Nikolay Gavrilenko
Mykola Gavrilenko is little known to the general public. In 2015, he was quietly appointed head of Ukrtransnafta, the largest operator of Ukraine's oil pipeline system, following the high-profile scandal surrounding the dismissal of Igor Kolomoisky's protégé, Oleksandr Lazorko.
The promised de-oligarchization has finally begun. Nikolai Gavrilenko has become the country's hope. However, no one "noticed" that the newly minted "oilman" was at the forefront of the scandalous Donetsk company "VIK OIL" and was a protégé of the notorious crime boss Zhigan Taktashev. He owns the Formula gas station chain and companies that consistently win multimillion-dollar tenders.
Skelet.Org tells the story of a Donetsk businessman's success under the new government.
Ukrtransnafta is saving itself from Privat
When the passions of the Maidan had died down somewhat, the "era" of lustration began in the country. The government, which had promised a "new way of life," began dispossessing the oligarchs of the Yanukovych era. The first to fall victim was the odious Ihor Kolomoisky. The conflict between Benya and Petro Poroshenko reached a new level. An active standoff began over the leadership of Ukrtransnafta.
For a long time, Ihor Kolomoisky and his Privat Group controlled Ukrtransnafta, despite the fact that 100% of the shares are owned by the state through Naftogaz Ukraina. The company's director was Benya's protégé, Oleksandr Lazorko.
Ukrtransnafta Director, Kolomoisky's protégé, Oleksandr Lazorko
Why does the oligarch need Ukrtransnafta? The company is the main operator of the oil pipeline system in Ukraine. It comprises three enterprises: Prydniprovsk Trunk Oil Pipelines (southeastern Ukraine), Druzhba Trunk Oil Pipelines (northwestern Ukraine), and Southern Trunk Oil Pipelines (southern Ukraine). All of these pipelines deliver Russian oil to Ukrainian refineries and export it to Europe. Igor Kolomoisky consolidated his "lucrative business"—through this operator, he pumped cheap oil to his refineries: Nadvirna, Drohobych, and Kremenchuk. It's worth noting that only the latter refinery was operational; the others served as storage tanks for the "black gold."
Benya could have enjoyed impunity for a long time, even under the new government, had he not decided to "reprivatize" (commonly known as "squeeze out") the assets of the powerful—Rinat Akhmetov and Dmitry Firtash . The oligarchs' response was swift. Moreover, the timing was perfect: the activists wanted to lustrate everyone.
Disputes at Ukrtransnafta
March 19, 2015, was a dark day for Igor Valerievich. On that day, the supervisory board of PJSC Ukrtransnafta dismissed Oleksandr Lazorko from his post. An audit commission investigation revealed embezzlement. With Lazorko's influence (under Kolomoisky's influence), the company signed unfavorable oil transportation contracts with PJSC Sintez Oil (controlled by the Privat Group) and pumped crude to Ukrtatnafta's refinery at reduced rates. As a result, the state lost UAH 550 million in revenue. Also in 2014, Lazorko ordered the siphoning of 650 tons of process oil from pipelines to Privat's refineries for storage at a cost of several million hryvnias per day. Following the revelations, NAK appointed Yuriy Miroshnik as acting director.
Then a 90s-style showdown began. Miroshnik arrived at his new workplace accompanied by unknown individuals, allegedly Alpha employees. Lazorko barricaded himself in his office. The officials jostled each other, smashing windows and doors, but the conflict never escalated.
The issue was moved to the legal realm. The Verkhovna Rada adopted amendments to the law that reduced the quorum for holding a Ukrtransnafta shareholder meeting from 60% to 50% + 1 share. Ihor Kolomoisky himself arrived at the company's office with a dozen machine gunners.
Energy Minister Volodymyr Demchyshyn rushed to save the situation . But he left the building half an hour later. An enraged Kolomoiskyi is known to have promised to send those who disagreed to the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO). So, officials decided not to push Benya to the limit.
