Konstantin Bryl: The Lies and Gold of the Zaporizhzhia Governor-General. Part 1
Where do "modest" Ukrainian officials and generals, who have spent their entire careers in public service, get the money for expensive fleets of cars, luxurious estates, and luxurious trinkets? Zaporizhzhia Governor Kostiantyn Bryl has been asked this question repeatedly, and each time he has evaded the answer. He even once decided not to publish his online declaration at all, claiming it was a state secret! However, residents of Zaporizhzhia, savvy during Bryl's short but scandal- and disaster-filled tenure, have become accustomed to the fact that the amount of money stolen from the state in their region is kept under the "secret" heading.
As it turned out, in the spring of 2017, Kostyantyn Bryl refused to file his electronic declaration on the grounds that he was still an active SBU general—they claimed that a senior intelligence officer shouldn't disclose any personal details. But this wasn't just an excuse; it concealed a scam that caused financial damage to the state. It unfolded after an outraged public raised questions about how Kostyantyn Bryl could combine his duties with the SBU and leadership of the regional state administration. Bryl began babbling something about how, as an SBU general, he was "seconded from the Service to executive authorities." Is that even possible? Is our Zaporizhzhia Regional Administration a military-civilian one?! No, it's an ordinary "civilian" regional state administration, which can't be run by active generals. But then a second question immediately arose: does he also receive a salary "both here and there"? Bryl lied in a direct interview with journalists that he only receives a salary from the SBU.
Apparently, Kyiv couldn't stand by his antics any longer, and the violations of the law were obvious, so almost immediately General Bryl was officially dismissed from the SBU, where he was employed and receiving a salary, and dismissed. However, a conflict arose: if he was merely "seconded by the SBU" as governor of the Zaporizhzhia Regional State Administration, then why did he remain in this position after resigning? It seems Kyiv itself has become entangled in this scam! But what happened next was even more interesting: when, under public pressure, Konstantin Bryl finally published his declarationIn his declaration, he personally stated that he "sucked two mothers," meaning he received a salary in 2016 from both the SBU (78,678 hryvnias) and the Regional State Administration (191,300 hryvnias). In his 2017 declaration, the amount he siphoned off from the SBU was even greater: 277,810 hryvnias, and that's in just five months! This doesn't include his governor's salary (217,000 hryvnias) and general's pension (77,000 hryvnias).
And this was only the beginning of a new wave of scandals that befell the "defrocked general." Incidentally, he could hardly be called an "SBU man," as he earned his general's rank in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, then worked in the tax service, and then specialized in customs—and, above all, excelled in corruption.
Konstantin Bryl. From lieutenant to general
Konstantin Ivanovich Bryl (his surname derives from the name of a popular peasant straw hat) was born on April 14, 1970, in Zaporizhzhia (or, according to other sources, Donetsk), to Ivan Petrovich Bryl (born 1947). He always kept a tight lid on his father, and for good reason – after all, it was through his father's connections that Konstantin Bryl rose to prominence. His most important connection was Yuriy Kravchenko, the future Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine. And here's the surprising thing: while refusing to reveal any details about his parents, Konstantin Ivanovich frankly admitted to journalists that he had known Yuriy Kravchenko since childhood, that it was "Uncle Yura" who invited him to work for the Ministry of Internal Affairs and helped him advance his career.
Konstantin Bryl: The Lies and Gold of the Zaporizhzhia Governor-General. Part 1
Journalists did manage to discover that Konstantin Bryl's mother worked as a teacher, and his father was the head of the sanitary and epidemiological station in Pereyaslav-Khmelnytskyi. This happened later, however, as Konstantin spent his childhood and youth in the town of Dobrovelychkivka in the Kirovohrad region, where his family moved in the 70s. It was there that Ivan Bryl apparently met Yuriy Kravchenko, a native of the Kirovohrad region who had worked for nearly fifteen years in the regional police, from an inspector in the OBKhSS to the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. What brought them together is unknown, but Kravchenko became a friend of the Bryl family.
