Oleg Averyanov
Everyone remembers when the heads of the Ministry of Emergency Situations were escorted out of a government meeting in handcuffs. But have there been any fundamental changes in power? The current Deputy Head of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, Oleh Averyanov, has a criminal past, which, by the way, he has no intention of shedding. Moreover, he is bringing criminality and corruption into government bodies, profiting from it and building up a network of mutual support. The story of this official is worthy of a crime drama.
He who guards what, owns it
Oleg Vyacheslavovich Averyanov began his career serving in the Ukrainian army, or more precisely, the Ukrainian Air Force. Military salaries are low, so instead of defending the Motherland, Averyanov decided to sell it piecemeal, with the help of current MP and business partner Valeriy Dubil . The "Europe" organized crime group, led by Dubil, who had ties to Russian gangsters, literally looted the territory of a strategic Soviet military-industrial complex facility—the Pryluky airfield in the Chernihiv region. It was with the help of officer Averyanov that members of this organized crime group, led by Dubil, gained access to the Motherland's air defense.
The looters weren't interested in aviation secrets; everything was more mundane: the enormous defense complex was simply a mountain of precious metals, which foreign countries were already waiting to exchange for hard currency. Averyanov and Dubil completely destroyed the entire infrastructure of this military facility, cutting up and destroying everything at the airfield that could be classified as "non-ferrous metal" and worth even a penny. Primarily, this included flight control systems and engineering support for the latest fighter jets. They seriously clipped the country's wings, earning millions of dollars in the process.
According to eyewitnesses, the robbers even dug up cables buried 3-4 meters underground. When the non-ferrous and even ferrous metals ran out, they resorted to slabs from the runway and taxiways of the airport. Unfazed by the courts, the investigation, or public wrath, the accomplices used these slabs to pave the courtyards of their own homes and, to protect their treasures, the grounds of the central market in the city of Pryluky, which also belongs to Dubil's gang.
For his successful operation, Averyanov receives access to European affairs and transforms from an officer into a businessman. Now he's Dubil's right-hand man, and the law doesn't apply to him. And the fact that the slabs turned out to be radioactive is a mere trifle; the market's sellers and buyers will tolerate it, but the sphere has no volume. Meanwhile, it's important to verbally attack those who squandered the Ukrainian army. After all, Averyanov is a fellow party member of Oleh Lyashko.
How to Destroy a Factory and Get a Promotion
Averyanov began selling fuel and lubricants through Garant LLC, receiving protection from Dubil and the Solntsevo gang. But it wasn't just gasoline sales. Fuel and lubricants were used in corrupt schemes where the actual price was inflated many times over, and buyers fell into debt, forced to pay with their property. Averyanov thus helped the criminals build their economic muscle. Then Dubil's team noticed the Pozhspetsmash plant in Priluki, which they hadn't yet reached. The plant, which employed around 4,000 people in the early 1990s and was one of the region's main budget-generating enterprises, was left out of privatization because it produced something the entrepreneur didn't need—fire trucks. But the state purchases these vehicles annually for the Ministry of Emergency Situations, and the purchases amount to millions. How could they not profit from this? The Priluki plant "Pozhmashina" held a monopoly on fire engine production in the USSR and remained so until 1998. Its products were exported to 29 countries. In the 1980s, the company produced approximately 3,500 fire engines and about 1,000 water trucks annually.
According to an order from the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Ukraine dated June 3, 2004, the State Enterprise "Pozhspetsmash" was created using the plant's production assets. However, until 2007, it remained without government contracts, leading to a precarious economic situation. Dubil's group, the "Europeans," launched a corporate raid on the plant, using corrupt schemes to drive it into bankruptcy and then seize it at a residual value.
None other than Averyanov became one of the plant's directors. On the one hand, the plant won tenders to supply vehicles to the Ministry of Emergency Situations, something Averyanov proudly announced to journalists. He became an advisor to the Minister of Emergency Situations, "correctly" advising him on what to buy and at what price. In 2007 alone, the company was allocated 55,6 million hryvnias under the Program for Providing the Governing Bodies and Units of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Ukraine with Specialized Fire-Engineering Equipment. This allowed the company to manufacture more products than in previous years, pay off wage arrears, and achieve profitability. But this money was pocketed, and in the first nine months of 2008, the plant's accounts payable grew from 7 million hryvnias to 24,9 million hryvnias. For example, the company's management refused to directly purchase inventory from the state material reserve, which was stored at the plant and unsecured. Why buy something that's cheap? We need to give the management a stake! We're buying all of this from a private intermediary at almost double the price.
