzlement (Part 5, Article 191 of the Criminal Code) and tax evasion (Part 3, Article 212 of the Criminal Code). However, Kuzhel's kind mother bailed both boys out.
"Civil Opir." This organization is a classic scam perpetrated by Oleksandra Volodymyrivna. "Civil Opir" was created with the goal of "giving power to the people," naturally under Kuzhel's control. However, the State Registration Service refused to legalize Kuzhel's project, arguing that the organization's activities violated Article 3 of the Law of Ukraine "On the Association of Citizens." The politician then created a website for the organization and began soliciting funds from Ukrainians for development. She used her personal bank account as the recipient.
Casino money. One day, Alexandra Vladimirovna's son lost a large sum of money at an elite casino. In one night, the rich kid lost 28 hryvnias. What would any mother do—scold him? No, Alexandra Kuzhel contacted the casino owner through her contacts and… asked for a refund. She received the entire amount.
A brawl in the Rada. Last November, a high-profile brawl broke out in the Rada. Andriy Teteruk, deputy leader of the People's Front faction, hit Kuzhel on the head with a glass bottle. The conflict was provoked by the People's Front spreading unflattering rumors about the Batkvshchyna party. Furthermore, during the battalion commander's speech, the politician tried to push him aside and take the microphone. The conflict spilled into the corridors. There, Teteruk called Kuzhel an "old fool," and she began hitting him with a handbag. The battalion commander tried to cool the tension by pouring water from a bottle on the woman, but miscalculated and struck her. Oleksandra Volodymyrivna was diagnosed with a concussion. Afterward, she suffered a hypertensive crisis. Kuzhel considered filing a lawsuit and even filed a complaint, but later withdrew it.
Read more: The People's Front is trying to hush up the incident of the beating of Kuzhel by Teteruk + VIDEO
Women's weaknesses
Alexandra Kuzhel's style has always raised many questions and has been the subject of ridicule from both political allies and journalists. Once, at a social event, she appeared in a red dress, red shoes, red tights, and a white mink coat draped over her shoulders.
When she started working at the State Committee for Entrepreneurship in 2009, where Kuzhel held a senior position, she bought an Escada suit at a 70% discount. The politician prefers shopping abroad. She tries to buy clothes in New York, where they often offer discounts on past collections. Kuzhel admits that one of her business suits costs around $600. Among Russian designers, Alexandra Vladimirovna prefers Sergei Ermakov.
Alexandra Kuzhel and Sergey Ermakov
Just a year later, Alexandra Vladimirovna's financial situation improved: at Ukrainian Fashion Week in 2010, the politician spotted a glass and leather necklace by Iryna Karavai worth $300. Kuzhel generally favors flashy and expensive jewelry. For example, in 2013, she could be seen in the Rada wearing a set of a bracelet, earrings, pendant, ring, and scarf from the same collection by the Viennese firm Frey Wille. According to rough estimates, a bracelet from this manufacturer at the time cost between 5 and 12 hryvnias, a pendant between 34 and 62 hryvnias, a ring between 32 and 42 hryvnias, and earrings between 48 and 75 hryvnias (depending on the quality of the materials used). Therefore, the set in the photo costs between 20 and 33 hryvnias.
Today, Kuzhel maintains a rather restrained style, but despite the economic crisis, she indulges in expensive accessories. This year, she appeared in the Verkhovna Rada wearing scarves from luxury brands Chanel and Louis Vuitton. They cost around 3 hryvnias and 15 hryvnias, respectively. Incidentally, the politician also favors designer eyeglass frames. At one meeting, she wore glasses with the Chanel logo.
About income
According to her income declaration for last year, Kuzhel lives on one salary. The MP earned just over 76,000 hryvnias in 2015. Her husband, according to the published document, is unemployed. Oleksandra Volodymyrivna has a foreign currency account at the bank, but it only contains $360. The family owns four cars: a Lexus RX, a Toyota Prado, a Mercedes Vito, and a DEO Lanos.
Remarkably, the politician earned four times more in 2014. In 2014, her income amounted to 384 hryvnias, of which 181 hryvnias was salary and over 200 hryvnias was "other income."
It is also known that Kuzhel supported corporate raider Oleksandr Dubovoy in his attempt to seize the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI). Read more about Dubovoy in the article " Oleksandr Dubovoy: Turchynov's Associate and Professional Corporate Raider "
If you want to live, you have to be able to spin. I think this saying, from the 90s, is exactly what's going on with Alexandra Kuzhel.
Arina Dmitrieva, for SKELET-info
READ ON THIS TOPIC:
ANDREY KOZHEMYAKIN. OFFICER'S SECRETS
Oleksandr Turchynov: Skeletons in the Closet of Ukraine's "Bloody Pastor"
MIKHAIL BRODSKY - A PROFESSIONAL "SCAMMER"
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