Konstantin Bryl in his youth
After 8th grade, Kostya Bryl's parents enrolled him in the Kiev Suvorov Military School (now the Kiev Bogun Military Lyceum). After graduating, he went to distant Omsk and enrolled in the Higher Combined Arms Command School (class of 1987-91, 8th Company, 4th Platoon). Bryl himself claimed to have graduated from the "intelligence department" there—however, according to Skelet.OrgIn fact, there was no such department there. According to our information, he received a specialization there as an engineer specializing in the operation of armored vehicles and automobiles—which is more plausible, since the school did have a department for that purpose. After graduating, Konstantin Bryl received a privileged assignment to the Western Group of Forces in Germany (which was already withdrawing), where he began his service as the commander of a motorized rifle reconnaissance platoon, armed with armored personnel carriers and BRDMs.
In short, Bryl's engineering education is confirmed, but the "intelligence department" part is something he made up himself, just for show. Just like the story that he made his first fortune from his own salary and his wife's wages (in German marks). Why? Because these days, Bryl was finding it increasingly difficult to answer journalists' questions about the origins of his wealth. So he indulged in various fantasies: for example, he claimed that his grandparents were incredibly wealthy back in the Soviet era.
Incidentally, according to unconfirmed reports, either his first wife's father or uncle had a hand in Bryl's assignment to the Western Group of Forces. He also remained tight-lipped about her, only mentioning once that she was an ethnic German who later moved to Germany for permanent residence—his way of answering the question of why his sons from his first marriage were studying in Germany and later moved there permanently.
In 1993, Bryl's military unit was withdrawn from Germany to Russia—by this time, he was already a fully-fledged Russian officer. As a reconnaissance company commander, Konstantin Bryl served for several months near Rostov, but his salary was no longer in marks, but in "wooden" marks, and even that was delayed. Disillusioned with his military career, he began searching for a new calling—and just in time, just before the outbreak of the infamous events in Chechnya. This is where "Uncle Yura" came to his aid, inviting "Kostya" to work for the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Since Kravchenko was already a deputy minister and living in Kyiv, and the Bryl family had moved to Pereyaslav-Khmelnytskyi (in the Kyiv region), where Bryl Sr. headed the sanitary and epidemiological station, Bryl Jr. found a job in his new place of residence and almost in his field. A former intelligence officer and armored vehicle specialist became a traffic police inspector, setting up ambushes on the roads – but he himself claims that he allegedly started out in the Ministry of Internal Affairs as an "operator" (another fantasy of Bryl's).
Very soon, Konstantin Bryl rose to the rank of head of the district traffic police and acquired substantial real estate, including in Kyiv. Although he explained this purchase to journalists either as his own savings or as his grandparents' treasures, sources Skelet.Org It was reported that in reality he collected most of the money with the help of a "magic striped wand."
The Zaporizhzhia governor's biography makes no mention of his service in the traffic police, nor does he reveal details of his subsequent promotion. This secrecy is understandable, as Kostyantyn Bryl leaped from his position as chief traffic cop in Pereyaslav-Khmelnytskyi to the position of commander of the Kyiv Oblast traffic police regiment in 1999—immediately after Vyacheslav Chornovil died in a car accident under very strange circumstances on the section of highway assigned to him between Boryspil and Pereyaslav-Khmelnytskyi. The sudden death of the then-leader of the right-wing opposition allowed Kuchma to secure his votes to defeat communist Symonenko in the presidential election. Unsurprisingly, Chornovil's death still raises numerous speculations and questions, including those directed at Kostyantyn Bryl. After all, if the late Yuriy Kravchenko "hushed up" Chornovil's death at the ministry level, then the chief traffic cop of the Bryl district was directly involved in ensuring the accident was officially recorded as an accident. And who would have handled this better than "Kostya," whom Kravchenko had known since childhood and could trust with the most sensitive tasks? Could this be why Chornovil died on the highway near Pereyaslav? Unfortunately, the new investigation into this case, promised by Prosecutor General Lutsenko in 2016, has stalled, just like all the previous ones.
