Why sponsor terrorists? Vladislav Dreger "They don't notice" either the GPU or the SBU.
While Ukrainian soldiers freeze in the cold and rain in their trenches, fighting off the "Russian world"'s attempts to invade the homes of peaceful Ukrainians, while volunteer battalion fighters storm military registration and enlistment offices in hopes of receiving combat veteran status, the leaders of the unrecognized "republics" are quietly and unnoticed setting up profitable businesses... on Ukrainian soil.
Who is helping Donetsk separatists profit from Ukrainian businesses? And why is every Mykolaiv resident essentially funding the separatists by paying their fares on public transportation? The names and schemes are below.
So, meet…
Vladislav Dreger, a formerly well-known businessman, is widely known behind his back as "Donetsk's main corporate raider." The media have repeatedly reported on his dirty business practices. It's also been reported that the Donetsk corporate raider owes much of his "career" to former Party of Regions member Tatyana Bakhteeva, whose husband, Alimzhan Bakhteyev, worked with Dreger at JSC Dopas.
It was thanks to this lady that he gained access to Yanukovych at the time, and by 2011, he had concentrated in his hands a monopoly on the auto transport market in Donbass, Mykolaiv, and Kherson regions.
But Dreger's career began to unravel just as quickly after he crossed Yanukovych Jr. by attempting to seize his land in Donetsk. This was his fatal mistake, and in 2011, he was accused of corporate raiding and sentenced to a Kyiv pretrial detention center by court order.
The story is fairly prosaic, but the most interesting part is what's happening today. Following the events of Euromaidan, Dreger was released early in March 2014. He owes his release to the guarantee of four Ukrainian parliamentarians, most notably Mykola Levchenko, the ideologist of Donetsk separatism, who is currently in hiding from Ukrainian justice.
Unknown assailants doused N. Levchenko with kefir outside the UNIAN news agency after his press conference on the young politician's stance on the Russian language. More information about V. Dreger's sponsor can be found in the article "Nikolai Levchenko: A Ukrainian as a Russian Anecdote."
Without much thought, after his release, Dreger began "picking up his pieces"—not only did he reassume control of his business, but he was also making plans to expand it. As the saying goes, "one man's war is another man's mother..."
While in prison, Dreger maintained control over bus stations in eastern and southern Ukraine through his partners: Mykola Chumachenko, Oleksiy Gorban, and Tymofiy Shkinder. After his release from the Kyiv pretrial detention center, Dreger immediately regained control of his assets—both in Ukraine and in the occupied Donbas.
Dreger established a trucking operation in the Donetsk region, further increasing the business's profitability. He no longer had to pay taxes or renew the bus fleet, and the cost of transportation had skyrocketed during the fighting.
It's clear he couldn't have pulled this off without "patrons" within the "republics" themselves. Dreger's "roof" was none other than the head of the "republic's" Security Council, Alexander Khodakovsky.
Alexander Khodakovsky
Traitor to the Motherland, former SBU officer Alexander Khodakovsky, created and led the "Vostok Battalion" gang, controlled by R. Akhmetov, during the Russian invasion of eastern Ukraine. In addition to fighting the regular Ukrainian army, the National Guard, and volunteer battalions, the unit's mission is to protect R. Akhmetov's commercial properties on Ukrainian soil seized by terrorists. Details are in the publication "Controlled Spring." The "DPR" and "LPR" are led by Rinat Akhmetov on orders from the Kremlin.
It is the Vostok Battalion's fighters who guard all the "republic's" bus stations, as well as Dreger's Zuevsky Electromechanical Plant and Donetsk Coke and Chemical Equipment. This is, in particular, what outraged adherents of "Novorossiya" are writing online about.
On the topic: Businesses, including Akhmetov's, are guarded by militants in the occupied territory.
Dreger himself is called “the first Republican oligarch” among influential separatists.
Everything would be fine, but the situation within the DPR itself began to change dramatically since the cessation of active hostilities. The head of the "republic," Alexander Zakharchenko, claimed the bus stations, arguing that they were public property and, therefore, should be owned by the "state."
Recently, DPR People's Council deputy Sergei Sverchkov openly stated that they have been given the clear goal of ousting Vladislav Dreger from bus stations in the occupied territories. It would seem that the monopoly of bus magnate and corporate raider Dreger has come to an end. But not everything is so clear-cut. Local sources tend to believe that Zakharchenko's statements are nothing more than grandstanding, and that Dreger's position in the DPR is, in fact, quite secure. He has long financed Vostok and has earned the necessary respect from the locals. Zakharchenko, in turn, is demonstrating to the local public that he is ready to fight the "republican" oligarchs. But in reality, such statements may have entirely different motives.
First, it deprives the main rival for power of financial resources. The conflict between Zakharchenko and Khodakovsky is no secret.
The second reason is far more interesting. According to a source close to the "DPR Ministry of Transport," Dreger is being pressured to include Zakharchenko's trusted associates in the "republican oligarch's" Ukrainian assets. The businessman has allegedly already given preliminary consent to this operation, with the stipulation that "illegal" carriers be ousted from the DPR market. Thus, not only does he avoid losing his assets, but he also strengthens his monopoly on trucking in the DPR.
What does Zakharchenko receive? A stake in a fairly stable and legal business in Ukraine. Surprisingly, Dreger, a citizen of the "DPR," continues to control a number of profitable companies in free Ukraine, engaged in passenger and cargo transportation. These include, in particular, the companies registered to his father, Oleg Dreger: Konstantinovskoye Avtotransportnoye Predpriyatie (Konstantinovka), Vostochnye Avtovokzly (Eastern Bus Stations), SEVER-AVTO (Slovyansk), AFFIT-STAB (Odesa), and the Kyiv-based transportation company INVINSI-2013.
The icing on the cake of Dreger's Ukrainian business in Ukraine can be considered the PJSC "Mykolaiv Regional Enterprise of Bus Stations," whose shareholders include his partners Mikhail Chumachenko and Alexey Gorban.
The company, acquired by Dreger in 2011, is a monopoly in the regional trucking industry and generates a stable income of up to 2,5 million hryvnias per month. All of this profit is now being sent to occupied Donbas to maintain Dreger's position among the separatists and finance the militants.
So, while all of Ukraine has declared a boycott of Russian products, every Mykolaiv resident, against their will, by buying a bus ticket is effectively sponsoring separatism…
Naturally, the question arises: where are the SBU and the prosecutor's office looking in this case, when they see saboteurs and terrorists literally under every bush, and here the situation is simply more than transparent and provocative?
One can't help but conclude that such a brazen separatist-Dreger scheme could not have worked without a reliable Ukrainian backer. According to our sources, a high-ranking official in the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine, who shares business interests with Dreger, may be behind this scheme.
Who is helping the DPR leaders enter Ukrainian business? We'll tell our readers about this soon.
For now, unfortunately, we must acknowledge that if our country is forced to fully implement the Minsk agreements regarding amnesty, the leaders of terrorist organizations could become quite respectable businessmen with profitable assets throughout Ukraine. And it won't be Putin or Poroshenko who will bring them into the Ukrainian reality, but rather dubious individuals like Vlad Dreger.
To be continued ...
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Konstantin Ivanchenko, Argument
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