Disguised as "new faces," surprising characters are entering the arena—not just moth-eaten corrupt officials and rabid bureaucrats, but even thinly disguised agents of influence from the neighboring aggressor country and veterans of its intelligence services. And while it would be fine if they were going into politics (they're no strangers to that field), the old "new faces" are infiltrating the agencies tasked with protecting law and order and national security. And this is now a matter of life and death for the entire state and for each of us.
The Perfect Spy
Recently, an indignant post by MP Max Buzhansky appeared online, demanding an investigation into the appointment of the notorious Oleg Kulinich as head of the Crimean SBU unit, currently stationed in Kherson.
Buzhansky's outrage was sparked by the revelation that Mr. Kulinich had studied for five years straight (at the end of the USSR and during the first years of independent Ukraine) at the Higher School of the KGB of the USSR, and later, accordingly, at the Academy of the FSB of the Russian Federation. During this same period, he was already involved in Russian counterintelligence agencies. Nothing more, nothing less.
At first glance, this seems absurd, but despite this page in his biography, Oleg Kulinich became a career SBU officer a few years later. But what's so absurd? A counterintelligence officer is just that – a counterintelligence officer.
Kulinich infiltrated the Ukrainian secret service during the reign of General Leonid Derkach, who never hid his pro-Russian views. Incidentally, it was his son, Andriy, also a former SBU officer and now a pro-Russian politician, who was officially designated in the United States last year as a Russian agent who interfered with the US electoral process, for which he was subjected to personal sanctions.
Kulinich would later work closely with Andrey when he took over Energoatom. In fact, according to media reports, Kulinich is considered a close friend of the Derkach family. More on that below.
There's little detailed information about Mr. Kulinich available in open sources. Clearly, he's keeping an eye on his legacy. However, what exists is quite interesting.
Official information about Mr. Kulinich is brief. He was born in the city of Smila in the Cherkasy region and worked as an advisor in the early 2000s. Various sources provide conflicting information on this matter. For example, some report that he was an advisor to the Minister of Fuel and Energy, later Deputy Secretary of State of the Ministry of Fuel and Energy, and head of the advisory group to the First Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine. At the same time, it's worth remembering, he remained a career SBU officer.
Operation "Divestiture"
Then the fun began.
From 2006 to 2010, Oleg Kulinich – under the protection of political dinosaurs with a dubious reputation (the former speaker of parliament Litvina, top officials of the Party of Regions) and the Ukrainian (or Russian?) special services (MP Sivkovich, the Derkach clan) found themselves in very lucrative positions: advisor to the president at Energoatom, deputy general director of the Ukratomprom concern, head of the State Land Committee.
In all cases, Mr. Kulinich's official mission was noble: according to the story, he entered government structures with the goal of combating corruption there. Indeed, who better than an SBU officer who defended his dissertation on anti-corruption methods in 2008 to entrust this task?
Kulinich's real mission, however, was simple and cynical: using every plausible excuse to empty the companies' budgets as much as possible, diverting the proceeds into the pockets of his protectors and his own. He had no need to be shy—and Kulinich wasn't shy. The fact that such "operations" would turn him into a toxic, unwelcome character didn't bother the special agent in the least.
At Energoatom, under the protection of his patron, Andriy Derkach, Kulinich, according to media reports, spearheaded the scam of 150 million hryvnias allocated to pay off accounts payable. Absolutely any debt was repaid, including those under a moratorium (ban). Doubtful debts from 1996-2001 (the so-called "barter" period), which had long been forgotten and whose collection was no longer feasible for creditors, were paid. During his tenure at Energoatom, Kulinich simultaneously acted as an open lobbyist for the interests of a single enterprise, Elektroyuzhmontazh-10, which received multimillion-dollar contracts for Ukrainian nuclear power plants. The servicing bank and guarantor for contracts with EUM-10 was Nadra Commercial Bank, with whose management Kulinich had developed an excellent relationship.
According to investigative journalists, it was this very financial institution that regularly footed the bill for Kulinich's various parties. Our hero, incidentally, knows how to party like a grown-up. Just recall the riotous celebration of his thirty-fifth birthday at the Mlyn restaurant.
It was through Nadra Bank that, at the end of 2007, on Kulinich’s personal instructions, 6,8 million hryvnias of doubtful debt from 1996 was paid to a certain company called Krok-2006.
Why did Mr. Kulinich, officially appointed to handle legal matters and corporate risks at Energoatom, suddenly display such scrupulousness and zealously undertake to pay off all the company's debts? It's simple. SBU audit reports indicate kickbacks on these debts amounted to up to 70%. At 150 million, that's a considerable sum. The raffle was a success.
Oleg Kulinich's brief tenure as deputy general director of the Ukratomprom concern was not memorable for anything other than the fact that this unviable enterprise collapsed and ceased operations. Somewhere in the media, there was even a rumor that our hero had a hand in the collapse, orchestrating a quiet act of sabotage in the nuclear industry.
Heading the State Land Committee is another bright chapter in Oleg Kulinich's career. He landed in this position as a result of a heated bidding war – using a quota from the Volodymyr Lytvyn Bloc and at the politician's personal request. Later, however, Mr. Lytvyn sheepishly disowned his toxic protégé.