Immediately after the deceased politician's funeral, Bryl was promoted to commander of the regional traffic police regiment (which also allowed him to further clean up the Chornovil case), but he didn't stay there for long. Elections followed, Kuchma was re-elected president, and Kostyantyn Bryl transferred to the Ministry of Internal Affairs' main office, serving as a trusted aide to Yuriy Kravchenko himself. According to numerous eyewitness accounts, Bryl shadowed the minister, carrying out various personal errands. In 2000, as a gift from "Uncle Yura," he received a diploma from the National Academy of Internal Affairs, and soon afterward, the rank of major general. "General Kostya," as he was nicknamed in the ministry, was the youngest general in the Ministry of Internal Affairs—and perhaps the youngest Ukrainian general ever!
Great Hunt
After the Melnychenko tapes scandal erupted, followed by the opposition's "Ukraine without Kuchma" protest, Interior Minister Yuriy Kravchenko was removed from his post and sent away to avoid trouble. He was first appointed governor of Kherson, where Kravchenko quickly assessed the situation and decided to take control of grain exports. And here's the interesting part: in December 2001, the former minister became governor, and by January 2002, the Centurion Law Firm LLC was registered in Kherson. Its founders included Iryna Kravchenko, Maya Bryl, Viktor Panasenko, Valentyn Zamnius, Anatoliy Podolyaka, and Tetyana Milchenko. Now let's clarify who these people are.
- Irina Yuryevna Kravchenko is Yuri Kravchenko's biological daughter. That much is clear.
- Maya Petrovna Bryl, née Matvienko, a native of the village of Mala-Kartul in the Pereyaslav-Khmelnytskyi district, is the second wife of Konstantin Bryl, who bore him three daughters (in addition to two sons from his first marriage).
- Police Colonel Viktor Panasenko, former deputy head of the capital's Economic Crimes Department, has served as head of the security service at Ukrzernoprom since 1999.
- Anatoliy Podolyaka is a longtime associate of Yuriy Kravchenko. He started out with him in the Kirovohrad region, moved with him to Kyiv, and from 1998 to 2000 served as the head of the State Traffic Inspectorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine (and Bryl's direct supervisor). He then became a deputy minister, and from 2001 to 2004, he served as deputy head of the State Tax Administration of Ukraine. In 2005, Podolyaka became director of the Institute of Law at the International Association of Personnel Management (MAUP), and in 2011, the temporarily unemployed Konstantin Bryl found a place there as a professor. He later completed his doctorate at the same institute in 2015.
- Valentin Zamnius is a businessman who at that time was engaged in grain, and later became a co-owner of Akhtyrka LLC (EDRPOU 32047469) and Ukrenergoinvest CJSC (EDRPOU 34048548).
- Tatyana Stanislavovna Milchenko, a former resident of Dnepropetrovsk, according to information published in the media, was directly related to Dnepropetrovsk "authority" Alexander Milchenko, nicknamed "Sailor," who was killed in the 90s.
Family of Konstantin Bryl:
Maya Petrovna (above), sons from her first marriage, daughters from her second
When Yuriy Kravchenko was appointed head of the State Tax Administration of Ukraine in December 2002, he immediately brought Kostiantyn Bryl into his department, making him a general in the tax police. Kostiantyn Ivanovich once again began diligently carrying out Kravchenko's personal orders. According to sources, Skelet.Org, one of the tasks of “General Kostya” was to collect money locally and then deliver it to “Uncle Yura”.
During this period, Maya Bryl became a co-founder of another company: Okhotnichy Tropy LLC (EDRPOU 31604378) registered in the Kyiv region, which, according to media reports, in 2004 received a lease of 49 thousand hectares (490 square kilometers) of land for hunting grounds! However, journalists believe that this is not just one plot of land, but several, since in addition to Okhotnichy Tropy, the Bryl family is connected to a number of similar companies, among which were named: Okhotnichy Tropy Prisivashya LLC (Crimea), T.O.R.-Krym LLC, Pereyaslavskoye Specialized Hunting Farm LLC (EDRPOU 32393573), Pereyaslavskiy Okhotnichy Dvor LLC (EDRPOU 38368013), and Dimerskoye Hunting Farm LLC. All of this was created for VIP clients, who were offered hunting not only for wild boar and roe deer, but also for elk and even deer.
