"Who are all these people?!" exclaims a voter, looking at the lists of party nominees for parliament. We have a different question: "What are they doing on party lists – next to field commanders, activists, lawyers, and top-tier government officials?!" Our modest resources are not sufficient to lustrate each and every one. But we will try to recall the most prominent candidates, who have repeatedly become the subjects of our criminal investigations. Today, it's the turn of the outstanding figure Bohdan Khmelnytsky, aka Maidanyuk, aka "Tsima," aka "Snake."
Maidanyuk changed his last name to Khmelnytsky after serving time in prison and being released from custody thanks to the assistance of influential "friends." Our hero started out as a carjacker, part of a unit within the powerful Kyiv gang "Kisel." They would take cars from their owners in an unscrupulous manner, simply throwing the owner out of the car. They would then drive the stolen goods to the Lviv region, change the license plates, and sell them.
The police also knew about the robbery of a family of migrant workers from Uman. They had been in contact with Maidanyuk, who is originally from Uman. He knew the family was returning from work in Europe, carrying cash. It was only by a miracle that the couple survived: they were robbed at home immediately after returning from abroad. Unfortunately, this fact cannot be attached to the case; the crime was never solved.
But Maidanyuk was certain to face a charge of "Forcing the Performance of Civil Law Relations." In 2000, he and his gang beat up a mechanic at a service station, allegedly for poor service. Perhaps they simply didn't want to pay for the work. By that time, Maidanyuk was already working for another powerful gang, "Pryshch." Based on the mechanic's complaint, Maidanyuk was detained along with his accomplice, Priymak. Two pistols (one combat) and two knives were confiscated from them. The brothers in arms spent time in pretrial detention, but again managed to wriggle out of it. Maidanyuk later claimed to be the victim of political persecution. No one investigated: everyone knew he was a victim of a criminal regime.
Maidanyuk himself not only doesn't hide his criminal past, he even flaunts it. In an interview prepared "for the elections" and posted on the website of his leader's organization, he confides in a journalist: "I have nothing to hide. I really did spend four years in prison on false charges. I never thought this could happen to me—after all, I didn't break the law. But it happened—they ordered my execution."
Who could have ordered it in 2000, who needed it?..
In 2004, Maidanyuk was attacked with gunfire. He was wounded and went underground. The reason for the attack is known only to members of his gang and members of the criminal underworld. It happened like this: Maidanyuk's gang stole a car from a crime boss, which is against thieves' code. The thieves demanded the car be returned, but the young criminals refused, disregarding the code. As a result, the leader was shot.
That same year, 2004, robbers stole a Uman businessman's SUV. The men were "Snake" and his fellow Uman resident nicknamed "Boar." Both were arrested in 2005. It seemed like there was no escape this time... But the remaining gang members began to actively pressure the victim... and ruined the case. After this, Maidanyuk realized he might not be so lucky next time and decided to change his specialization. He changed his last name, declared himself a human rights activist, and began appearing on television.
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A man with a criminal background playing a human rights activist on Shester's show—such miracles are only possible with money, and a lot of it. By that time, Maidanyuk had no significant sources of income, and robbing people doesn't make millions. Nevertheless, the "human rights" business requires expenses for an office and media support. Moreover, after creating his organization, Maidanyuk also launched the internet television station "Grom TV" on its basis. This is also a significant expense. We'll talk about this project a little later.
It's worth noting that Maidanyuk-Khmelnytskyi embarked on his journey into big-time politics and onto television with a group of new acquaintances. During his last six-month stint in a pretrial detention center, his cellmates included the criminal Mokritskyi, also known as "Wet," who is suspected of orchestrating the acid attack on a Kyiv politician. His second cellmate was the con man Denis Tsypin.
He posed as a lawyer for the "Coalition of Orange Revolution Participants" to developers who were in conflict with residents of a building in central Kyiv. The swindler promised to resolve the issue for $25... and disappeared as soon as he received the money. Today, they are close associates of Khmelnytsky and Maidanyuk. Tsypin unsuccessfully attempted to gain a seat in the Rada in 2012. Apparently, he was trying to avoid criminal liability for the 2010 case. Having failed to receive his parliamentary credentials, Tsypin ended up in pretrial detention, suspected of kidnapping and extorting 500 hryvnias. Incidentally, Tsypin ran for office in Slovyansk. And his assistant was... the current head of the Slovyansk separatists, Vyacheslav Ponomarev. This is a side note about the political orientation of Maidanyuk's inner circle.
One gets the persistent impression that after his stint in pretrial detention, someone influential began to "push" Maidanyuk. All those television appearances, press conferences, and hot-button stories—it couldn't have happened without the support of an all-powerful comrade. Who was this "comrade"? Indeed, the pusher's hand is still felt today: the inclusion of a criminal and supporter of the ousted government on an electoral list headed by the prime minister is no accident. We have an explanation for the unprecedented rise and continued buoyancy of Maidanyuk-Khmelnytsky, despite changes in power and political sentiment. We are ready to share our findings with our readers.
To be continued
Ivan Stepanov, SUBJECT
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