Specifically, the plant shipped large quantities of aluminum, cast iron, and other materials worth approximately UAH 1,2 million to Rubus LLC, despite their actual market value being several times higher. Subsequently, machine-building equipment worth UAH 3,6 million was purchased from commercial entities; however, this equipment was never actually delivered to the company: everything was done on paper, with the purpose of creating fictitious obligations from the state-owned enterprise to the commercial entities.
In other words, the company is paying exorbitant amounts for goods and services it never received, and ends up in debt. At the request of the creditor, Ukrnafta OJSC (Kyiv), the Chernihiv Regional Commercial Court has initiated bankruptcy proceedings against the debtor, the State Enterprise "Plant Pozhspetsmash," due to outstanding debt totaling UAH 0,9 million. This is despite the company receiving tens of millions in budgetary funds annually.
Following the intervention of the "Europeans," the court upheld a settlement agreement that, contrary to current legislation, had not been agreed upon with the State Property Fund of Ukraine. An analysis of the property distribution carried out under this settlement agreement, conducted by law enforcement agencies in Chernihiv Oblast, clearly demonstrates that, during the bankruptcy proceedings, a covert privatization of the majority of the company's assets took place. Moreover, the more modern and significant of the main production buildings (the main building, workshops No. 1 and No. 2, and the tool shop) were transferred to the private enterprise, while the state-owned enterprise retained structures built during the plant's initial existence (the foundry, assembly shop No. 5, and the woodworking shop), i.e., during the pre-war and post-war periods. "Thanks" to the new management's actions, the state-owned enterprise of "national importance" currently lacks the necessary equipment, design, and manufacturing documentation for its core, unique products. Furthermore, the majority of its production facilities have been lost. This has logically led to the disruption of the firefighting equipment production cycle and the shutdown of the enterprise.
Why "cut" the plant? Simple, Watson: we'll take the profits for ourselves and pass the expenses on to the state. Dubil and Averyanov created companies, including one with the same name, Pozhspetsmash LLC. Subsequently, with the participation of the state-owned enterprise's management, they re-registered the technical documentation for the production of special equipment under Pozhspetsmash LLC. Moreover, the price of this documentation was ten times lower than its actual value. Then Dubil and Averyanov transferred the machine tools and other production equipment to another company. All that was left at the state-owned enterprise were empty premises. And who needs them in the industrial part of the city of Priluki? Next, of course, they needed to conceal the traces of illegal activity. To this end, they signed a series of unprofitable contracts: they bought raw materials at a high price and sold them at a low price. And as soon as a debt arose, they immediately filed for bankruptcy and liquidation of the enterprise. No enterprise, no problems! And now it is no longer a state enterprise that makes fire trucks; Mr. Averyanov invented them himself, built the plant himself, and helps the country in any way he can.
The current situation with the plant is as follows: after six years of Averyanov's leadership of Pozhspetsmash, the enterprise is no longer state-owned. It belongs to the Alliance Investment Company, a Ukrainian company, which in turn is owned by the international company Freelayinvestment LTD, registered in Belize. Now Belize is supplying fire trucks to Ukraine. So that's how it is! They're manufactured right there, where they were originally made. And when Averyanov says he'll do everything possible to ensure domestic companies win tenders, he's lying, since Belize is far from Ukraine. But while Belize receives money from fire truck production in Ukraine, his own country does not. Under Averyanov's leadership, Pozhspetsmash has become a tax debtor. That's not all. Averyanov took out a loan from Prominvestbank, a subsidiary of Putin's Vnesheconombank, and made the plant a guarantor. He didn't repay the loan, and the plant went bankrupt. The bank went to court, but who should they sue? Averyanov is already in office and without him, Ukraine will not buy the plant's products.
As we mentioned above, the plant is really just a couple of empty workshops, and all production is privately owned. That's the scheme behind Mr. Koreiko's name. Remember when a postcard printing house became richer than a stamping stand? Koreiko would have died of envy!
After all, Koreiko was afraid of criminal prosecution, but Averyanov isn't. All criminal cases related to his activities are transferred to Pryluky, to the police, the court, and the prosecutor's office. But Averyanov has everything under control here. The infamous head of the Pryluky police, Ruslan Krakhmilets, is known throughout Ukraine for his hostile takeovers of local businesses, planting grenades and other "material evidence" on them. Krakhmilets owes his appointment to Averyanov. Needless to say, no one in Pryluky raises an eyebrow against Averyanov. And Kyiv officials mysteriously pass everything on, saying it's a local matter, so handle it yourselves. Incidentally, the Pryluky security forces and law enforcement officials literally feed themselves—that is, eat for free—at the Pryluky restaurants owned by Averyanov.
