Andrey Kozhemyakin
Andriy Anatolyevich Kozhemyakin, at forty, became a major general and deputy head of the SBU. He is currently a member of parliament representing the Batkivshchyna party and was recently promoted to lieutenant general. As is customary for all military personnel, he has an impeccable official biography and an impressive service record.
True, the officer has plenty of secrets. His name is linked to such high-profile cases as the destruction of documents in the case of international mafia boss Semyon Mogilevich, his involvement in the "jeep hunt" for villager Oleynik and Viktor Lozinsky, and drug smuggling under the cover of the SBU.
Hereditary military
Andrey Anatolyevich is a native of Odessa. He was born into a family of a security officer—a high-ranking KGB officer and a lieutenant general in the SBU. Until 91, his father worked for the KGB on the "fifth line" in Western Ukraine (protecting statehood, as well as combating subversive ideological centers, etc.). When the SBU created the "K" Main Directorate for Combating Corruption and Organized Crime, Kozhemyakin Sr. became its head. In fact, he can be considered one of the founders of the SBU. Incidentally, in 2005, Kozhemyakin Sr. died under unclear circumstances, drowning in the Sukhoi Estuary in the Odessa region.
Andrei Kozhemyakin followed in his father's footsteps. In 1986, he graduated from the Kiev Higher Naval Political School and served as a lieutenant in the USSR Black Sea Fleet in naval reconnaissance units until 1988. Kozhemyakin was a diving officer and was involved in underwater sabotage. In 1988, he graduated from the KGB academy in Novosibirsk and went to serve in a special department in Sevastopol. Three years later, Kozhemyakin transferred to the SBU. Within the agency, he rose through the ranks from an operative to the head of one of its departments. In 2002, Andrei Anatolyevich participated in an operation to dismantle an international drug trafficking organization. For this operation, Kozhemyakin was promoted to colonel ahead of schedule.
Career successes
In early 2005, Andriy Anatolyevich headed the Main Directorate for Combating Corruption and Organized Crime of the Security Service of Ukraine (Department "K"), which had previously been headed by his father. Already in April, Oleksandr Turchynov, then head of the Security Service of Ukraine (Read more about Oleksandr Turchynov in the article. Oleksandr Turchynov: Skeletons in the Closet of Ukraine's "Bloody Pastor"), invited Kozhemyakin to become his deputy. It was rumored that the friendly relationship between the two men played a decisive role in this case. When Turchynov protested the government's resignation in September 2005, Yulia Tymoshenko He resigned, and Andriy Anatolyevich immediately followed suit. However, he remained as a part-time adviser to Igor Drizhchany, who became head of the SBU. That same year, Kozhemyakin was promoted to major general.
By the way, that's when the website is created ORD, edited by former SBU press secretary Stanislav Rechinsky. This website began publishing materials that were only accessible to operatives. After Euromaidan, Rechinsky temporarily served as assistant press secretary to Interior Minister Arsen Avakov (Read more about it in the article Arsen Avakov: The criminal past of the Minister of Internal Affairs). It is also believed that he broke with Kozhemyakin long ago and receives support from other sources.
And once again, “by the way”: with the departure of Igor Drizhchany, when Valentyn Nalyvaichenko became the head of the SBU (Read more about Valentyn Nalyvaichenko in the article Valentin Nalyvaichenko: Spy, Diplomat, and Corrupt Official), almost all the "rich kids" hired by Turchynov left the "office." Naturally, they left with flash drives, information from which has repeatedly surfaced on the ORD website.
What else could a military man on the rise do but go into politics? Moreover, everything worked out well, and the 2006 parliamentary elections were just around the corner. Kozhemyakin became number 25 on the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc (BYuT) list and successfully entered Parliament.