For over six months, Ukrtransnafta was run by managers with the prefix "acting." This title was held by everyone from former SBU officer Yuriy Miroshnik to businessman Serhiy Sukalo and former head of the pricing policy department at PJSC Roman Sidorak.
In the fall of 2015, the shareholders of the state-owned oil pipeline transit monopoly appointed Mykola Gavrilenko as its director. He won a public competition on behalf of Naftogaz Ukrainy.
Skelet.Org tells the story of a man who was guilty of corruption himself and dared to lead Ukraine's most controversial industry.
Nikolai Gavrilenko. From "ours," from "Donetsk"
Nikolai Nikolaevich Gavrilenko was born on June 29, 1969, in Maryinka, Donetsk Oblast. He graduated from the Donetsk State University of Economics and Trade, specializing in Enterprise Economics.
Public sources indicate that Mykola Gavrilenko began his career at the VIK OIL gas station chain. Since 1995, he has held management positions and was one of three VIK OIL shareholders. Currently, Mykola Mykolaevich has over 20 years of management experience in the oil industry. These brief lines are clearly "polished" for the official biography. Skelet.Org has found some interesting facts about the life of the head of Ukrtransnafta.
Mykola Gavrilenko was drawn into business by Donetsk racketeering. It all began in 1992, when the young and promising student graduated from a Donetsk university. He decided not to return to his native Maryinka. Moreover, in Donetsk, the young man made several interesting, and most importantly, promising, connections with aspiring businessmen. Skelet.Org reconstructs the entire chain of events and delves into the criminal wars of Donbas.
In 1992, Donetsk resident Igor Filippenko opened his own business, VIK LTD. He registered it at his home address (Donetsk, Konstitutsii Boulevard 1, Apt. 220).
Igor Filipenko
Filippenko was part of the local elite at the time. He owned retail kiosks and was protected by Janos Kranz, a member of the old gang of crime bosses who was executed in late 1992. Kranz was directly involved with the firm VIK LTD, but after his death, the newly created structure passed into the hands of another crime boss, Zhigan Taktashev.
Zhigan Khamitovich (Evgeniy Nikolevich) Taktashev
The general public and the press know him as Yevgeny Taktashev (or even Taktashov), the late CEO of FC Shakhtar Donetsk and Rinat Akhmetov's right-hand man . Due to the confusion between his first and last names, Taktashev's role in the Donetsk wars has been forgotten. However, he was one of the closest associates of Alik Grek (Bragin), who introduced him to his distant relative Igor Akhmetov, and later to his younger brother Rinat.
With the support of Zhigan Taktashev, Filipenko used his company to provide protection for kiosks. Later, his operations expanded to include car repair shops for "insiders." The shops repaired cars damaged in gangland shootouts and also altered their license plates. The company VIK-T LLC provided cover for the repair shops.
In 1995, Filipenko and his "roof" expanded their business into oil, or more specifically, monopolizing fuel supplies to auto companies. Interestingly, if not for Tatyana Bakhteeva , Taktashev, and later Rinat Akhmetov, would have been left without a profitable business. The very idea of monopolizing fuel supplies belongs to the notorious Donetsk raider Vladislav Dreger , whose activities are linked to the takeover of the bus transportation market (OJSC Dopas, Transport Union of Donbass, Autoexpress, Magistral, LLC Avtomagistrali Donbassa, LLC Donetsk Stations). Having gained control of all the city's bus stations, Dreger realized that the best way to control them was through fuel. He told this to Alimzhan Bakhteyev, Tatyana Bakhteeva's husband, who worked at OAO Dopas, a company involved in bus transportation. Bakhteeva reported the information to her friend Raisa Taktasheva, who, in turn, whispered it to her husband, Zhigan Taktashev.
Tatyana Bakhteeva, Vladislav Dreger
Taktashev didn't see Filipenko's potential for the oil business. So he brought in a young man named Nikolai and told his protégé he would head up the new operation. Yes, the Donetsk kingpin brought in his underling, Nikolai Gavrilenko, the future major businessman and head of Ukrtransnafta. Nikolai Gavrilenko became the director of VIK-T's subsidiary, VIK OIL LLC, and a co-founder of the entity.
