Recently, the Kyiv Regional Prosecutor's Office opened an investigation into a two-year-old case concerning the transfer of an enviable plot of land to the "Yarik" hunting club. This "VIP circle" became notorious for its immodest appetite for hectares. The club's leaders are a simple Kyiv IT specialist, a forestry business partner of MP Lozinsky, the son of the former head of the Kyiv Regional Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the newly appointed acting head of the Makarovsk District State Administration and his son. The land area that the "Yarik" hunting club began managing in 2012 is 30,8 hectares. At that time, the Committee on Hunting and Fishing approved the transfer of the "Babak Ravine" lands between the Makarovsk and Borodyansky districts from the Dubrava-Leninsky Hunting Farm of the Central Council of the Society of Military Hunters and Fishermen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Three years ago, the army team abandoned the use, and the Kyiv Regional Council did not hesitate to decide on a new transfer.
Interestingly, the new owners of 31 hectares of land (part of which is part of the "Babka Tract" nature reserve), located 85 km from Kyiv, are not ordinary people. The club's founders are a certain Konstantin Babak, Viktor Yevtushenko, Vachagan Rostomyan, and Vasily Sopko.
The first is a 28-year-old Kyiv IT specialist, who, admittedly, performs purely technical functions in this organization: when KV asked about his involvement with Yarik, Konstantin was perplexed by the fact that his initials were on the club's management list.
The club's second de facto co-founder is Viktor Yevtushenko. He manages the area and maintains the forest. He lives in the village of Makovyshche, where the Yarik club is registered.
The third, Vachagan Rastomyan, is remembered by the media as a business partner in the Golovanovskoye forestry enterprise of former MP Lozinsky, who was convicted of murder. However, he has now left the ranks of the Yarik club owners and handed over the helm to Vasyl Sopko, the son of the former head of the Kyiv region Ministry of Internal Affairs, Major General Kostyantyn Sopko.
Konstantin Sopko himself appears in documents as one of the leaders of Viktor Yanukovych's hunting club, "Kedr." Incidentally, "Kedr's" estates are even smaller than those of "Yarikov's" by 0,4 hectares.
Over time, two more figures joined the semi-formal leadership of "Yarik": Yuriy Vladimirovich Zabela and Vladimir Yuryevich Zabela. The former is a member of the Kyiv Regional Council, former head of the Zhytomyr Regional State Administration, former chairman of the Makarovsk District State Administration, and currently the acting head. The latter is his businessman son.
The name of the club itself is supposedly connected to the Zabel family. Yarik is the name of Zabela Jr.'s dog. On related forums, you can learn that even the hunting tournament "Yarik Cup" is named after the dog, Yarik.
KV previously reported on Yuri Zabel and his political career.
In the 90s, he worked as a gamekeeper at the Dubrava-Leninsky hunting grounds, where the disputed lands are located. He later went into business and politics, becoming the head of the Makarovsky district in 2007. From 2007 to 2010, under Yushchenko's rule, he headed the Zhytomyr Regional State Administration. Since 2010, after being dismissed by Viktor Yanukovych, he has served as a deputy of the Kyiv Regional Council. In the KOS, Zabela, a former socialist, was a member of the Party of Regions faction. He left the Party of Regions along with his then-comrades in February.
The Yarik club is registered in the Makarovsky District, in the village of Nalivaykovka, at 1b Oktyabrskaya Street. The company is also legally registered there as Makarov-Agrostroy, a private enterprise founded by Vladimir Zabela, the son of the current acting chairman of the Makarov district, and whose father was previously the director.
Yuriy Zabela himself assured KV that he has no connection to these lands, and that the accusations against him, voiced, in particular, by journalists from the 1+1 TV channel (the “Groshi” program), are connected exclusively to his recent appointment to a high-ranking position.
"My name appears in the case because of my son's involvement. He manages an agricultural enterprise in the Makarovsky District and received an offer to join the club back then, as the land would have become unprofitable without proper care. And there was no illegal seizure," Yuri Zabela commented to KV.
KyivVlast
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