Yatsenyuk's eminence grise and one of the most notorious members of the People's Front, Andriy Ivanchuk, hastily moved his family "to a foreign land." However, it's not political persecution that frightens the prime minister's closest ally, but the intense scrutiny of Ukrainian society and law enforcement agencies in several European countries over the corruption surrounding Arseniy Petrovich. According to Obozrevatel sources, the deputy moved his family just as clouds were gathering around his party comrade, another of the prime minister's moneybags, Mykola Martynenko. Ivanchuk's wife, Irina, and their daughter, Vitalina, settled in the elite Monte Carlo on the eve of the new school year; the girl even started school, taking her rightful place among the children of other billionaires and multimillionaires.
Ivanchuk is preparing a springboard for his trip abroad. The reason for this is the high-profile accusations against the deputy regarding his involvement in corruption schemes at state-owned enterprises. To verify this information, Obozrevatel decided to visit the Ivanchuk couple's country estate and, at the same time, see how Yatsenyuk's right-hand man lives.
But first, let's give some biographical facts about Andrey Ivanchuk.
YATSENYUK'S GREY CARDINAL AND A FRIEND OF THE OLIGARCHS
Ivanchuk is a rather controversial and odious figure. All of his career advancements are directly related to those of current Prime Minister Yatsenyuk, with whom he became friends back in 1991, while studying law together at the Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi State University. The two friends subsequently founded a joint law firm. Throughout their lives, the two politicians' paths and business interests remained closely intertwined.
Today, Andriy Ivanchuk is a member of parliament and the head of the parliamentary Committee on Economic Policy. He is rightly called, along with Mykola Martynenko, the party's "cashier." He was one of the founders of the "Front for Change," and later the "People's Front."
Ivanchuk has a wide range of business interests, in which his partners have included various notorious figures. It is known that the lion's share of his business is focused on the Ukrainian energy market (fuel production and sales). According to numerous media reports, Ivanchuk also has interests in the media business and the agricultural sector (agricultural enterprises and sugar factories). After Yatsenyuk became prime minister, he is rumored to have developed interests in Ukrspirt (an alcohol smuggler to Moldova) and several other profitable enterprises. Much has been written about Ivanchuk's attempts to gain control of Terminal D at Boryspil Airport, where Donetsk oligarch Leonid Yuryshev, who sponsored Yatsenyuk's parties and for a long time shared a reception office with Ivanchuk, also had interests.
Ivanchuk's long-standing business partners include the family of former Party of Regions member and defector from the OU-NS party, Valeriy Kelestyn. The party member's daughter previously worked as an assistant to MP Ivanchuk. Today, Viktor Pilipyshin's son, Oleksandr, is listed among his assistants.
Besides his friendship with Yatsenyuk, his influence stems from his role as the main lobbyist for oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky in parliament. A recording of a conversation between two people whose voices closely resemble those of Kolomoisky and Ivanchuk was previously widely circulated. In the conversation, Ivanchuk said he owed everything in his life to Ihor Valerievich. A few months later, the recording mysteriously disappeared from the internet.
According to Kolomoisky, Ivanchuk is his partner in the business of producing bioethanol and alternative fuels, although the MP himself denies this information.
Ivanchuk had previously been a relatively low-profile figure. It was thanks to Ihor Kolomoisky and the high-profile scandal surrounding Ukrnafta that Ivanchuk gained national fame.
The clouds around him thickened when, according to Sergei Leshchenko, Ivanchuk, as head of the committee, blocked the adoption of the law "On Joint-Stock Companies" to please the oligarch.
Among the facts characterizing Andrey Ivanchuk, it can be noted that he has repeatedly been caught "button-pushing," despite declaring his commitment to European principles of democracy.
It was precisely the combination of all the above facts that played a cruel joke on Andrey Ivanchuk – today he risks becoming an exile.
IVANCHUK'S COUNTRY ESTATE
The mansion of Yatsenyuk's right-hand man is located in the village of Ivankovychi in the Vasylkiv district of the Kyiv region. The entire road to Ivanchuk's estate is lined with billboards subtly suggesting to the MP that it's time to quit his corrupt schemes and seek refuge abroad: "Senya, goodbye!" and "Run, rabbit, run!"
In the village of Ivankovichi, where Ivanchuk's estate is located, you won't find a single home that's more or less ordinary. Instead, you'll find luxury mansions everywhere, with prices starting at $2 million, according to realtors.
The grounds of the Ivanchuk family nest are impressively rich in their furnishings. A miniature "Mezhyhirya," so to speak: the mansion is surrounded by a double fence. The first is a metal grille, the second is brick and paved with stones. The material used to construct the fence could easily have been used to build a five-story apartment building.
The perimeter is rigged with CCTV cameras and lighting systems. Beyond the fence is a luxury cottage, a guest house, and enclosures for animals (hopefully not ostriches).
If it weren't for winter and the fallen leaves on the trees, we would hardly have been able to see anything, since trees were planted abundantly in several rows along the fence.
Landscape designers have done a wonderful job on the estate's grounds, which is clearly visible from satellite images on Google Maps.
Ivanchuk's fazenda also features a small pond with a bridge, trimmed bushes, exotic tree arrangements, and paved paths. All in the best traditions of the Ukrainian establishment during the Yanukovych era.
Andrei Ivanchuk is fond of all sorts of symbolism: Ivanchuk – Ivankovichi, etc. Whether it's a coincidence or not is unknown, but right across from his estate is a newly built church, which, by a strange coincidence, bears the same name as Ivanchuk – St. Andrew the First-Called.
While we were filming Andrei Ivanchuk's mansion, an SUV pulled up to the church doors, driven by the priest. Strangely, upon seeing the journalists, he quickly retreated. In a rather unfriendly tone, the holy father insisted that we not film him. We only managed to ask him if Andrei Ivanchuk was a parishioner of the neighboring church. From his answer, it became clear that the priest knew Ivanchuk. He advised us to address this question directly to the deputy.
In general, it's worth noting that it's become a trend among Ukraine's political elite to have their own church on their own territory. An example of this is the church they have on the estate adjacent to Ivanchuk.
The question of how the mansion is maintained is a pressing one. According to Andrey Ivanchuk's declaration, his income is very modest, hardly sufficient to support such an estate: the house is 503,6 square meters, situated on 1,3 hectares. Ivanchuk's family also owns an apartment with a total area of 78,4 square meters.
As can be seen from the public cadastral map of Ukraine, the estate is registered to his wife, Irina Ivanchuk, and consists of several plots.
It is now unknown when Ivanchuk's loved ones will have the opportunity to enjoy their stay in the luxurious family nest.
Previously, according to Ivanchuk's fellow villagers, the estate was guarded by specialized security. Today, there's just one bored watchman. Since Andrey Ivanchuk moved his family abroad, he dismissed all the maintenance staff working on the estate, seeing them as unnecessary. Neighbors claim they haven't seen their influential fellow villager in a long time.
"There used to be some activity there, with all sorts of fancy foreign cars constantly arriving, but now there's no sign of him. There's no sign of his wife, his daughter, or anyone. Just a security guard," says one of Andrey Ivanchuk's neighbors, who wished to remain anonymous.
The absence of the Ivanchuk family from the country estate is not surprising, since, according to our information, Mr. Ivanchuk may soon be subject to criminal prosecution.
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