Leonid Chernovetsky: How "Lenya Kosmos" robbed Kyiv and moved to Georgia
Ukrainians traditionally have even worse luck with mayors than with presidents. Some deprive people of businesses and jobs, calling for them to "get ready for the land," while others turn their cities into garbage dumps. But the most eccentric Ukrainian mayor was undoubtedly Leonid Chernovetskyi. A businessman, pastor, and eccentric all rolled into one, surrounded by an army of Kyiv grandmothers who idolized him—whom he shamelessly deceived and cynically exploited.
Ballad of the Buried Grandfather
Mikhail Ilyich Chernovetsky with his first wife Evdokia
Leonid Mikhailovich Chernovetsky was born on December 25, 1951, in Kharkov, to a typical Soviet middle-class family. His mother, Praskovya Gavrilovna Goncharova (1914-2007), worked as a village school teacher before the war, then graduated from law school and pursued a career as a criminal and civil defense attorney. Rumors circulated that Praskovya Gavrilovna had children before Leonid (two daughters and a son) who perished during the harsh war years, but these rumors are unsubstantiated. However, the war crippled the life and health of his father, career officer Mikhail Ilyich Chernovetsky. He returned from the war as a disabled soldier, first marrying the widow Evdokia Nazarchuk, then divorcing her. In 1949, he married Praskovya Goncharova, but he and her only lived together for four years. After the divorce, he stopped even visiting his son, and Leonid practically doesn't remember his father, although he took his last name. He was raised by his stepfather, Yakov Grigorievich Azimov, an actor and director of the Kharkiv Russian Drama Theater. Praskovya Gavrilovna married him in the late 50s and lived with his last name for the next half-century.
Yakov Grigorievich Azimov
However, raising Leonid was impossible. He enthusiastically embraced his stepfather's acting, learning to play roles and perform convincingly, but the art itself held little interest for him: the little rascal saw it merely as a means to achieve his goals. He began playing roles in life: a principled and outspoken boy in front of the teachers at Kharkiv Secondary School No. 36, a resourceful troublemaker in front of his classmates and street hooligans, a loving, obedient son in front of his mother. His entire life would eventually become one big theater! Hence the contradictory memories of Leonid's childhood, and the ambivalent assessment of Leonid Chernovetskyi's work as a businessman, politician, and mayor.
According to childhood friends, young Chernovetskyi was initially a frequent prankster, then began hanging out with street gangs, participating in their teenage drinking parties and petty thefts, and even working as a lackey for some petty crime boss. At the same time, teachers described him as unruly, but smart and a good student. Nevertheless, after eighth grade, he was forced to leave school. Chernovetskyi was not accepted into either a technical school or a vocational school, and his mother found him a job as a mechanic's apprentice at the Kharkiv Aircraft Factory. He received his secondary education, according to some sources, at Evening Workers' School No. 3; according to others, at the highly prestigious Comprehensive School No. 4.
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