Renat Kuzmin: The Family Business of Outlaw Prosecutors

Renat Kuzmin: The Family Business of Outlaw Prosecutors

Stalin's regime was feared not by People's Commissars Yezhov or Beria, but by their henchmen from the Lubyanka, who later successfully survived Khrushchev's "cult purge." Renat Kuzmin was one of the main players in the "prosecutor's mafia," which terrorized all of Ukraine for a decade—and he successfully survived both Maidan revolutions that rose up against the lawless police. No longer feeling any guilt about the past, he now looks to the future with greater optimism.

Renat Kuzmin. The prosecutor's family

Domestic ethnographers might be interested in the curious fact that Donetsk is practically the only region of Ukraine where the local mafia is led by people neither Ukrainian, nor Jews, nor Caucasians. Among the influential figures of the so-called "Donetsk clan" are many Tatars or their wives and children: Renat Akhmetov, Akhat Bragin, Gennady Uzbek, Yevgeny Taktashev, Tatyana Bakhteyeva ( more about her - Tatyana Bakhteyeva: "cured"! ), and many others – including the Kuzmin prosecutor's family. Unfortunately, they never disclosed information about their ancestors, so only fragmentary information can establish that its founders were two brothers: Ravel (the elder) and Izmail (the younger) Kuzmin. Their occupations, and the identity of their father (our hero's grandfather), remain unknown. For some reason, many of the "Donetsk" people, including the Kuzmins, maintain a stubborn silence about the biographies of their parents.

Ravel Kuzmin and his wife, Fedora Anatolyevna, had a son on July 12, 1967, whom they named Renat. The Latin name Renatus, which can be spelled either Renat or Rinat, was very fashionable among Tatars at the time, so Renat Kuzmin has many famous namesakes across the former USSR: from athletes and poets to businessmen and politicians. He himself became a famous (albeit infamous) Ukrainian prosecutor.

Renat Kuzmin, 1984

In 1984, Renat Kuzmin graduated from Secondary School No. 32 in Donetsk, after which he applied to the Kharkiv Law Institute (now the Ukrainian State Law Academy). This was perhaps at the initiative of his mother, who was very protective of her only child. However, Renat only enrolled in the correspondence department, something his biography does not directly confirm, though there are two indirect confirmations. First, from 1984 to 1986, Renat Kuzmin, while studying at the Kharkiv Law Institute, simultaneously worked in the Donetsk City Prosecutor's Office as an "inspector" (as recorded in his "biography"). Well, it was possible to get a 17-year-old boy a job in the prosecutor's office, but it was unlikely he would have been an "inspector"—most likely, simply a "boy assistant." Nothing is known about Kuzmin's patrons at the time, but Skelet.Org believes it was his mother, who worked in Donetsk media and had many useful connections. Secondly, in 86, Renat was drafted into the army, somewhat belatedly—something that didn't happen to full-time law students. Thus, he ended up serving in the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for two years, where, according to rumors, he found a comfortable position at headquarters.

Renat Kuzmin's discharge occurred in 1988, a time of great change and the accumulation of initial capital. Renat was eager to join the "cooperative movement," but his mother insisted that he finish law school. They reached a compromise: Renat continued his correspondence studies at the Kharkiv Law School, and his mother helped him find a job as a legal consultant at the Donetsk Knitwear Production Association. Even during the "era of stagnation," the association had provided a livelihood for the Donetsk "workshop workers," and with the onset of perestroika, the company officially (under contract) began sewing fashionable pants and jackets for cooperatives. Clearly, a simple kid off the street, especially a student, wouldn't have been hired as a legal consultant at such a privileged enterprise—so Renat's mother truly had strong connections. Having worked there for three years, Renat was able to meet many of his future "clients" – since this enterprise had long been within the sphere of interest of Donetsk organized crime groups.

In 1991, Renat Kuzmin finally earned his law degree. He faced a choice: pursue business or work in his profession. He chose the latter, again at his mother's insistence. Moreover, at that time, his cousin, Rafael Izmailovich Kuzmin, had begun his career as a prosecutor. His biography contains even more gaps and mysteries. For example, his date of birth and his years of study at Donetsk University are nowhere to be found—and yet this man served as deputy head of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine from 2011 to 2014! Similarly, you won't find a publicly accessible biography of the younger of the prosecutor brothers, Konstantin Izmailovich Kuzmin. It seems as if the Kuzmins simply materialized out of nowhere in the early 90s, already holding the prosecutor's epaulettes.

