Sergey Dumchev
Probably all Kyiv residents and visitors have noticed the billboards plastered all over Kyiv. They're where evolution from ape happens, and its culmination, if this billboard is to be believed, is Dumchev, the "Dumchev era," and other simple slogans along the lines of "take away and divide." And if, by some miracle, someone didn't notice these billboards, they were probably handed a copy of the newspaper "Kyivskyi Nosorog," which has a circulation of 50,000 and is distributed free of charge. What does the newspaper write about? Also about Dumchev. So who is this Dumchev? And why had no one even heard of him two or three months ago?
Serhiy Aleksandrovich Dumchev loves to talk about his life. He talks about being a native Kyivite, about how his father reconstructed many Kyiv buildings, and about the maritime romance of the Odessa Naval Academy. In short, the standard package for a mayoral candidate, tweaked and watered down by professional PR people. But, to paraphrase the famous saying, "scratch a patriot and you'll find a regional," that's exactly what Dumchev and his team, called "Rukh za Reformy," are all about. We first heard of Dumchev the politician in 2014, when he unexpectedly surfaced as number 20 on Serhiy Tihipko's "Strong Ukraine" list. The same one that included all those who weren't included in the Opposition Bloc. He was listed right between the rby Vadim Grib, whom we already wrote aboutand former Party of Regions member Hennadiy Fedoryak. The list also included numerous other odious figures from the Yanukovych and even Kuchma eras, but that's irrelevant, since the entire "Strong Ukraine" list passed the Verkhovna Rada. Perhaps it was then that Serhiy Dumchev realized he needed to assemble his own team... And who's on his team?
The "Rukh za za Reform" team includes some rather interesting individuals. Take, for example, Leonid Khomenko. His name is little known, but he's been the director of the Solomensky Market since 2004. He clearly has a connection with the market's owner, a certain Maksym Konobas, who is associated with MPs Shkurko and Andrievsky, who also own the elite brothel "Zvezdny Rhino." Or Natalia Korenevich, who oversaw lease agreements with the State Property Fund in Kyiv under Mayor Popov and who is remembered with harsh words by both tenants who had to pay large sums of money and landlords who, under direct contracts with the SPF, were obligated to rent out space for pennies. The team also includes Vladislav Sova, a well-known anti-drug advocate in certain circles. Several former drug addicts, speaking anonymously, confirmed that he was the one who ran a drug-fueled business under the auspices of the First City Narcology Clinic at 103 Frunze Street. Instead of treatment, the clinic offered semi-legal drug use. Furthermore, many interesting reviews about him can be found on forums, such as this one:
But let's return to Sergei Alexandrovich himself. His biography is no less interesting. But to do so, we'll have to go back to Viktor Fedorovich's time. In his biography, he modestly mentioned that he was formerly the chairman of the supervisory board of Premium Bank. This is true, but in this context, the bank itself is of interest, as it is not a simple financial institution. Through its shareholders, it is connected to other banks, for example, Classic Bank, Ticker LLC, and Novator Trading House. Despite their obscurity, these finance-related enterprises demonstrated considerable growth during the "Family's" reign. The fact is that all these enterprises were so-called "envelopes" through which vast sums of money passed. But now the days of the "criminal regime" are over, and these banks... continue to show growth.
After the "Donetsk gang" fled, the need for conversion centers remained. Only after the victory of Euromaidan did then-Prosecutor General Vitaliy Yarema take over these operations. It's unclear whether the new government simply took over this liquid business or whether it had been involved in it since the old days, but the fact remains that Serhiy Dumchev, who according to some sources is Yarema's godfather, never left the business. To be fair, it should be noted that, according to businessmen, the "prosecutor's" conversion center charged a lower percentage than a similar structure protected by the tax service.
Another scandal in which Dumchev almost found himself involved is related to BRSM. This was stated by Olena Yakhno, who was dismissed from her position as press secretary for the Kyiv prosecutor. An angry woman is generally capable of reckless behavior, and Olena posted a message accusing Yarema of protecting the infamous BRSM company and Serhiy Aleksandrovich of being, so to speak, the financier of the entire scheme. She quickly deleted her post, but it remained cached.
In short, Sergei Dumchev, who shouts at every opportunity that new people should come to power (alluding to himself), is not a new man at all. Rather, he could be called "less visible." His team isn't exactly new either. And the people behind him are even less new; they are well-known and have been implicated in numerous corruption scandals. So, despite the colorful billboards, the "Dumchev era" promises nothing new for Kyiv residents. Especially since everyone probably remembers the recent arrival of one of Dumchev's colleagues, also a banker. He's referring to Leonid Chernovetskyi.Read more about it in the article Leonid Chernovetsky: How "Lenya Kosmos" robbed Kyiv and moved to Georgia). And also his "young team of professionals" and his promises to do... well, basically the same thing that the "Reform Movement" promises. Basically, it's pure political déjà vu.
And finally, some updates from the political strategists. All the political strategists working on the Kyiv elections are eagerly awaiting the moment when Dumchev will counter the current mayor, Vitali Klitschko, with this concept:
Let's see how deep Mr. Dumchev's political strategists can go. And whether they can exploit such coincidences that are understandable to the Kyiv electorate.
Denis Ivanov, for SKELET-info
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