Andrey Vingranovsky
We've become accustomed to the fact that in our country, any monument can be declared "anti-Ukrainian" and torn down amid the joyful cries of "patriots." But few people know that monuments in Ukraine are also stolen! And not just any statues, but entire historic buildings, to be used for residential high-rises or shopping malls. The man directly behind these scams, Andriy Vingranovskyi—the former head of the Ministry of Culture's Department for the Protection of Cultural Heritage, now the head of the Kyivgaz board—could tell us about them. Moreover, he has a wealth of experience in gas scams in the past, which he's likely using today.
Andrey Vingranovsky. Behind the Scenes of Art
For most Ukrainians, Andrey Vingranovsky is known only as her husband. Yulia LevochkinaTherefore, many mistakenly believe that he owes his position and fortune to her (and her brother). But this is absolutely not true! Vingranovsky married Levochkina only in 2014 (his second marriage), when he was already in his 50s. By then, he had already lived a turbulent and eventful life: he was a businessman, a high-ranking official, and an even more corrupt official. He was also known as the son of his famous father.
Andrey Nikolayevich Vingranovsky was born on July 31, 1963, in Kyiv, to the Soviet actor, director, and poet Nikolay Stepanovich Vingranovsky (1936-2004). Fate favored his father, as it later did his son. Inspired by theater and poetry in his youth, Nikolay Vingranovsky enrolled in the first year of the Kyiv Theatre Institute after school. Within two weeks, Alexander Dovzhenko himself spotted the young man, with his charismatic appearance for the time, and brought him to Moscow to study at the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography (VGIK), where he studied from 1955 to 1960. Although Dovzhenko died a year later, he managed to introduce Nikolay Vingranovsky to his creative and family circle, where he began his career.
Nikolai Vingranovsky: a stormy creative youth, the 60s
It's worth noting that Nikolai Vingranovsky avoided military service: at that time, it lasted a minimum of three years, and there's no such "gap" in his biography. Nevertheless, his film debut was the leading role of soldier Orlik in "The Tale of Flaming Years" (1960), which immediately made him both an official star of the Soviet screen and renowned abroad (the film won a prize at the Cannes Film Festival). The film, based on a screenplay by the late Dovzhenko, was directed by his widow, Yulia Solntseva, which determined the choice of Nikolai Vingranovsky for the lead role, as a "family friend" and "the master's favorite student." Regardless, he delivered a superb performance.
However, Vingranovsky's subsequent roles and films did not enjoy such success. Perhaps this was because he became a young actor and director of the old school, which had become somewhat archaic since the second half of the 60s (film styles change every decade). Therefore, in the 70s, Vingranovsky gradually moved away from feature films and took up poetry professionally, where he excelled considerably. It was for this poetry that he was later primarily celebrated, including as a "man of the sixties."
Nikolai Vingranovsky with his son Andrei on the set of the film "Quiet Shores," 1972
But, unlike most of the "sixties" generation, Vingranovsky didn't attempt to "rebel" (it was only in independent Ukraine that he was counted among the "awakeners of the nation"). His films were exemplary Soviet "movie posters," and his poetry and prose were criticized only once. Instead, he achieved the status and laurels of a living classic, which helped him make numerous connections—not only in the creative community but also in government, including the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine. This came with royalties for books and articles, benefits, trips to writers' sanatoriums and "special rations," seats on presidiums, generous travel allowances, and an apartment almost in the center of Kyiv (in a building across from Chkalov Square).
Thanks to all this, his son Andrei grew up a typical Soviet rich kid, blessed with his father's fame. He attended an elite school, knew no material poverty, and from childhood was acquainted with numerous "aunts" and "uncles" (and their children). However, in his case, nature clearly rested on the child of a genius: Andrei Vingranovsky had no intention of continuing the creative dynasty. Moreover, he considered the creative elite surrounding his father to be "crazy" and useless—unless they gave him valuable gifts. However, he greatly valued his acquaintance with bosses and diplomats, dreaming of growing up to be one of them.