Rafael Kuzmin

Dashing 90s: Vasiliev's eagles

Renat Kuzmin's career began in 1991 with a modest position as an intern in the Donetsk Interdistrict Environmental Prosecutor's Office. A year later, he transferred to the Leninsky District Prosecutor's Office in Donetsk, where he rose to the rank of assistant district prosecutor, but with no apparent prospects. Everything changed, and that chance was the 1994 snap elections to the Verkhovna Rada, in which Donetsk Oblast Prosecutor Gennady Vasilyev was running ( read more about him in the article " Gennady Vasilyev: Where Has the Father of the Prosecutor's Mafia Gone? "). By this time, our hero's mother, Fedora Anatolyevna Kuzmina, was working as an editor for Donetsk television and was able to secure Vasilyev extensive television advertising, both in the form of well-produced campaign commercials and invitations to various programs. As a sign of gratitude, Vasilyev took the entire Kuzmin family under his wing. By 1993, Renat Ravelievich had become deputy prosecutor of the Leninsky district, deputy prosecutor of the Voroshilovsky district in 1994, and prosecutor of the Donetsk environmental prosecutor's office in 1995. His cousin, Rafael Izmailovich, became deputy prosecutor of the Kievsky district of Donetsk in 1994, and the younger Konstantin Izmailovich began his career in the Kalininsky district prosecutor's office in Donetsk in the late 90s.

No information remains about the Kuzmin brothers' previous prosecutorial careers before Gennady Vasiliev took them under his wing. However, as early as 1994, Rafael Kuzmin was arrested while accepting a large bribe. And not just by detectives, but by the Berkut, whose involvement in the operation indicated that Rafael Izmailovich was receiving his bribe from a group of criminals, possibly members of an organized crime group. And what happened? Gennady Vasiliev immediately demanded the case, after which all charges against Rafael Kuzmin were dropped. Moreover, after this incident, Rafael Kuzmin became Vasiliev's primary favorite.

True, between 1994 and 1996, Rafael Kuzmin was forced to temporarily leave the prosecutor's office to pursue a business venture, but this was a partnership with Vasiliev (Agroprominvest LLC) and several other leaders of Donetsk law enforcement agencies. Thus, together with Gennady Vasiliev and the First Deputy Head of the SBU Directorate for the Donetsk Region, Viktor Churilov, it was Rafael Kuzmin who organized a fundraiser for the "Prosecutor's Church" of the Intercession of the Holy Virgin Mary in Donetsk's Kalininsky District. The project only seemed pious, although prosecutors visited this church to atone for their sins out of pure hearts (or out of fear of the Last Judgment), because they had built the Pokrovsky Market on the territory allocated to the church (several hectares). Moreover, the market, like the church, was built with funds from "donors"—or rather, from the defrauded shareholders of Holy Virgin Mary LLC. Rafael Izmailovich persuaded several Donetsk businessmen to invest in a "profitable project," pitching them the prospects of "Donbas's largest market" operating under the reliable protection of the prosecutor's office. They contributed $96 to the construction. However, immediately after the market's opening in 1999, they were kicked out as shareholders, advised not to raise a fuss or anger the Donetsk Prosecutor's Office. Rafael Kuzmin returned to the office in 600, and a year later, he was appointed Deputy Regional Prosecutor (Vasiliev).

Renat Kuzmin, however, remained an environmental prosecutor. The reasons for this are unknown, but rumor has it that Rafael Izmailovich was more successful than his cousin at "making money" using Vasilyev's method—that is, turning a criminal case, which he could bring against anyone for anything, into a tool for extortion. This is how the "prosecutor's mafia" emerged, which within a few years would terrorize all of Ukraine, and the Kuzmin brothers were among its originators.