VIK OIL began selling petroleum products. Within months, it became one of the main gas stations for the Donetsk clans.
Nikolai Gavrilenko. Time to Make Money
In 2002, UTN-Vostok was founded, consisting of two entities—VIK OIL LLC and Vostok LLC. It merged and began developing 118 gas stations in the Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, and Kyiv regions. The founders of the first company included three people: Igor Filippenko, Nikolai Gavrilenko, and Anatoly Gavrilchenko, a friend of Filippenko's. The owners of the second entity were the same people, plus Vyacheslav Zimenkov, a childhood friend of Gavrilchenko, and Sergey Petrov, a good acquaintance of Filippenko.
When Donetsk Oblast Governor Viktor Yanukovych became Prime Minister in November 2002, Donetsk business moved toward Kyiv. Following the trend at the time, "insiders" could easily siphon off money to offshore accounts. Thus, VIKOIL CJSC was established, with its legal address at 98 Stolichnoe Shosse, Kyiv. Its founders and owners were Turitella Corporation (86%), registered in the British Virgin Islands, Ukrnaftotorgservis (4%), VIK OIL LLC (9%), and VIK Sistem LLC (1%). Mykola Gavrilenko remained at the helm of the company, which began to control UNT-Vostok and VIK OIL LLC.
Why did the businessmen need to create a closed joint-stock company? This suggests only one thing: the structure now has a single owner, who disguises his name as Turitella Corporation. We won't keep you in suspense: the man behind the company was none other than Zhigan Taktashev, who decided to change the structure's ownership to his Donetsk friends. Skelet.Org sources link another person to Turitella – Andrey Adamovsky.
Thanks to Taktashev's influence, Donetsk businessman Timur Valitov joined UTN-Vostok, which by then already owned around 100 gas stations, in 2003. He became one of the main shareholders, receiving 80% of the shares. Igor Filippenko, the businessman, settled for second place. Timur Valitov is a member of the Donetsk Regional Council, owner of the Patriot automobile club, and son-in-law of Tatyana Bakhteyeva. It's worth noting that Valitov was listed as an employee of the Interregional Investment Union, a holding company that consolidated all of Zhigan Taktashev's companies in the mid-1990s.
The new owner ensured that VIK OIL began selling petroleum products from the Kremenchug Oil Refinery to Ukrtatnafta.
For two years, business was going swimmingly for the Donetsk gangsters. But in 2005, after the Orange Revolution, the mafia suffered a fiasco.
In the spring of 2005, under the slogan "Prison for Bandits!", the chairman of the Donetsk Regional Council, Boris Kolesnikov , was arrested . He was accused of extorting shares in the fashionable Donetsk shopping center "White Swan." Realizing the fire was in the air, Zhigan Taktashev and Igor Filippenko went on the run. A year later, Taktashev died suddenly (so stated in the obituary of FC Shakhtar, which, however, referred to him in the "Russian transcription" as Yevhen Nikolaevich), and Filippenko decided not to tempt fate and moved to Canada.
However, Filippenko traveled abroad with peace of mind. Under the watchful eye of Timur Valitov, he began changing the ownership of VIK OIL LLC and UTN-Vostok. The latter structure was moved offshore, registered to INFOTEX EN.VI (294 Heywood House, South Hill, Anguilla, British West Indies). Another company, Artekst Intro S.A., was also registered at the same address. In 2006, six months before Taktashev's death, the main asset of VIK OIL LLC shares was transferred to it. Timur Valitov held the second-most significant stake. Loyal managers Vyacheslav Zimenkov, Anatoly Gavrilchenko, and Nikolai Gavrilenko held smaller stakes.
Arina Dmitrieva, for Skelet.Org
CONTINUED: Nikolay Gavrilenko. The Donetsk Oilman's Formula for Success. PART 2
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