Journalists caught Pryluky's chief investigator, Oleksandr Khvostenko, having just such a meal. Khvostenko appointed Averyanov, and now he's feeding him. Incidentally, the restaurant is also owned by a Belizean company. That's how interested Latin Americans are in the food scene in the Ukrainian hinterland! And Belize has been interested in Averyanov's Ukrainian assets since he became deputy minister. I wonder how many people in Belize even know where Ukraine is? And where in Ukraine is Pryluky? But now someone from Belize owns all of Averyanov's assets. Who could that be?
And he throws her overboard...
Whoever it was, it certainly wasn't Averyanov's ex-wife, Evgenia. They lived together for 10 years and had two children. But then things didn't work out. They began having marital conflicts and decided to divorce. Initially, the couple agreed that Evgenia would keep the restaurant business, which she had run for six years as its director and founder. Averyanov promised to leave behind the restaurant, along with the apartment and car. After the divorce, her husband flew off to a resort and abruptly changed his mind about his property.
The next morning, the ex-wife wakes up destitute. She's no longer the restaurant manager, her car is stolen, she has no home, and no business. Gifts from her loving ex-husband and business partner (rings, earrings, etc.) also mysteriously disappear. Thus, the successful businesswoman becomes homeless.
Averyanov took the children to Kyiv and placed them in a Kyiv school. “He told my mother that he wanted to take everything, and then I would come crawling to him. And I would live only under his influence. But I didn’t humiliate myself, didn’t ask for it back, I moved on. After all, I’m not a kept woman, and I worked tirelessly for our business. And I have a right to my business and my children, and no one has proven otherwise to me. But Oleg wanted to break me like a thing and keep me for himself. And so, using his power, he continues to break me in a completely illegal manner. The guardianship council left the children to him because I had nothing left. He, without mincing words, accuses me of all sorts of sins, that I’m bad, that I cheat, and that it’s impossible to live with me. But at the same time, he steals all my property. He squeezes out my business with forged documents. He steals my car. We find it, and it turns out it was registered with forged documents. "It's all a sham. I still have the car's documents. I've been fighting for 10 months. I've just managed to get the car confiscated by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but everything's still at a standstill there. The car was in the impound lot, then the judge handed down a verdict and returned it to Pryluky. This was done without my knowledge. Currently, the car is at my husband's business, and the person who stole it is driving it. I go to the SBU prosecutor's office, the police – here are the documents, my car was stolen, here it is, this car, give it back. But they tell me, 'We'll sort this out,' and pass the matter on to Averianova's friends in Pryluky," Averianova told reporters at a press conference.
Averyanov is also taking the apartment he gave to his children. He's changing the locks and turning it into an office—an office for a company he's neither the director nor the founder of. The apartment is leased between Oleg and the company, LLC "TPK ALYANS-AGRO." The police say the lease isn't notarized. This means a high-ranking government official is secretly running a business. Watch his hands—a government official is taking his children's apartment to run a private business. Well, yes, Belize took every penny from him; he needs to make money somehow.
Evgeniya Averianova
Averyanov himself puts psychological pressure on his own children. According to Evgenia, in court, the child said she wanted to live with her mother, after which the "loving father" threatened the girl that she would receive nothing and that she was condemning herself to poverty. Then he hired a psychologist, paid him, and the psychologist told the child she would have nothing, that her mother would bring a lover, and that this lover would rape her. And the girl is only 10 years old! She storms out of the psychologist's office in hysterics. Judge for yourself: if a man isn't deterred by the psychological trauma of his own children, if he wants to break his ex-wife, stealing her documents, car, and jewelry, then what kind of attitude will he have toward the state and the interests of ordinary citizens?
And here is the house that was built by….
This luxurious mansion, belonging to a man who, by his own admission, never ran a business but lived on his salary alone, is located in a former engineering battalion. It was Averyanov and his accomplices who liquidated the Priluki engineer battalion, the brains of the army, as unnecessary, and built villas and luxurious palaces on the land in the center of Priluki.
But events are unfolding rapidly. Averyanov's office and home were searched. Today, they're trying to blame this on unfair political competition. However, Averyanov is completely unknown in Ukraine as a politician, and he's long been known as a desperate corrupt official. He's simply been climbing higher and higher, and now it's time to roll back.
Photos and videos in the text: program "Groshi" 1 + 1
Ruslan Yakushev, Antikor
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