However, there is another opinion. When the Kuzmin brothers felt like "gods" in the second half of the 90s, they experienced different forms of dizziness from their omnipotence and permissiveness. Rafael Kuzmin was often seen hanging out at the Donetsk restaurant "Okolitsa"—owned by the Donetsk organized crime group of Gena Uzbek and Yuriy Ruban (who later retrained as Donetsk sports patrons). "Rafik," as he was known, was known for his hot-tempered and violent, but straightforward nature—and often caused brawls and fights, with jaws and furniture broken. People forgave him for the furniture, but the victims were afraid to even go to the forensic expert. He conducted his "prosecutor's business" in the same way, shaking money out of his "clients" brutally and in large quantities. It was this "tough guy" that Vasiliev attracted. But the stories about Renat Ravelevich were entirely different and even more sinister. The former "mama's favorite" had a relatively quiet personality, but was feared far more than "Rafik." Rumor had it that Renat Kuzmin was more attracted not by money but by the opportunity to "toy" with the accused and defendants like a cat with a doomed mouse. He was also noted for his rancor and vindictiveness. Therefore, although Gennady Vasiliev made Renat Kuzmin a member of his team, he still preferred to keep him at a distance.

Renat Kuzmin: To Kyiv!

In 1998, Gennady Vasiliev, elected as a people's deputy, departed for Kyiv. Contrary to expectations, he retained Viktor Pshonka as Donetsk Oblast Prosecutor ( read more about him in the article " Viktor Pshonka: The Rise and Fall of a Prosecutor's Caesar "), but he took Rafael Kuzmin with him as his assistant. Finally, he promoted cousins ​​Renat and Konstantin Kuzmin to equal positions: the former was appointed Deputy Prosecutor of Donetsk's Kirovsky District, and the latter Deputy Prosecutor of the Kalininsky District. The next few years were spent in rather mundane work for our hero: in 1999, Renat Kuzmin served for several months as Head of the Department for Supervision of Investigative and Pre-Trial Investigation Agencies, then served as Prosecutor of Makeyevka until January 2003, and then as Deputy Prosecutor of Donetsk Oblast until November 2003.

It was during this period that the Donetsk region was transformed into a kingdom of double horror: on the one hand, by the criminal Donetsk mafia, which had merged with Donetsk officials, and on the other, by the prosecutorial mafia.

While Rinat Akhmetov and his comrades satisfied their financial appetites by privatizing large, profitable enterprises, prosecutors continued to squeeze money out of small and medium-sized businesses – often simply taking over the businesses themselves (or by order of others). Pshonka proved far more greedy and cruel than Vasilyev, and far more intolerant of any criticism, much less accusations. A telling example of this was the murder of Igor Alexandrov, editor of the regional television company "TOR," who was preparing a factual program about the "exploits" of Artem Pshonka, the son of the regional prosecutor ( see "For Whom Does Pshonka Toll? " for more information). Naturally, no one even hinted at Viktor Pshonka's involvement in the murder, and the trial of those responsible was only held in 2006.

In November 2003, Gennady Vasiliev became the new Prosecutor General of Ukraine. Once again, contrary to expectations, he appointed Viktor Pshonka as his deputy. It's worth clarifying here: the First Deputy Prosecutor General since 2000 had been Viktor Kudryavtsev, also a native of Donetsk, but who had settled in Kyiv in the 90s and was not part of the "Donetsk clan." Pshonka, however, took over from the dismissed Second Deputy Prosecutor General, Oleksandr Medvedko (who, incidentally, had once handled the Alik Grek murder case). Rafael Kuzmin, who had faithfully worked alongside him for many years, was given the position of only Senior Assistant to the Prosecutor General, but a sudden stroke of good fortune befell Renat Kuzmin, who was summoned to the capital to serve as Kyiv's prosecutor. It is unknown what caused this change in sympathies, although it was said that Pshonka, who had worked well with him in the Donetsk prosecutor's office, personally requested that Renat Ravelievich be put on trial.

The Donetsk gang celebrated their conquest of Kyiv in their own style: drunken mayhem, which immediately involved Rafael Kuzmin and even his driver, Sergei Shcherban. The latter was involved in an incident at a café near the Arsenalna metro station: Shcherban and his friends tried to pick up two girls, provoking a fight with local men. The Donetsk gang fought like they were at home, throwing punches and breaking furniture, so much so that only the arriving police were able to calm them down. During their arrest, Shcherban kept shouting that he was Rafael Kuzmin's driver and that the police would apologize to him. Whether the incident escalated to the point of humiliation by the police is unknown, but Shcherban and his friends were fined 51 hryvnias for appearing in public while intoxicated. His words reached journalists from the Maidan website via a "broken telephone," who wrote a report claiming Rafael Kuzmin himself had started the fight—so that's what "Donetsk people" are like! But these, as they say, were minor details compared to the "prosecutor's business" that Donetsk natives had launched in Kyiv.