His dream could have come true easily and simply, because his father would have certainly placed him, if not in the Foreign Ministry, then in the Komsomol or in retail. But Andrei Vingranovsky himself ruined everything. According to his acquaintances, whom Skelet.Org learned, by the time he graduated from high school, he was already an unruly, rowdy lout who failed his university entrance exams. Therefore, all his father could do for him was arrange for his son to serve in the army close to home, in the Kiev garrison. This turned into a series of AWOLs and drunken binges, for which Vingranovsky Jr. repeatedly ended up in the guardhouse – from which, again, his father bailed him out.
Whether he actually graduated from any university or not is known only to his inner circle. Surprisingly, Andrei Vingranovsky's biography makes no mention of his education! There's a complete blank space from the time of his birth until the mid-2000s, with no mention of where he studied (if he did), what his job was, or what he did. But why?
Bandit gas
If Andrey Vingranovsky hadn't hidden information about his youth, there would have been far fewer nasty rumors surrounding him. And they are indeed nasty: for example, the media has reported that Andrey Vingranovsky was connected to an organized crime group. Viktor Rybalko (Fish), and was even a companion to his henchmen. To what extent is this true? Let's say: to a very considerable extent!
The venerable master Nikolai Vingranovsky couldn't have imagined that his son, who played at being robbers, would actually end up with them when he grew up. Which isn't surprising, really, since the rich kids of the Soviet elite often befriended criminal "authorities": for example, another of them was Arthur Palatny, incidentally, orbiting in the near orbit of Rybka. But Andrei Vingranovsky's connections were more likely just "near-Rybka." For now Skelet.Org He has no information about what exactly he was doing in the late 80s and early 90s (the era of gangsterism, when many future oligarchs and elected officials roamed the markets armed with bats). But since the mid-90s, Vingranovsky has been involved in the energy business, alongside well-known corrupt officials and gangsters. And the question of how he got involved remains open.
Vingranovsky's bosses at the time were the scandalous swindler Igor Bakai and his swindler banker Vasily GorbalThe latter, incidentally, studied at KIMO together with Mikheil Saakashvili and Andrei Yermak.
KIMO alumni meeting, 2004:
In the center is Mikheil Saakashvili, on the far right is Andrei Yermak, next to him is Vasily Gorbal,
To the left of Saakashvili is the current "Servant of the People" Andrei Zadorozhny
Vingranovsky's associates included such notorious figures with extensive criminal histories as Mikhail Panteleer and Igor Kucherenko, as well as another Bakayev associate, Alexey Kucherenko. Moreover, these two Kucherenkos are often confused in materials about Vingranovsky. Furthermore, since 2005, a number of articles have repeated the same information that has not stood up to scrutiny. claimingThey claim that Vingranovsky was a co-founder of a company called "Fuel and Energy," the legal successor to Bakai's company, REC. They also claim that REC once held a monopoly on gas distribution to Ukrainian enterprises. However, the most thorough search for these companies yields links only to articles repeating this information—and nothing else! How can this be?
Let's start from the known facts: Bakai had two companies that dealt with gas on such a scale - first, the Republic corporation, which he created together with Igor Sharov, and then Intergaz CJSC. After Intergaz collapsed, like Respublika before it, and Bakai founded and headed Naftogaz, one of its successors was the Ukrainian-Swiss joint venture Bari, which operated in Ukraine as a CJSC of the same name (EDRPOU 22936423) and also engaged in barter payments for energy resources. In fact, Andriy Vingranovskyy served as vice president of Bari in the late 90s, as evidenced by surviving articles That time. So, someone deliberately changed the names of the companies to make publications about Vingranovsky untrue, simply meaningless? But why? Perhaps for the same reason his entire biography prior to 2004 was destroyed.
He had a direct connection to ZAO Bari (rumor has it that it was named in honor of Bakai and Rybalko) Alexey Yurievich Kucherenko — a well-known "shadow" businessman, one of Bakai's partners (he was the head of the board of Intergaz). He also carried out major deals with Konstantin Zhevago and Alexander Volkov. Bari CJSC participated in his corrupt barter and energy schemes, which were used to establish control over the Poltava Mining and Processing Plant and other major enterprises.