And immediately his first appointment: Kozhemyakin heads the parliamentary commission on privatization. The first thing he does in his new position is go all in and secure a veto on the 2007 privatization plan proposed by the head of the State Property Fund (SPF), socialist Valentina Semenyuk.Read more about Valentina Semenyuk in the article "Fatal" Turboatom: What secrets brought Semenyuk-Samsonenko to the graveHe sharply criticizes the tenders for the sale of Luganskteplovoz to Transmashholding, as well as the Komsomolsk Mining Administration to the Ilyich Iron and Steel Works of Mariupol. At the same time, there was talk of privatizing Ukrtelecom, but Kozhemyakin was actively preventing it. Furthermore, he initiated a bill that would prohibit the State Property Fund from imposing additional conditions on buyers' participation in auctions and tenders. However, at the last minute, discussion of this bill ceased, and it was not adopted. Thanks to such "correct" and radical decisions, Andrei Anatolyevich has proven himself a highly moral person and a supporter of reprivatization. But is everything really that simple? Most likely, he was being groomed as an insider within the State Property Fund, and the facts support this. When Yulia Tymoshenko became prime minister in 2008, the first thing she did was fire Valentyna Semenyuk from her post as head of the State Property Fund and, of course, appoint BYuT member Andriy Portnov (Read more about it in the article Andrey Portnov: A Raider's Story). However, he was never able to physically take his position (he was simply not allowed into the State Property Fund building), and a few months later, the Prosecutor General's Office opened a criminal case against him in connection with the attempted illegal privatization of the Odessa Port Plant. Admittedly, this was not without the instigation of President Viktor Yushchenko. And then Kozhemyakin immediately entered the picture. The BYuT initiated his appointment as head of the State Property Fund. But the plan failed miserably—the opposition and the presidential secretariat opposed it. Thus, Tymoshenko was left without her "influence" within the State Property Fund. But Yulia Volodymyrivna did not leave her protégé without a juicy morsel and appointed him as her advisor. Andriy Anatolyevich remained an advisor for two years, until the arrival of a new government led by Mykola Azarov.
Andrey Kozhemyakin plays a special role in the arrest of fugitive General Andrey Pukach, who carried out the murder of journalist Georgy Gongadze. The agency under Kozhemyakin's control had information as early as 2005 that Pukach was hiding in Israel. According to Kozhemyakin, everything was ready for his arrest. He and four other SBU officers arrived in Israel. According to the information received, Pukach was with his mistress near Tel Aviv. Initially, negotiations with the Israeli police went well, but they later refused to release Pukach, citing that he did not have an Interpol red notice. Interpol documents also revealed that Pukach was wanted not for murder, but for abuse of power and exceeding official authority. It is worth noting that the Prosecutor General's Office is the one that reports crimes to Interpol. The question remains: why did the Prosecutor General's Office decide to charge Pukach with "abuse of power" but remain silent about the murder? The Prosecutor General's Office, for its part, denied all charges, calling Kozhemyakin's operation a gamble. Rumor has it that after this incident, an open-ended arrest warrant for Andrei Anatolyevich was issued, but it was never executed.
A bouquet of criminal cases
The Mogilevich case. The first criminal case opened against Kozhemyakin concerned the destruction of SBU case files on the activities of businessman Semyon Mogilevich. First, who is Semyon Mogilevich? He has been one of the godfathers of the Russian mafia since the late 80s. His sphere of influence includes control over gas production in Russia and Ukraine. In our country, the mafia boss had strong "business" ties with Dmitry Firtash and his junior partner, Ivan Fursin. Until 2004, Firtash managed Eural Trans Gas, a company founded by Mogilevich. The company soon disappeared, and RosUkrEnergo suddenly resurfaced. Firtash and Furman became its beneficiaries, while Gazprombank owned the remaining half. Thus, Mogilevich secretly controlled billions of dollars in natural gas sales via the Russia-Ukraine transit pipeline.
Back in the USSR, the KGB had a "Mogilevich File"—about 20 volumes "exposing" the mafia's activities. Of course, there was a volume detailing Mogilevich's friendship with Firtash, Fursin, and, most likely, Yulia Tymoshenko. Especially considering her friendship with Dmytro Firtash. Furthermore, the File was augmented with a number of important documents from the security services, revealing the Mogilevich clan's activities aimed at enriching themselves by creating and implementing unprofitable commercial schemes in the fuel and chemical industries in Ukraine. It seemed like it was it! However, the "Mogilevich File" disappeared. Andriy Kozhemyakin, then deputy head of the SBU and head of the Main Directorate for Combating Corruption and Organized Crime (Department "K"), was accused of destroying it. He allegedly did so on orders from Turchynov, who, in turn, received the order from Yulia Tymoshenko. Andrei Anatolyevich simply ordered his subordinates to prepare a resolution within 40 minutes to close and destroy the documents of the operational search operations department on Mogilevich's group.
It should be noted that the Prosecutor General's Office opened a case on this fact in March 2006, but in June the case was closed by the Pechersk District Court under Article 6, paragraph 2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, "lack of corpus delicti," after reviewing Turchynov's complaint about the Prosecutor General's Office's illegal actions.