One of the most scandalous cases was the attempted seizure of the Kyiv company Volya-kabel, which Gennady Vasiliev himself had his eye on.

Media outlets reported that Vasiliev had previously created a similar media empire for himself in Donetsk (the Kyivska Rus TV channel and the Donetsk News newspaper). Initially, he needed the rapidly expanding Volya-Kabel to broadcast Kyivska Rus on Kyiv cable networks. Vasiliev insisted on including his channel in Volya-Kabel's "minimum" package (which would have covered 100% of subscribers), but the company refused the Prosecutor General's request—as it had with many other channel owners. Then, the "prosecutor's method" was used against Volya-Kabel's management: the company's director, Sergei Boyko, along with his deputy and chief accountant, were arrested on two charges: allegedly broadcasting pornography on cable networks (not surprising given modern films and programs), and tax evasion. The operation was overseen by the Kuzmin brothers: Rafael Izmailovich on behalf of the Prosecutor General's Office and Renat Ravelievich on behalf of the Kyiv Prosecutor's Office. They also began hinting to the owners of Volia that simple concessions wouldn't get them off the hook and that they would have to pay off their debts with a portion of their shares, otherwise the company would continue to be harassed. However, the company cleverly exploited the fact that the Donetsk oligarchs and the Donetsk prosecutors were, after all, two separate, albeit allied, factions. Volia-Cable negotiated the inclusion of Akhmetov's "Ukraine" television channel—which had been broadcasting Viktor Yanukovych's election campaign ads—in the minimum package. Consequently, Vasiliev was urged to leave Volia-Cable alone and not interfere with its operations at least until the elections.

Renat Kuzmin himself distinguished himself in the criminal case opened against the former head of Naftogaz, Ihor Bakai (1998-2000), accused of embezzling $42 million. He distinguished himself by deciding to flush this long-running case down the drain, clearly fulfilling orders from above: after all, in 2003, Bakai was already serving as head of the State Administration of Affairs (the infamous DUS). During this process, Renat Kuzmin fired Kyiv's criminal prosecutor, Oleksiy Donskoy, who was investigating the case and obstructing its closure. A year later, Donskoy was reinstated in his position through the courts and became a member of the "opposition to Kuzmin," which had emerged within the Kyiv prosecutor's office back in November 2004.

Then, about 40 employees of the Kyiv prosecutor's office staged a demarche against Kuzmin: they signed a petition to Yushchenko, and senior investigator Alexey Belyi spoke on their behalf on Channel 5. It's unlikely that this was a protest by "honest prosecutors" against "corruption and brutal pressure," as they tried to portray it; rather, there had been significant friction from the start between local Kyiv prosecutors and visiting Donetsk prosecutors. When Maidan began, Kyiv prosecutors seized the opportunity to throw off the "yoke of the Donetsk prosecutors." However, Renat Kuzmin's hold on the Kyiv prosecutor's office was strong: he even managed to force department heads to begin collecting signatures for a statement declaring the "appeal of forty prosecutors" a fake and a provocation.

Renat Kuzmin. In Lenya's bosom

On December 9, 2004, Gennady Vasilyev lost his post – it was reclaimed through the courts by Svyatoslav Piskun ( more about him in the article "Svyatoslav Piskun: Scandalous and Unsinkable "). But Kyiv residents celebrated their victory over the "Donetsk guys" in vain: the people Vasilyev had brought in and placed in various positions from the Donetsk prosecutor's office remained in the capital. And in February 2005, Renat Kuzmin was removed from his post as Kyiv prosecutor, only to be appointed deputy prosecutor of the Kyiv region (Yuriy Gaysinsky) in March. As the saying goes, so much for the "Orange Revolution"!

Many of Yushchenko's supporters were genuinely perplexed and looked questioningly at Viktor Andreevich, but his mind had already soared above the sinful earth, to the clouds, where, surrounded by bees and Trypillian pots, he pondered the "spirit of the law." In fact, the beekeeper-president had nothing to do with it: the Kuzmin brothers' new patron turned out to be the eccentric Kyiv oligarch Leonid Chernovetsky ( read more about him in the article " Leonid Chernovetsky: How Lena Kosmos Robbed Kyiv and Moved to Georgia "), who was preparing to fight for the mayor's seat. He needed people like the Kuzmin brothers, as well as the former prosecutor of the Dniprovsky district of the capital, Sergei Lensky (another "Donetsk" oligarch brought in by Vasilyev). In 2004, Lensky became "notorious" for directly carrying out the raid on Volya-Kabel, as well as for his attempt to seize control of the Vasilek café in Hydropark. It was said that Chernovetsky once allegedly called the Kuzmins and Lensky "my troublemakers."

