Jean Belenyuk
Professional athletes aren't poor, especially those who manage to combine the seemingly incompatible—an active sports career with a parliamentary mandate. Take Zhan Beleniuk.
Do training, camps, and competitions leave time for quality legislative work? One way or another, it's paid promptly and generously.
Understanding this, in 2019, renowned Ukrainian wrestler Zhan Beleniuk took on a new "title" – becoming a member of the Verkhovna Rada. Why did this multiple Ukrainian, European, and world champion in Greco-Roman wrestling, and Olympic medalist in Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo, pursue a political career? To develop sports in Ukraine and/or for personal enrichment? Let's briefly analyze both possibilities.
According to the Slovo i Delo portal , which tracks politicians' fulfillment of their election platforms, by the halfway point of his term, Zhan Beleniuk had kept only 10% of his promises. Incidentally, not a single one of them concerns sports. Yet, he's not just a member of parliament, but the first deputy head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Youth and Sports. Consequently, he has the authority and all the legal tools to reboot domestic sports.
Screenshot from the website "Word and Deed"
The second version is supported by a number of facts. For example, a week before the start of Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine, on February 17, Beleniuk supported a significant increase in the income of MPs. He voted for bill No. 7062, which restored the 100% salary supplement to MPs. Thus, the MP's salary reached almost 50 hryvnias per month, not counting other allowances and bonuses. As deputy committee head, Beleniuk earns even more. In addition to a decent salary, the athlete-MP is not above all bonuses and perks from the state budget. For example, in 2021, he received the maximum legal compensation for transportation expenses—90 hryvnias.
At the same time, the deputy's athletic career already brings him a handsome income. For example, he received $125 from the state for his gold medal at the Tokyo Games. This amount should have been reflected in his 2020 asset declaration. However, it is currently impossible to verify this—due to martial law, public access to officials' asset declarations is restricted.
It is known that in 2019, already a member of parliament, Beleniuk earned 1,3 million hryvnias. His income structure again points to pathological commercialism: in addition to salaries, it is replete with compensation, bonuses, and other payments. For example, he received 344 hryvnias in financial assistance from the state administration of national teams and sports events support company Ukrsportobespechenie, 115 hryvnias from the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine, and another 161 hryvnias in payments from the Ministry of Defense.
The Olympian readily accepts "incentives" from regional budgets. For example, he received 143 hryvnias from the Poltava Regional State Administration's Department of Family, Youth, and Sports, 60 hryvnias in stipends from the Kremenchuk City Council Executive Committee, and another 18 hryvnias from the Poltava Regional School of Higher Sports Mastery. In 2019, the athlete-deputy held $126, €41, and 856 hryvnias in cash alone. He also deposited 93 hryvnias and over €7 in PrivatBank, and another 10 hryvnias in Oschadbank.
Zhan Beleniuk is also "well-stocked" with real estate. After the athlete complained about living with his mother in a tiny one-room apartment, in 2018 the Kyiv authorities, with the assistance of the head of the National Olympic Committee, Serhiy Bubka, gifted him a two-bedroom apartment in Pozniaky. Another apartment in Kyiv was given to Beleniuk by the president of the Ukrainian Freestyle Wrestling Association, Yuriy Kopytko, which the athlete prudently registered in his mother's name. However, instead of moving into his long-awaited home of his own, the Olympian suddenly decided to rent out both of his Kyiv apartments. In the village of Shevchenkove near Kyiv, he owns a two-story house and a 566-square-meter plot of land. This property is also registered in his mother's name. And although Beleniuk already has plenty of housing (both purchased himself and gifts for his athletic achievements), he happily accepted the gift of another apartment – this one in Poltava. At the same time, hundreds of other worthy athletes, Olympians and Paralympians in equally prestigious sports, have been unable to resolve their housing issues for years.
The role of athletes in strengthening Ukraine's image and promoting it internationally is invaluable. Highly respected and beloved by the people, former wrestlers, football players, and track and field athletes often enter politics. But instead of changing politics, they change themselves. Olympian Beleniuk had a chance to break this tradition, but he didn't take it. Almost three of his five years in parliament have passed, and this is already evident. They bring far more benefit to the country in the sports arenas than in the parliamentary chambers, where too much money is at stake and oversight is virtually nonexistent.
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