The face of the German Galushchenko group
After appointment Andrey Yermak The head of the presidential office began a change of top managers at Ukraine's main energy institutions in early 2020. Banking confidently transfers energy to manual controlFirst, Energoatom, then the Ministry of Energy, then the National Commission for State Regulation of Energy and Public Utilities, the Guaranteed Buyer, and the Market Operator. Recently attacked the Ukrainian GTS Operator" and we can expect capture"Ukrenergo" Fortunately, evil is more than personalized, and it's time to show its face, writes ZN.
In all these stories the influence is obvious German Galushchenko, who came to the energy sector with Andriy Derkach's people. And now enjoys the unconditional trust of the presidential office, represented by Andriy Yermak and his deputies, Oleg Tatarov and Rostislav Shurma.
The connection between Derkach and German Galushchenko
Professional lawyer German Galushchenko became vice president of NNEGC Energoatom in the spring of 2020, shortly after Andriy Yermak replaced Andriy Bohdan as head of the presidential office, and Andriy Honcharuk's government was replaced by Denis Shmygal's enforcers.
This wasn't Herman Galushchenko's first foray into the nuclear energy industry. Officially, he had already served as the Director of Legal Support at NNEGC in 2013–2014. At that time, Nikita Konstantinov was the head of Energatom. Konstantinov, in turn, was the Vice President of NNEGC in 2005–2006, when Andriy Derkach headed the state-owned company. After the 2014 Revolution of Dignity, Konstantinov fled Ukraine and went to work for Rosatom. According to the SBU, Derkach was recruited by Russian intelligence during the same period.
Along with Galushchenko, Oleh Boyarintsev, who served as Andriy Derkach's parliamentary aide from 2002 to 2019, joined Energoatom in 2020. Boyarintsev first became the chief consultant in the presidential service of the National Nuclear Energy Generating Company (NAEK), and then became Energoatom's Director of Human Resources. This means he is now in charge of all appointments at the state-owned company's headquarters. At the beginning of the Russian invasion in March 2022, the SBU suspected Boyarintsev of treason, and he was detained near the Rivne Nuclear Power Plant. However, this detention did not even lead to his dismissal from his position.
Thus, Derkach's influence on Energoatom's personnel was so obvious that in 2021 even Yuriy Vitrenko, who was then the acting Minister of Energy, spoke about it: “Derkach simply has a historical influence on Energoatom. He has a lot of people there. I know that for sure.».
Andrey Derkach
Who is Andriy Derkach?
Now Derkach is known as a traitor to the Motherlandy, whom the Russian special services allegedly recruited only in 2016During Volodymyr Zelenskyy's presidency, he and "Servant of the People" Oleksandr Dubinskyy leaked recordings of conversations between Petro Poroshenko and Joe Biden, intended to discredit the two presidents and fuel anti-American sentiment in Ukrainian society.
However, Derkach's activities proved to be a failure. Galushchenko publicly saidthat his connection to Derkach was a hoax. Derkach was ultimately marginalized to the status of a landowner in Glukhovshchyna, a border region of the Sumy region, where he hid before being declared wanted for treason.
He used to be a very influential player in Ukrainian politics. Andriy Derkach is the son of SBU head Leonid Derkach, who headed the security service from 1998 to 2002. That was when Georgiy Gongadze was assassinated, and the Melnichenko tapes scandal erupted over the wiretapping of President Leonid Kuchma.
Andrey was the godfather of Yuriy Lutsenko (former Prosecutor General and Minister of Internal Affairs) and David Zhvania (a former people's deputy and supplier of Russian fuel to Energoatom, who transferred to serve in the Russian Federation before the invasion and who was killed near Zaporizhia).
Derkach's daughter is married to the son of Volodymyr Lytvyn, the longtime head of the Verkhovna Rada and the presidential administration (also during the Gongadze assassination). Derkach's wife's brother is married to the daughter of Russian oligarch Konstantin Grigorishin.
During the first Maidan protests in 2004, Derkach donned an orange scarf as a key member of the Socialist Party, which joined the ruling coalition. This allowed him to become the head of Energoatom in 2005–2006, with President Viktor Yushchenko's permission. Officially, Herman Galushchenko was working in President Yushchenko's secretariat at the time. Rumor has it that he was already providing legal services to nuclear industry workers, but there is no official confirmation of this.
Other members of Herman Galushchenko's group
Two years after German Galushchenko's return, key positions in the state energy sector were occupied by managers associated with or loyal to Galushchenko.
Two days before the Russian invasion, Konstantin Ushchapovsky was appointed head of the National Commission for State Regulation of Energy and Public Utilities (NKREKU), replacing Valeriy Tarasyuk, who resigned under pressure from the presidential office. Prior to this, he served as an advisor to Energy Minister Galushchenko.
During his career, Ushapovsky worked for many government agencies, including Ukrenergo and Energoatom. His wife, Valeria Ushapovsky, owned a stake in the companyEnergospetsremont"Her partners in this firm were Grigory and Ivan Plachkov, also well-known figures in the energy market at the beginning of the century.