The Maidan leaders owed Chernovetskyi and his army of grandmothers-parishioners of the "Embassy of God" a debt. Furthermore, Chernovetskyi had friendly ties with another pastor-politician, Oleksandr Turchynov ( read more about him in the article "Oleksandr Turchynov: Skeletons in the Closet of Ukraine's "Bloody Pastor" ), who was the second-in-command in Batkivshchyna and appointed head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). Therefore, Chernovetskyi managed to persuade them to help secure Renat Kuzmin's position as deputy prosecutor of the Kyiv region. He also recruited Rafael Kuzmin and Serhiy Lenskyi to work for Pravex Bank as project managers (one can only guess which ones).

For several months, Chernovetsky's new acquisitions seemed to have simply been wasting his time.

Then, in March 2006, the hour struck: during the Kyiv mayoral elections, Kyiv Prosecutor Vasyl Prysyazhnyuk and his deputy, Volodymyr Gogol, opened a criminal case against Chernovetskyi for multiple voter bribery charges. As soon as the case began to unravel, Chernovetskyi struck back: on June 20, through Acting Prosecutor General Kudryavtsev (in place of the ailing Oleksandr Medvedko), he secured the appointment of Renat Kuzmin as Kyiv Prosecutor. Skelet.Org has information that this was preceded by a business meeting between Chernovetskyi and Deputy Prime Minister Ivan Vasyunyk and the head of the Presidential Secretariat, Oleh Rybachuk, who received a large gift for endorsing Kuzmin's candidacy. But this money was wasted: just three days after this appointment, the “anti-Kuzmin rebellion” (led by Alexei Donskoy) broke out again in the Kyiv prosecutor’s office, and the decree on the appointment was cancelled.

Fortunately for Chernovetskyi, during the chaos that ensued within the Ukrainian government (the formation of a parliamentary coalition was underway), the reinstatement of Prysyazhnyuk was overlooked. Thus, Kyiv lived without its city prosecutor for two months, and Chernovetskyi gained a respite—until, during the "betrayal," an "anti-crisis coalition" of the Party of Regions, Socialists, and Communists was formed. Medvedko was re-appointed as the new Prosecutor General, the same Kudryavtsev as his first deputy, and Renat Kuzmin, this time a protégé of the Party of Regions, was appointed as his second deputy. This proved to be very opportune for Chernovetsky, as in the fall of 2006, a new war broke out between him and his longtime rival, Mikhail Brodsky ( Reference: MIKHAIL BRODSKY – A PROFESSIONAL "SCAMMER" ), in which Brodsky allied himself with Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko ( Read about him in the article "Yuriy Lutsenko: The Terminator of Ukrainian Politics "). The Interior Ministry arrested Igor Lavrov, a Kyiv City Council member from the Leonid Chernovetsky Bloc, on charges of bribery, and Renat Kuzmin immediately joined the fight, demanding that his case be transferred to the Prosecutor General's Office. He was assisted by Sergei Lensky, who worked in the Kyiv City State Administration (under Chernovetsky) from March to November 2006 and was then appointed to the Prosecutor General's Office as the head of the Main Directorate for Supervision of Law Enforcement in Transport and Defense Industry Enterprises, and Rafael Kuzmin, who returned to the position of Senior Assistant to the Prosecutor General of Ukraine in 2007. Oh yeah!

It was then that a heated argument arose between Renat Kuzmin and Yuriy Lutsenko. They soon had another heated argument after Renat Kuzmin refused to sign a court petition against Crimean parliament member Alexander Melnik.