Alexey Bakai
Interestingly, some of them were subsequently liquidated, with all information completely removed from state registries, although references to them remained on the Internet—for example, their office at the capital's address, Nestorovsky Lane 7/9, where the Ibis gun store was later opened.
It is also interesting that Maya Bryl’s partner in three hunting grounds is the son of Alexei Bakai, the mayor of Berdyansk in 1994-98 and 2010-2015, who was called a puppet. Yuri BoykoHe became friends with Boyko during the break between his two mayoral terms, when he held positions at Naftogaz (hence the rumors of his relationship with Ihor Bakai). At Naftogaz, one of Oleksiy Bakai's "public assignments" was organizing corporate retreats with hunting, picnics, and saunas (and girls) at the aforementioned hunting grounds—which he owned with the Bryl family. But it wasn't just Naftogaz officials and Yanukovych's allies who entertained themselves with boar drives and "screwing whores" (or vice versa) there. Apparently, this is the secret to Kostiantyn Bryl's unsinkability under any government.
And then came the first Maidan, the Ukrainian government changed hands, and Konstantin Bryl's boss and patron mysteriously committed suicide with two gunshots to the head. It's worth noting that Bryl was one of the two people who first discovered Kravchenko's body. The other was Colonel Stanislav Soroka, another trusted lieutenant of Kravchenko's, who acted as his adjutant. It was Bryl who led Yuriy Kravchenko's funeral procession, carrying his portrait. He was also one of those who categorically rejected the suicide theory and believed that Kravchenko had been assassinated in a special operation carried out by several people.
K. Bryl at the funeral of Yu. Kravchenko
Some even believed Bryl's insistence on this theory was no accident. After all, initially, few believed Kravchenko's suicide, and many thought this preposterous theory would eventually come to light. Bryl himself could have been involved in the alleged murder, because if this theory were true, the former minister was either killed by someone close to him or with their assistance. And to deflect suspicion from himself, Bryl needed to advance a different version of the murder, involving a mythical team of "ninja killers." Another curious note: when Kravchenko's family later tried to get the case reinvestigated, Bryl suddenly developed multiple sclerosis.
The period 2005-2008 is incredibly interesting in Konstantin Bryl's biography, as it has become a completely gray area, thoroughly erased from all records. The media only alludes to fragmentary references to Bryl's continued work in the tax police during these years and his strengthening of the family hunting business—for example, his wife co-founded the Lviv-based Gal-Ars LLC (another gun shop). As you can see, the arms trade brought in a tidy income for the police general's family. This example explains why the Ministry of Internal Affairs has always been so categorically opposed to the legalization of Ukraine's arms market. Furthermore, in 2006, Bryl acquired two attractive plots of land in Pushcha-Vodytsia: on 11th Line and on Lesnaya Street. Moreover, they were registered to him through deeds of gift (gift agreements No. 2892 and No. 2888).
It was also reported that in 2006-2007, Kostyantyn Bryl was a member of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine. Apparently, that's where he became close with Valery Khoroshkovsky, who was appointed head of the Customs Service in December 2007, and already in January 2008, he hired Konstantin Ivanovich. And as none other than head of the Department of Internal Security! According to numerous sources Skelet.OrgThis appointment was a well-thought-out move by Khoroshkovsky and testified to the high level of trust between him and Bryl. The fact is that the Department of Internal Security was used for a major purge of personnel within the Customs Service: some officials were removed and replaced by their own people, while others rushed to swear loyalty to Khoroshkovsky and discuss the size of the regularly paid tribute. But there were still others who had their own "protection" in power—and this led to war.
Sergey Varis, for Skelet.Org
CONTINUED: Konstantin Bryl: The Lies and Gold of the Zaporizhzhia Governor-General. Part 2
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