At the State Land Committee, the special agent's thieving talents revealed new facets. He began by purging the entire staff, firing up to 80% of all agency employees nationwide. Then he quickly established a multifaceted business. One of his key areas was the sale of positions: depending on the region, the "entry ticket" for applicants ranged from $300 to $500. Another successful case involved the transfer of hundreds of millions of hryvnias from the Stabilization Fund, allocated for the preparation of technical documentation (certificates) for land plots for all their owners, for the purchase of stakes on these same plots, and for other pressing tasks. And finally, the real kicker: the disposal (and essentially, trading) of the most attractive plots at his own discretion and discretion. This is why Mr. Kulinich urgently needed to reshuffle his staff. Such multitasking required his own trusted and reliable people. And they were found. Among his deputies was, in particular, a graduate of the Russian FSB Academy (well, where would he be without colleagues?).
Crimean Gambit?
After leaving his post—almost in disgrace (the lawlessness perpetrated by Oleg Kulinich and his team at the State Land Committee was widely reported), the special agent went into hiding for a time, withdrawing from the public sphere. Only the publicly available data from his 2016 declaration reveals a certain Oleg Nikolaevich Kulinich, a detective in the Conflict of Interest and IT Security Department of the NABU's Internal Control Department, and concurrently an associate professor in the Department of Computerized Information Security Systems at the National Aviation University and a lecturer in the Department of Information Security and Cyber Defense.
A Russian special agent teaching our guys how to build cyber defenses? Pretty cool.
Only last year did the name of the toxic agent resurface, and in various contexts.
In May, in connection with the death of the controversial agrarian MP Valeriy Davydenko, which law enforcement officials reclassified from suicide to murder, public speculation began swirling about Oleh Kulinich, who may have been interested in Davydenko's death. Initially, however, confusion arose: the deceased's colleague and the head of the parliamentary association he belonged to shared the same name as our special agent. The MP was forced to defend himself and dismiss the sudden suspicions.
According to leaked information, the suspect is Oleg Nikolaevich Kulinich, who had crossed paths with the deceased in the orbit of the Young Regionals: Kurchenko, Arbuzov, and others. Specifically, Davydenko may have been involved in the embezzlement of funds from the Agrarian Fund by diverting them into bonds from Serhiy Kurchenko's failed Brokbusinessbank. A conflict of interest is possible between Kulinich and Davydenko, who were organizing their schemes in the same field.
Oleh Kulinich's name surfaced again at the end of last year, when, by decree of President Zelenskyy, he was suddenly appointed head of the SBU unit in Crimea. This shocked the public. How so? Not only was he an official long awaited for lustration (he had worked under Kuchma, Lytvyn, and Yanukovych), but he was also an outright agent of influence for the neighboring aggressor country? And this at a time of heightened tensions between the two powers?
"...The head of the SBU Main Directorate in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, Yevhen Netuzhilov, was dismissed. Oleg Kulinich, a man of the times... Leonid Derkach, was appointed in his place.
So, it wasn't just a fantasy. Kulinich served in the SBU until 2005. Then came a series of corruption scandals linked to Kulinich, particularly at Energoatom and the State Land Committee, where, incidentally, Kulinich was recruited by Volodymyr Lytvyn during Yanukovych's presidency.
"This is how impunity works. Uninvestigated crimes, like zombies, grab us by the ankles and drag us down," wrote social activist Olga Reshetilova in her post.
Journalist Vladimir Boyko suggested that Kulinich's appointment was the result of agreements and compromises between the current head of the SBU, Bakanov, and former MP Sivkovich (who, according to the journalist, is also an FSB agent in Ukraine), whose trusted representative Kulinich allegedly serves.
Trash cans at the ready
In any case, several months have passed since his appointment, and Mr. Kulinich, by all appearances, continues to feel quite comfortable. He lives, as before, in a pleasant building belonging to the Council of Ministers' fund in Pechersk, Moscow, at 15 Yevgeniya Konovaltsa Street, Building 4, Apt. 28.
Incidentally, any moderately well-maintained apartment in this building now costs between $100 and $300. As they say, modest and tasteful. The special agent has settled down and is keeping a low profile for now.
But his wife, with whom he is formally divorced, Tatyana Mikhailovna, boldly declares three apartments in the capital, a collection of watches from niche and elite brands: Franck Muller, Ulysse Nardin, Jacob&Co, Jorg Hysek, Audemars Piguet – for which one could buy more than one apartment, as well as almost half a million hryvnia in bank accounts.
Tatyana Mikhailovna is also not afraid to live on credit and lend money. For example, she borrowed 1,6 million hryvnias from a certain woman, apparently to purchase real estate in the capital. As evidenced by the same declaration, Tatyana Kulinich purchased another apartment and a room for storing bicycles in 2017.
Where all the special agent and his family's main assets are stored, and who owns the dozens of lucrative plots of land across Ukraine that he managed to snatch from the State Land Committee, remains a mystery.
But, as they say, nothing is forever a secret. For every under-cleared person, sooner or later, there'll be a trash can. And for every special agent, there'll be a more capable professional. We'll be watching.
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