Alexander Melnik

He was the leader of one of the most influential and brutal organized crime groups on the Salem Peninsula, which had killed dozens of people. Melnik himself was accused of murdering a police officer, killing five businessmen, and blowing up the Iceberg company—not to mention numerous racketeering charges. At the same time, Melnik was dubbed Akhmetov's "overseer" of Crimea, which may have saved him from prison: while the Prosecutor General's Office and the Ministry of Internal Affairs squabbled over his case, Oleksandr Melnik officially simply fled abroad, where he stayed until Lutsenko's resignation. (According to Skelet.Org , Melnik spent most of his time in Kyiv, practically living in Kuzmin's apartment.) The new head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Vasily Tsushko, no longer bothered Melnik, but the vengeful Renat Kuzminov continued his vendetta against Lutsenko for several more years.

Renat Kuzmin. Golden Years

For his numerous services to Leonid Chernovetsky (including in the Elita-Center case), Renat Kuzmin received a truly princely gift. First, the State Property Management Department allocated Kuzmin an old dacha in Pushcha-Voditsa, which he demolished and erected a 1068-square-meter mansion in its place, calling it a "reconstruction." Then, with the personal intervention of the Kyiv mayor, this plot (and the "hut" built on it) became Kuzmin's private property. In 2015, the Prosecutor General's Office attempted to declare these manipulations illegal and confiscate the plot, but it was already registered to Maria Shuvalova, Rinat Ravelievich's mother-in-law.

"Khatynka" by Renat Ravelevich

Meanwhile, Renat Kuzmin was mastering the second level of the Donetsk prosecutor's office's aerobatics: if in the 1990s he learned to swiftly open custom-made cases against innocent people, then in the 2000s he learned to effectively close real and high-profile ones, letting the real criminals go (not for free, of course). In May 2008, such a case became the "killer vaccines": the story of Anton Tishchenko, a Kramatorsk schoolboy who died after a measles vaccination, shook all of Ukraine. Thousands of frightened mothers hid their children from all vaccinations, the media spread rumors about the procurement of substandard or written-off vaccines, and rumors circulated online that American drugs were being tested on Ukrainian children. An objective investigation would have helped defuse this tense situation, but for some reason it was being delayed by the Prosecutor General's Office, which ordered dozens of additional expert examinations. Ultimately, a substandard Indian vaccine was blamed for the tragedy, and Deputy Health Minister Mykola Prodanchuk was held responsible. However, his arrest was a sham, and he was soon released to take up the directorship of the Institute of Toxicology—and, a few years later, he served on the official delegation of the Ukrainian Ministry of Health to the United States. It was said that the Prosecutor General's Office's actions at the time were aimed at shielding Raisa Bogatyreva ( Reference: Raisa Bogatyreva. How the Favorite of the Gangster "Family" Made a Living ), whose family business was based precisely on pharmaceuticals, from harm.

Interestingly, in 2009, an act of "cannibalism" occurred in the Prosecutor General's Office: the Kuzmin-Lensky gang, having won over Prosecutor General Medvedko, "devoured" their colleague, one of the Prosecutor General's deputies, Oleksandr Shinalsky. A wave of protest against him was stirred by members of the BYuT faction, who published information about Shinalsky's wife's foreign assets: real estate in Nice (France) and Baden-Baden (Germany), totaling over €1 million. And instead of defending their colleague, the Prosecutor General's Office enthusiastically began to "sink" him: a petition from Prosecutor General's Office employees was issued accusing Shinalsky of orchestrating corruption schemes. The most ironic thing is that this petition contained the signatures of Sergei Lensky, the Kuzmin brothers, and Renat Ravelevich's trusted subordinates. There was information that in this way the Kuzmins removed an “extra mouth” from the Prosecutor General’s Office.

Renat Kuzmin: The Family Business of Outlaw Prosecutors

With the onset of the "Yanukovych era" (2010-2013), the Kuzmin brothers reached the pinnacle of their careers: Rafael Izmailovich became First Deputy of the Antimonopoly Committee, and Renat Ravelievich became First Deputy of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine (Viktor Pshonka). This only added to his outright brazenness: the Prosecutor General's Office simply couldn't recall such daring criminal case closures. This included the 2010 release from prison of Givi Nemsadze, known as the leader of the "military wing" of a Donetsk organized crime group in the 90s, who engaged in contract killings and reprisals against particularly "stubborn" individuals. The gang was responsible for at least 57 deaths, some of it had already been prosecuted, and now it was the turn of the ringleaders. The evidence and witness testimony were so compelling that no one dared to shelve the case—until Renat Kuzmin took it up. He "reformatted" it so that the testimony was altered, pinning all the murders on Givi Nemsadze's brother, who had died of cancer in 2003. Renat Kuzmin then personally signed Nemsadze's release from criminal liability, and he was released by the Kyiv District Court of Donetsk. Just a year later, the names of Givi Navsadze and his son Guram were making headlines in the Ukrainian media: they owned General Investment Resources (a refractory materials manufacturer), Dontekhlesprom LLC, and partially Altera Finance CJSC.