Alexey Kucherenko, shareholder in Gulliver
It is interesting that when Alexey Kucherenko was the head of the board of Bakayev’s Intergaz, the president of the company was Alexander Abdullin, later known as one of the main sponsors Yulia TymoshenkoIt's therefore no surprise that in 2007, Oleksiy Kucherenko was appointed Minister of Housing and Public Utilities in Yulia Volodymyrivna's government. It's also worth noting that Abdullin is almost the same age as Vingranovsky; in his youth, he was a similar Kyiv hooligan and also served his military service in the Kyiv garrison (in Vasylkiv).
Another Kucherenko, Igor Ivanovich (born in 1969) was known in the early 90s by the nickname “Gonzik” as a member Vladimir Kisel's organized crime group. According to intelligence reports, he was part of Alexander Kadyrov's gang and "worked" at the Vladimirsky Market, extorting money from businessmen. Gonzik then began working for Rybka: the media even speculates that it was he who introduced him to him in 1992. Klitschko brothersWhich is, in fact, incorrect, as Rybka had known them since the 80s through their mutual friend Artur Palatny (who had known "Uncle Vitya" since childhood). But it is certain that Kucherenko became one of the Klitschko brothers' protégés in the 90s, along with Bakai and Rybka. He quickly rose from a humble racketeer to a criminal businessman: in the late 90s, he controlled the funeral service of the Moscow "Specialized Combine for Public Utilities and Services," which generated considerable income, and also became involved in Bakai's energy schemes. Thus, Igor Kucherenko was also directly connected to Andrey Vingranovsky, also involved in the gas and energy business—and it's no surprise that the two Kucherenkos are constantly confused.
Igor Kucherenko (Gonzik) and his "Viagra" Santa Dimopoulos
When Bakai and Rybalko had a major rift, Igor Kucherenko chose Bakai's side (as did Vingranovsky). During a lengthy "property division" in 2002, Igor Kucherenko cheated Rybalko out of a very large sum (according to media reports, $42 million), after which he was forced to urgently flee to the United States for permanent residence. But every cloud has a silver lining: since then, Igor Kucherenko has become an international businessman. He owns the gold mining company MPG Global, the VEK Capital Partners fund, and the SportLife chain of clubs. In 2015, he married a former member of the group "Viagra." Sante (Chrisante) Dimopoulos.
Another participant in this scam was Mikhail Panteleer. In the early 90s, he was one of Rybka's most brutal "brigadiers" (according to sources Skelet.OrgPanteleer was involved in "liquidation" and even enjoyed a status close to that of "authority." Consequently, tensions between him and Rybka often arose, culminating in their deadly quarrel. According to media reports, Panteleer was the "overseer" of Bakai's gas companies, which he protected and in which Viktor Rybalko had invested. Vingranovsky was allegedly appointed vice president of one of them, which was consistent with the then-practice of criminal groups appointing their own people to the management of companies they controlled.
Mikhail Panteleer, Vyacheslav Dimont, and Sergey Yestremsky (left to right)
Igor Kucherenko and Mikhail Panteleer's scam greatly angered Rybka, who responded by arranging an unsuccessful assassination attempt on the "authority figure." The former fled to the United States, and the latter to Germany, where he soon obtained citizenship and a passport under the name Michael Panteleer. Having established several companies in Europe and offshore jurisdictions, Panteleer returned to Ukraine after Rybka's death as a "German businessman," engaging in lucrative shady and corrupt schemes. Specifically, together with Vyacheslav Dimont, a "Hungarian businessman" of Russian origin, and Serhiy Yestremsky, a Lviv City Council member from the Batkivshchyna party, they created the firm "Sankom," a key link in Lviv's scandalous waste disposal schemes that have plagued all of Western Ukraine for years. As you can see, they're not called gangsters for nothing!
Mikhail Shpolyansky, Skelet.Org
CONTINUED: Andrey Vingranovsky: A cultured swindler at the Kyiv gas tap. Part 2
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