Before approving the new government on April 14, members of parliament reviewed the personal files of each minister and their income for the previous year. Arseniy Yatsenyuk's successor team doesn't include many wealthy ministers—only four official millionaires: Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman, Justice Minister Pavlo Petrenko (Read more about it in the article Pavel Petrenko, the "pocket" boy of the Yatsenyuk "Family"), Interior Minister Arsen Avakov and Ecology Minister Ostap Semerak (the latter three were elected to the Cabinet of Ministers through the People's Front quota).
There are far more millionaires among the wives of newly elected ministers.
"Feminism, Ukrainian style. I was looking through the biographies of the new ministers and was surprised by the following facts. The majority—10 ministers—are from Western Ukraine. Five were educated abroad. But the most surprising thing is that the ministers' spouses have higher incomes. So, a woman earns more than a male minister?! I don't know yet how to feel about this," MP Tetyana Donetsk wrote on her Facebook page.
MIR studied the declarations of ministers and compiled a top 10 list of the richest wives of officials, finding out how they earned their wealth.
First spot Inna Avakova, the wife of Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, tops our ranking with an income of 2,147,153 hryvnias. As the minister himself has stated, his significant other is a banker. However, as Avakov's income declaration shows, banking doesn't bring in much money. Inna Avakova's annual salary in 2015 was only 187,153 hryvnias. Her main income—2,230,000 hryvnias—came from the sale of valuables and works of art.
Minister Avakov himself earned 1,678,414 hryvnias in 2015. Of this amount, only 228,414 hryvnias came from salary; the rest came from the sale of valuables and works of art.
In second place Guzel Nasalik, the wife of the Minister of Energy and Coal Industry, earned 1,546,878 hryvnias. She has been successfully running her own business for several years. Guzel represents the British brand Clive Christian (perfumes and furniture) in Ukraine. Nasalik's wife earned 745,256 hryvnias from her business. She also earned 720,000 hryvnias from the sale of property (she sold a car).
Compared to his wife, Minister Ihor Nasalik's income is paltry. His salary is only 81,122 hryvnias.
Rounding out the top three The prime minister's wife, Olena Groysman, is one of the leaders. Her income in 2015 was 1,453,357 hryvnias. The new prime minister's significant other is a remarkably private figure. Even Groysman's allies in the Petro Poroshenko Bloc don't know exactly what Olena Groysman does. Some told MIR that she was a housewife, while others claimed she worked in real estate.
Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman also earned a good income last year, with his total income in 2015 amounting to 1,487,310 hryvnias. He earned most of his income, 1,4 million hryvnias, from leasing out one of his homes.
In fourth place Lyudmila Zubko, wife of the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Regional Development and Housing and Public Utilities, earned 1.9 million rubles. All of her income comes from her official salary. In 2010, Lyudmila Zubko founded the Lviv Chocolate Workshop in Zhytomyr.
Deputy Prime Minister Gennady Zubko earned quite well in 2015, although less than his wife: 911 thousand 89 hryvnias: salary – 73 thousand 21 hryvnias, income from teaching – 832 thousand hryvnias, other – 6 thousand hryvnias.
Fifth spot The girlfriend of Infrastructure Minister Volodymyr Omelyan tops the "Richest Wives of Ministers" list. Designer Svitlana Bevza contributed 679,316 hryvnias to the family budget: 605,124 hryvnias from business income, 25,800 hryvnias from maternity leave, and 48,332 hryvnias from other sources.
Because Minister Volodymyr Omelyan sold his "property" for 680,000 hryvnias, his income exceeded his wife's earnings. Otherwise, with a salary of 120,870 hryvnias per year, he would have been classified as a "gigolo."
Sixth place Inna Poltorak, the wife of the Minister of Defense, topped the list with an income of UAH 499,143. A servicewoman at the National Academy of the National Guard of Ukraine, she earned an annual salary of UAH 51,248 in 2015, along with dividends of UAH 32,020 and UAH 415,875 from the sale of property.
The head of the Ministry of Defense, Stepan Poltorak, himself (read more about it Stepan Poltorak: The new Kuchma needs a new Kuzmuk) In 2015, he earned almost 100,000 hryvnias less than his wife. His total income for the previous year was 357,176 hryvnias.
In seventh place Orysia Semerak, the wife of the Minister of Ecology, earned 394,650 hryvnias. She works as a doctor.
Minister Ostap Semerak was, of course, the family's main breadwinner in 2015. His annual income was 1,8 million hryvnias. However, 1,1 million hryvnias came from the sale of his house, and the rest, 78,900 hryvnias, came from his salary.
In eighth place The second wife of the Foreign Ministers, Maryna Mykhailenko, earned 369,128 hryvnias. She works as the deputy head of the Main Foreign Policy Department of the Presidential Administration. Her income consists of a salary of 154,128 hryvnias and income from the alienation of movable and immovable property of 215,000 hryvnias.
Minister Pavlo Klimkin's income in 2015 was higher than his new wife's. However, the minister's salary is lower, only 74,797 hryvnias. The bulk of his income last year—536,305 hryvnias—came from the alienation of property.
In ninth placeSvitlana Kubiv, the wife of the First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Development, ended up with a modest annual income of 256,260 hryvnias. The president of the Ivan Franko National University of Lviv Alumni Association did not receive a salary last year. Her only income came from leasing property.
Stepan Kubiv also lived off rent in 2015. The First Deputy Prime Minister's income was 183,229 hryvnias, including 79,263 hryvnias from salary and 103,966 hryvnias from property leases.
Last thing, tenth place Iryna Zhdanova, the wife of the Minister of Youth and Sports, topped our ranking. As director of the Open Politics Foundation, she earned 284,140 hryvnias in 2015.
Minister Igor Zhdanov's income amounted to only 99,146 hryvnias. That's all his salary.
Elena Ponomarenko, MIR publication
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