Alas, we will soon be deprived of the pleasure of listening to Ilya Kiva's stories of heroic arrests of small-time drug dealers, as well as his philosophical conversations that evoke memories of the Poltava market. But no matter. We have no doubt that he will soon resurface in politics somewhere. Pure physics: the easy stuff always comes to mind. But the fact is that Kiva alone would hardly be able to combat the Ukrainian drug mafia. And not because half the parliament are drug addicts, as Kiva claims. The situation is far more complex. Drug trafficking has effectively become a "royal" business. And to destroy this business, we must also eliminate the leaders of entire cities. For example, to destroy the drug trade in Odessa, we would first have to eliminate Odessa's mayor, Gennady Trukhanov . Because despite his image as a champion of a healthy boxing lifestyle, Trukhanov can't help but profit from the drug trade in Odessa. Specifically, at his main haunt, Privoz. Dumskaya recently published a detailed article about the drug trade at Privoz. But, understandably cautious, the authors omitted the main point. Since 2011, Privoz has belonged to the Angela organized crime group, where Gennady Trukhanov serves as the leading "capo." Galanternik privatized the market under Gurvits , but as a result of a serious lawsuit, he was forced to hand over half to Angert so that Trukhanov (then the head of the Party of Regions faction in the city council) could negotiate a settlement. Angert is rarely in Ukraine; Trukhanov is in charge. His men control the market extremely tightly; not a fly or an extra hryvnia can escape their notice. And even more so, without their knowledge, dozens of people would not have been able to sell drugs daily and in large quantities for many years. The article, by the way, is well-founded, with names and even video footage. It would seem like a simple matter to arrest them and unravel this whole mess. But, alas, that's not happening. And not just in Odessa.
Second Palermo: Drug dealers staged a mass brawl at Privoz
Recently, a story made headlines across Ukraine about activists from the "Public Safety Council," working with the fisheries inspectorate to stop the sale of live crayfish at Privoz, but getting a nasty rip-off from the traders. Everyone began making fun of the hapless activists, though their shame doesn't change the fact that lawlessness exists in the fish market, naturally with the complicity of some law enforcement officials. But crayfish, as a Dumskaya correspondent discovered, are just the tip of the criminal iceberg that is Privoz. Drug trafficking, in particular, is also thriving there. In fact, drug dealers were directly involved in the attack on the activists.
We have acquired discs containing operational footage from various years, documenting the activities of a drug trafficking ring. There are numerous videos, and today we present one of them, filmed back in 1999.
Odessa police officer Yuriy M., who worked for several years at Privoz and in the department for combating illegal drug trafficking, says the volume of illegal drug trafficking at the market far exceeds that of the previous record-holder, Palermo.
Drugs have always been sold at Privoz, dating back to Soviet times. However, before the collapse of the USSR, only a few people bought the stuff there—criminals who had become accustomed to it in prison, and amateurs from the "creative youth." In the early 1990s, the trade reached its peak and began to generate huge profits for drug dealers. The second center of this business was the notorious "Palermo"—the villages of Shevchenko and Korsuntsy. Ethnic criminal groups assumed the role of leading suppliers and distributors of drugs at both Privoz and Palermo. The smell of money attracted the attention of several criminal organized crime groups in Odessa, which in the 90s divided Odessa into spheres of influence, but were soon made to understand that drugs were a separate "issue." The largest suppliers were effectively independent of any of the leaders of Odessa's criminal underworld, but they formally acknowledged the authority of the "thieves in law" and regularly contributed a "small share" to the thieves' common fund. They also "warmed the prisons" with their own products—opiates and marijuana.
Privoz drug dealers also enjoyed protection for many years from the regional and district departments of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for Combating Illegal Drug Trafficking (BNON). Naturally, not for free…
After Palermo, thanks to the media, became famous not only throughout Ukraine but also throughout the former Soviet Union, orders came from Kyiv to liquidate the drug hub. The Minister of Internal Affairs personally took control of the operation, and the drug dealers were dispersed. Some were jailed, others were simply forced out of the village through constant pressure—searches and raids.
But "NarcoPrivoz" remained! While Palermo was being squeezed, the market mysteriously disappeared from the Odessa police's radar. And it quickly responded to the resulting unmet demand by doubling its turnover.
According to former drug addict Artur S. from Odessa, the most popular drugs at Privoz are so-called "chernushka" - a solution of acetylated opium in syringes, "boltushka" - a ready-made solution of amphetamine-type drugs, and codeine-containing tablets.
"Currently, a 'bayan' (a syringe with a ready-to-use solution – Ed.) with nigella sativa is sold at Privoz for 40-50 hryvnia per cubic centimeter. Depending on the quality, chatterbox is 70 to 90 hryvnia per cubic centimeter. Codeine-containing tablets – mainly "Codterpin" and "Tramadol" – are 25 to 30 hryvnia per 1000," says Artur.