But Renat Kuzmin hasn't forgotten past grievances: it was through his efforts that criminal cases were opened against Yuriy Lutsenko and Yulia Tymoshenko (Kuzmin's people, under his personal supervision, gathered incriminating evidence), and this was probably the only time he ever brought such high-profile cases to court. Therefore, it's not surprising that the criminal cases carried out by Kuzmin, especially with the approving comments of the Donetsk team that recaptured Kyiv, were perceived by many as a political hit.

Renat Kuzmin himself, instead of trying to improve his image, seems to have simply ignored it. And at a public party in honor of the "outstanding regional leader" Yan Tabachnik, he couldn't think of anything more clever than playing the criminal "Murka" on the piano.

Renat Kuzmin. In the Sheep's Clothing of a Lawyer

After the second Maidan, the Kuzmin brothers quickly lost their positions and nearly lost their freedom: they had "annoyed" and "upset" too many people during the second reign of the "Donetsk gang." Renat Kuzmin was especially criticized, being called practically the chief "financial overseer" of the venerable Prosecutor General Pshonka. The media circulated numerous stories about how it was Pshonka's first deputy who oversaw the operation of the "prosecutor's mafia" system, which daily extorted millions of dollars from Ukrainians. Yulia Tymoshenko and especially Yuriy Lutsenko also rightfully sought revenge against Kuzmin. Nevertheless, he remained in the public eye for a long time and even ran in the presidential elections, where he received a mere 0,1%.

In June 2014, a court order was issued for Renat Kuzmin's arrest under Article 371, Part 3 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. By that time, Kuzmin had already become a "greased heel," so an international search was necessary. But in 2015, the situation changed: Interpol declared Kuzmin's prosecution politically motivated. This apparently greatly emboldened Kuzmin, as he decided to radically change his image to that of a "renowned Ukrainian lawyer" and an attorney with his own law firm, Kuzmin and Partners.

Now, the former prosecutor-extortionist's favorite pastime has become the lawyer's requests and demands sent by Kuzmin to his sworn adversary, Yuriy Lutsenko, now the Prosecutor General. He takes on all sorts of high-profile issues to accuse Lutsenko of violating procedures and delaying investigations, failing to provide witness protection, pressuring the investigation, deliberately blocking proceedings—in short, everything he once did himself. And Lutsenko, in response... opened a criminal case against the prosecutors handling the criminal case against Renat Kuzmin—for having been handling it for almost three years. In short, if the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine once resembled a den of robbers, now it resembles a circus of the absurd.

What's also interesting is that the criminal case against former Deputy Prosecutor General Kuzmin was not initiated for his numerous extortions and extortions, but only for his actions against Yuriy Lutsenko and Yulia Tymoshenko. This means there's no talk of justice being served or retribution against the "Donetsk" and "prosecutor" factions; this is simply personal vendetta and another settling of scores between the victors and the losers. Moreover, Renat Ravelievich is already preparing for a new rematch.

In just six months, Kuzmin has become the "defender and representative" of the mother of the murdered Oles Buzina, the initiator of a follow-up investigation into the Georgy Gongandze case and the opening of a new case against Leonid Kuchma, and accused Yuriy Lutsenko of buying his position (through Oleksandr Onishchenko, more about whom can be found in the article Oleksandr Onishchenko: A Man with a Taste for Scandal ), and Petro Poroshenko ( Information about him: Petro Poroshenko: Biography and the Whole Truth about the "Chocolate King" of Ukraine ) of treason.

But, apparently believing that such activity doesn't create a sufficiently powerful news and information field, Renat Kuzmin also became a blogger—apparently inspired by the successes of Anatoly Shariy and Tatyana Montyan. Apparently, the point of all this frantic activity is Renat Ravelievich's intention to wait for the next change of power and return not just to Ukraine, but to Ukrainian politics, and even better, to his beloved prosecutor's office. Where he undoubtedly still has a great deal of unfinished business—in every sense of the word.

Sergey Varis, for Skelet.Org

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