The Case of Illegal Wiretapping A second criminal case against Andriy Kozhemyakin was opened for the illegal wiretapping of Segodnya newspaper journalist Oleksandr Korchynsky by SBU officers. What was Korchynsky's "distinctive" accomplishment? He was the first to publish a story about the whereabouts of the fugitive Oleksiy Pukach, thereby revealing a state secret to a mass audience. At the time of the story's publication, the SBU was preparing an operation to extradite Pukach from Israel. The SBU responded by opening a criminal case, wiretapping Oleksandr Korchynsky's telephone conversations. The Prosecutor General's Office, in turn, deemed the criminal case against Korchynsky illegal and opened its own criminal case against SBU Deputy Chairman Andriy Kozhemyakin. The case went to court, but the Prosecutor General's Office's actions were deemed unlawful. Agency representatives even apologized for the "mistake." Incidentally, many media outlets accused Deputy Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin of leaking the information to journalist Korchinsky. He, of course, denied the accusations. But Kozhemyakin's reputation remains tarnished.
The Jeep Hunt Story In the summer of 2009, Ukraine was rocked by a high-profile murder in the Kirovohrad region. BYuT MP Viktor Lozinsky was at the center of the scandal. He, the prosecutor, and the chief of police launched a manhunt. While driving around their hunting grounds (26 hectares—a third of the Golovanivka district of the Kirovohrad region), the men spotted a man on the property. It turned out to be a villager named Oliynyk. Lozinsky didn't like anyone trespassing on his property, so he went berserk. He jumped out of his car and began shooting at the man with a shotgun, after which they drove over his body. The man died from his injuries.
Victor Lozinsky
It all resembled a popular pastime among the powerful—a "safari" with a live target. It would seem that the SBU, with such a huge impact, should find the culprit in a matter of days and bring him to justice. But there's a catch... Turchynov heads the SBU, and his deputy is Kozhemyakin—both are BYuT members by heart. Most likely, the agreement to rescue his fellow party member and Tymoshenko's own decree allowed Lozinsky to hide abroad for seven months. Furthermore, Andriy Anatolyevich decided to canonize his "brother." He claimed the villager's murder was merely self-defense. Apparently, Oliynyk is a dangerous recidivist who terrorized the entire region. Kozhemyakin even suggested expressing gratitude to Lozinsky.
However, there is another theory that explains the BYuT members' behavior. Allegedly, Kozhemyakin was also in the car. He, it turns out, was a frequent visitor to the MP's hunting grounds. Most likely, Andriy Anatolyevich promised Lozinsky that the SBU would close the case, but was unable to do so due to the public outcry.
According to renowned lawyer and human rights activist Tatyana Montyan, the so-called "Savchenko Law" was lobbied by Kozhemyakin specifically to secure the release of his friend Lozinsky. And it doesn't matter that the passage of this law resulted in the early release of hundreds of murderers.
Cocaine cases There's not a single fact that proves Kozhemyakin's involvement in the drug trade. However, that's why he works for the SBU—secrecy is paramount.
Between 1996 and 2006, the SBU's Main Directorate "K" was heavily involved in preventing drug smuggling into Ukraine. Three people were involved in this "operation"—Andrey Kozhemyakin, Vladislav Bukharev, and Alexander Popivnyak. They decided to help the state, and they didn't forget their own interests either. There are several stories.
In 2002, this group of individuals covered up the transfer of six tons of cocaine through the Illichivsk port. The shipment from Guatemala was picked up by an Odessa resident.
In 2004, a ship from Panama docked at the port of Kherson. Six tons of cocaine were unloaded ashore under the guise of a drug bust.
A little later, Group K established close ties with Ukrainian, Russian, and Moldovan drug lords. Drugs entered Ukraine through this well-established network. It even got to the point where the transporters had Group K license plates, which would grant a "green" passage upon request. However, the scheme was still imperfect, and it had to be abandoned.
A little about income
In 2014, Andriy Kozhemyakin declared 714 hryvnias in income. He also received 368 hryvnias from the sale of real estate. He owns only a 17-square-meter garage. His family members own slightly more property: a 0,12-hectare plot of land, a 346-square-meter house, and a 207-square-meter apartment. Neither the deputy nor his family members own any bank deposits, securities, or other assets.
Andrey Anatolyevich drives a Toyota Camry. But his 2013 Subaru XV, registered in 2013, has disappeared.
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They say education and military rank don't make a person human. This, of course, doesn't apply to Andrey Kozhemyakin.
Arina Dmitrieva, for SKELET-info
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