According to our sources, a certain Valentina, nicknamed "Pushok," has been in charge of the entire drug trade at Privoz since the 1990s. She operates as a "family contractor" with relatives. The women of this clan directly manage the drug trade at the market, while the men act as buyers and suppliers of goods from other parts of the Odessa region.
The "Pushok" operation is quite simple: it uses drug addicts as front men. For a fee of a cubic meter or two of black buckwheat, they recruit about a dozen addicts daily. Some of the addicts, posing as shrimp and greens vendors, stand in the Privoz market stalls and at the stands on Preobrazhenskaya Street. They both sell the drugs themselves and supply other middlemen with "accordions," who then sell the drugs to those willing throughout the market. In the event of a police raid, only the middlemen are caught. The material damage in this case is minimal—a dozen syringes containing drugs and a thousand or two hryvnias in profit: "Pushok" and her family members are always nearby and occasionally empty the register.
"Valya can also lend out her goods, but she's usually only so 'merciful' to newbies. The reason is simple: after a newbie gets hooked, they'll still come to Privoz for more, because Valya's drugs are cheaper than the local drug shops. There's no other choice anyway..."
According to Dumskaya, between 1,000 and 1,500 cubic meters of "chernushka" alone are sold at Privoz per day! Due to its higher price, "boltushka" is sold slightly less – up to 300 cubic meters per day. For comparison, consider the trade volumes of the same drugs in Palermo in the late 1990s – up to 500 cubic meters per day. The wholesale price of "chernushka" ranges from 18 to 20 hryvnia per cubic meter, and "boltushka" from 30 to 40 hryvnia per cubic meter. This means that drug dealers at Privoz earn between 25,000 and 40,000 hryvnia per day!
In the surveillance video, Valya "Pushok" not only occasionally films the cash register and monitors the sales staff, but also dispenses the "product" herself—apparently to especially trusted drug addicts. She even provides an additional service, offering thirsty customers water to wash down their pills right at the point of purchase.
The drug sales at Privoz are disguised rather simply. On the counter in front of the seller are a few bunches of greens or plates of shrimp, with towels laid out beneath the bunches and plates. It's underneath these towels that syringes containing "black liquor" and "chatterbox" are found.
Several family clans from the town of Bershad in the Vinnytsia region, Vapnyarka, Izmail, Nerubayske, and Chornomorsk in the Odessa region act as drug suppliers. Before the occupation of Crimea, they supplied goods to Privoz from Krasnoperekopsk, most often opium and marijuana. Interestingly, each family clan, connected to the Odessa drug traffickers through "business" connections, performs its own highly specialized function. Vinnytsia Oblast and Vapnyarka supply raw opium, Izmail supplies marijuana, and Nerubayske and Chornomorsk specialize in the production of opium solution.
In Odessa itself, the Pushok clan is connected to several large pharmacy chains—the pharmacists supply drug dealers with large quantities of syringes and ingredients for making nigella and amphetamine solutions. Roles in the family "business" are also clearly defined. For example, Pushok herself acts as a kind of "capo di tutti capi"—godfather and coordinator. Olga G., nicknamed "Lagonda," is the custodian of the group's treasury, and Maria G., nicknamed "Dolya," acts as Valentina's deputy, sometimes filling in for her in the field.
"The drug trade at Privoz is now effectively controlled by two women – Lagonda and Pushok. Both have worked hand in hand for many years and are connected through numerous ties to drug suppliers from all over Ukraine. Bershad, Vapnyarka, and Izmail are just some of the opium and amphetamine supply routes to Odesa. Large quantities of methamphetamine have also recently begun arriving from Transcarpathia, where several large clandestine laboratories operate. Odesa drug dealers have also established connections with the southern regions of the Odesa region, where marijuana cultivation has reached an industrial level. All of this is controlled by Oleg Reniyskyi's group, which runs the business from abroad. The Odesa drug trafficking ring has outgrown the scope of "urban consumers" and has begun organizing wholesale drug shipments to Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities. Several ethnic clans from Odesa are involved in this business," an officer from the Odesa SBU department explained to us on condition of anonymity.
Since the early 2000s, the trade in opiates, marijuana, and methamphetamine at and near the Privoz market has been protected by officers from the Odessa regional and district drug enforcement departments—Dumskaya has documented evidence of these facts.
Recently, the Drug Enforcement Directorate was reorganized into a separate Department for Combating Drug Crime. However, despite the reorganization and re-certification, the new agency included numerous former BNON officers who were involved in protecting drug trafficking. Interestingly, some of the individuals implicated in the Dumskaya investigation recently appeared in footage of a scandalous incident at Privoz, when the fisheries inspectorate, along with activists from the Russian State Library, attempted to stop the illegal crayfish trade. Valentina "Pushok" herself was also featured, being among the first to attack Gordiyenko's associates.
That is, despite the abundance of operational information about the thriving drug trade in Privoz, the cart is still there.
Author – Georgy Ak-Murza
"Dumskaya"
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