I'm tempted to ask, Oleksandr Gennadievich, when will you finally have enough? How much longer can you rob the people and the state? Didn't you steal enough as deputy head of the Kyiv City State Administration during Yanukovych's reign, with the full support of Serhiy Lyovochkin?
Or perhaps there's pathological greed and a lust for power at work? Your patron, Yanukovych, whose closeness you so often used as a cover, had a similar diagnosis. Where is he now? Or perhaps he'll remind you of your meteoric rise, followed by your subsequent enrichment, during the reign of the Party of Regions?
I think your memory is fine, and you remember perfectly well the schemes that led you to become a millionaire. But voters should know how you amassed your multi-million dollar fortune, so they don't make the same mistakes again when they vote on October 25th. Oleksandr Puzanov is running for Kyiv mayor as a member of the Opposition Bloc, whose members openly support Russia's aggression against Ukraine.
Oleksandr Gennadievich Puzanov was born in 1977. He graduated from the Kyiv National University of Economics. After graduating, he worked for various companies. In 2003, he founded and headed his own law firm, Puzanov & Partners. In June 2010, he was appointed Deputy Head of the Kyiv City State Administration. In this position, he oversaw the Kyiv Municipal Property Department, the Advertising Department, and the Press and Information Department. Puzanov obtained this high-ranking government position with the assistance of Serhiy Lyovochkin. At the time, Lyovochkin was the head of the Presidential Administration of Viktor Yanukovych, who is currently on the run in Russia, and his right-hand man. Puzanov essentially represented Lyovochkin's interests in the Kyiv City State Administration, although he tried his best to conceal this. Lyovochkin's sister, Yulia Lyovochkina, now a member of parliament from the Opposition Bloc, played a significant role in the official's fate. Puzanov and Yulia studied in the same class and have a long-standing friendship.
Having received such a high position, Puzanov was, as they say, on a roll. He urgently needed to justify the trust placed in him by the head of the Presidential Administration. The newly appointed official organized regular extortions from Kyiv entrepreneurs, set specific fundraising targets, and assigned his subordinates to act as cashiers who collected bribes from businesses. All the while, Puzanov himself tried hard to remain in the shadows. Only to his closest confidantes did he like to boast that he had been appointed to his position by Lyovochkin himself, and that if anything happened, Yanukovych himself would stand up for him. Puzanov's schemes worked without a hitch. Millions flowed into his pockets.
One of Puzanov's "working" and favorite schemes at the time was the return to municipal ownership of enterprises, real estate, and land plots expropriated by his predecessors. The scheme was simple, yet lucrative. The Kyiv City State Administration, represented by Oleksandr Gennadievich, initiated the return of a property to municipal ownership, claiming that the expropriation procedure had been carried out with numerous violations. Understandably, the property owner was dissatisfied with this development and sought clarification from the Kyiv City State Administration representative overseeing the return procedure. This is where Puzanov's loyal minions stepped in, explaining to the owner that the issue was solvable, but it would come at a cost. Understanding who they were dealing with, the property owner agreed to the extortionist officials' terms and paid the sum they demanded. And the sums weren't small. Puzanov managed to extort several million dollars for some properties. For a successful "deal," the subordinate kept a certain percentage for himself. The bulk of the money ended up in the pockets of Puzanov and Levochkin.
Incidentally, even properties acquired entirely legally were subject to expropriation. In this case, which was extremely rare, Puzanov personally met with the owner and referred to Levochkin, introducing himself as his right-hand man. Who would dare oppose such force? A bandit force!
Redividing the outdoor advertising market is another of Puzanov's favorite schemes. In January 2012, under the guise of developing and streamlining the outdoor advertising market, a bill—one that Puzanov himself declared revolutionary—was adopted at a session of the Kyiv City State Administration. According to the law passed at the time, Kyiv was to be divided into zones, from 0 to 4. Moreover, zone 0 was to be completely free of outdoor advertising. Thanks to this law, advertisers were to lose approximately 900 advertising spaces. But, as they say, there are no hopeless situations. Provided that the entrepreneur pays $3000, the advertising space will remain in place. This scheme enriched Puzanov and his bosses by almost $3 million. It's worth noting that the development of this "revolutionary" advertising bill was handled by dubious consulting agencies that charged very large sums for their "services." Where this money went, I think, needs no explanation.
On top of all this, each advertising space owner paid a monthly "subscription fee" to operate without interruption. This was in addition to payments to the state budget. The collection of bribes from advertisers was then handled by Oleh Titarenko, then head of the Kyiv City State Administration's advertising department, and Konstantin Bartash, then director of the Kyiv Reklama public utility.
Puzanov also made his mark during the Maidan. As a reminder, he oversaw the Kyiv City State Administration's press and information department. He directly oversaw the coordination of all municipal media outlets, which, on Puzanov's personal orders, became a mouthpiece for disinformation and outright lies against the peaceful protesters. This was especially noticeable during the Maidan's most tense moments. He was a sort of follower of Goebbels. After all, the main idea of the "Revolution of Dignity" was precisely to remove Puzanovs, Lyovochkins, Yanukovyches, and their ilk from the gravy train, thereby giving ordinary people a chance to breathe.
So let's not step on the same rake again and allow former Yanukovych-era officials, who are incapable of anything but theft, bribery, extortion, and robbery, to come to power. Everything depends on our choice, the only right choice.
Author: Andrey Bestuzhev, Chief Correspondent
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