Yuri Vlasenko — Minister Galushchenko's first deputy and right-hand man. He worked for many years at the National Commission for State Regulation of Energy and Public Utilities. According to a source, it was Vlasenko who pressured Ukrenergo CEO Volodymyr Kudrytskyi to submit a motion to the supervisory board in December 2021 to dismiss two board members, Andriy Nemirovskyi and Maksym Yurkov, in order to appoint the minister's people in their place (more on Gapon and Olefir below). After the synchronization of the Ukrainian energy system with the European one this spring, Vlasenko was supposed to oversee Galushchenko's order to distribute Ukrenergo's revenues from the sale of rights to the interstate grid to six companies.
Ministry of Energy of Ukraine/Facebook
Farid Safarov — Deputy Minister of Energy, responsible for the industry's digital transformation. He's been called the minister's hand, signing the necessary documents when professional lawyer Galushchenko disdains it. For example, Safarov signed the letter A decision was made regarding the absence of a conflict of interest for another Deputy Minister of Energy, Mykola Kolesnik, regarding his appointment as head of the Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine (GTSO). Such an appointment is contrary to corporate governance principles. GTSO has a European certificate of independence, so an official currently in charge of the industry cannot be appointed as its head.
Nikolai Kolesnik For many years, he worked in the ministry's directorate responsible for international relations. Galushchenko, with Safarov's patronage, elevated him to the rank of deputy minister. The "Galushchenko group" attempted to promote Kolesnik to the position of head of the OGTSU through a series of illegal decisions, which they only retracted after public disclosure.
Ministry of Energy of Ukraine/Facebook
Dmitry Olefir He was fired from Ukrenergo several years ago and is now an advisor to Galushchenko. He was one of two candidates Galushchenko attempted to appoint to the Ukrenergo board in December 2021 and January 2022.
Yuri Gapon — Galushchenko's second unsuccessful candidate for the Ukrenergo board. An SBU employee specializing in economic security, he's not an energy specialist at all, and owes his career to Andriy Derkach's father, Leonid (the head of the SBU under Leonid Kuchma).
Petr Kotin — the head of Energoatom is essentially controlled by Galushchenko. He employs people with Russian passports and close ties to the Russian Federation. He is known for categorically opposing the IAEA mission to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant until August, only changing his stance after Andriy Yermak's public statements. He fiercely defends his subordinate, Oleg Boyarintsev, who was detained by the SBU, and refused to discuss his work at a parliamentary committee meeting. Boyarintsev, of course, is also a former member of Derkach's team.
Ministry of Energy of Ukraine/Facebook
Valery Polshkov — former procurement director at Ukrenergo, dismissed by Vsevolod Kovalchuk. During Yanukovych's presidency, he handled tenders for Chornomornaftogaz, which were known for their non-market pricing. In 2020 planned He was appointed Vice President for Procurement at Energoatom, but became an advisor to Konstantin Ushchapovsky, head of the National Energy and Utilities Regulatory Commission (NERC). His role was to gain detailed knowledge of tender-sharing schemes and convey the "correct" signals from Galushchenko to contractors at various companies where the Ministry of Energy is a shareholder.
Andrey Pilipenko In December 2021, he became the head of the Guaranteed Buyer State Enterprise. Prior to that, he worked as a lawyer at Khmelnytskoblenergo. The previous head of Guaranteed Buyer, Konstantin Petrikovets, was dismissed due to refusal "to comply with illegal instructions from government representatives regarding settlements with producers of electricity from renewable sources"The government disputed these words of Petrikets.
Alexander Gavva In December 2021, he became the head of the State Enterprise "Market Operator," responsible for organizing the purchase and sale of electricity. Prior to his appointment, he was an advisor to Minister Galushchenko. His wife, Darina Gavva, works in the Energy Committee of the Verkhovna Rada.
It's not fit for the army, but it's plenty of personnel for a criminal organization. What's the threat of such a usurpation of the entire industry?
Locally - with banal schemes similar to the one already described deals around OGTSU By UAH 3 billion, driving Energoatom into bankruptcy, or taking control of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant administration. ZN.UA has already analyzed the results of this group's work: Ukraine has entered its most difficult heating season in history, without funds to cover tariffs for residents, without the gas that should ensure a comfortable season, and with unknown coal reserves. This is extremely dangerous even under normal conditions, let alone now, one step away from the most unpredictable heating season, during which it is also necessary to replenish reserves for the coming winters.
Globally - manual control of the entire industry, which will drain the last money from it, pushing it towards large-scale crisis of non-paymentsThe main problem is that we risk losing a unique opportunity to rid ourselves of the oligarchs' influence in the energy sector, where they have thrived since Kuchma's redistribution of property. This is the first year in which they no longer have a decisive voice in decision-making. But it could also be the year in which those vested with state powers become the new oligarchs. And EU integration will be a thing of the past. Instead, a new endless cycle of hoarding wealth and fighting new groups will begin…
By topic: Makogon was unexpectedly fired from OGTSU: what is known
Saving the extraordinary Galushchenko
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