Ruslan Solvar
The current Verkhovna Rada includes many interesting individuals with questionable pasts and presents. Almost all of them try to conceal their income or business connections. Some are better at it than others. Some earn less, some more. One of those who earns a lot but carefully conceals it is Ruslan Solvar, a member of parliament from the Petro Poroshenko Bloc party. It's quite difficult to find compromising information about him online, but it exists, and there's a lot of it.
"Grain" businessman
Ruslan Solvar was born in May 1971 in the village of Peshchanka in the Vinnytsia region. After high school, he studied at a vocational school to become a gas and electric welder, but, according to his official biography, he never worked in his field. He earned a degree in finance and credit from the Kyiv National University of Economics. Solvar gained his first experience in government at the Ministry of Agriculture. At the same time, he and his partners founded a private corporation focused on grain transfers. It's worth noting that his career path is quite logical from the perspective of lobbying for business interests. While working at the Ministry of Agriculture, he actively began developing the grain business. His interests have always included agriculture and rail transport services. His CV lists numerous companies, information about which is completely impossible to find, and it doesn't even mention where or when he worked for any particular organization.
The "People's Deputy" Path
Ruslan Solvar first became a member of parliament in November 2012, winning the parliamentary elections in the 91st electoral district (city of Fastiv) as a member of Vitali Klitschko's UDAR party. Despite very low approval ratings before the election, he managed to devise a brilliant scheme to manipulate voters. He donated significant sums to churches and cathedrals, and in exchange, priests and deans urged parishioners to vote for him. He also launched a "sociological survey" in Fastiv and the surrounding area. "Survey" is in quotation marks because, through manipulative tactics, it was practically a direct campaign for Solvar. This was his way of getting "closer to the people."
Ruslan Solvar
Solvar has repeatedly told Ukrainian media that he entered politics to make his business easier. His "golden age" began with his entry into parliament. In the Verkhovna Rada, he served on the Committee on Transport and Communications, which was chaired by the notorious Boris KolesnikovAs it turned out, Ruslan Nikolaevich became his ideal "ally." With his active support, he subsequently became the chief advisor to the general director of the Association of Transport and Forwarding Organizations (UkrVneshTrans). For a man who had been "making money" from scams involving rail freight for over a decade, this was simply the perfect position.
As a member of parliament of the 7th convocation, Ruslan Solvar closely associated with Viktor Yanukovych's son, actively promoting the interests of the Party of Regions. In the Rada, he was called Borys Kolesnikov's man and one of the Family's "overseers" (strangely, this was forgotten after the Euromaidan). He himself vehemently denied any connection to the Party of Regions, vehemently proving his "opposition" status. Experts say that during his unofficial position as Yanukovych's "overseer," he managed to steal tens of millions of hryvnias. But this didn't stop him from joining Vitali Klitschko's party. Money likely played a role here again. It's no wonder, after all, that under the new government, Solvar was called one of Klitschko's "wallets."
In the 8th Verkhovna Rada, he became one of the main lobbyists for the interests of the former Party of Regions, represented by his former "partner" Borys Kolesnikov and a number of other undesirable figures in Ukrainian politics. This time, he became a member of parliament from the Petro Poroshenko Bloc party. Incidentally, the elections were not without incident. Bohdan Khmelnytsky, one of Solvar's competitors in the 91st constituency elections in 2014, posted a telephone conversation between them online, during which Ruslan Nikolaevich used vulgar language and threatened him with serious problems.
Controlled firms and railway "machinations"
Today, Ruslan Solvar controls a number of companies specializing in freight transportation. One of them is Fresh Line, whose director is Alexey Mozgovoy. He was appointed to this position in 2003 by Ruslan Solvar, who was one of the company's founders at the time. That Mozgovoy still reports to Solvar is also evidenced by the fact that he serves as his assistant in the Verkhovna Rada.
In 2010, immediately after Borys Kolesnikov was appointed Minister of Infrastructure, Fresh Line entered into an agreement with Ukrzaliznytsia. It's worth noting that 80% of Ukrzaliznytsia's revenue comes from freight transportation, and one of the main methods of fraud during the "Family" era was the deliberate understatement of freight transportation costs for so-called "internal" companies. After signing the agreement, Fresh Line became one of these "internal" companies. As a result, it saved hundreds of thousands of dollars, while Ukrzaliznytsia suffered significant losses. This fraud was only stopped in 2014, when Ukrzaliznytsia terminated the ill-fated contract with Fresh Line after a lengthy dispute.
Another company controlled by Solvar is Metrudtrans. Until recently, its director was Artem Minich, with whom Ruslan Mykolayovych was a founding member of Ukrzernotrans-K. Its owner is listed as Volodymyr Pashko. In January 2015, this company signed a contract with the state-owned enterprise Rohatyn Forestry. According to the contract, the company was obligated to provide rail transportation services for a total of UAH 1.550 million. It should be noted that Metrudtrans faced virtually no competition and was awarded the contract through less-than-honest means. As it later turned out, their only competitor during the tender was Monolittranskompani, founded by Ruslan Solvar's fellow countryman, Mykola Bachal (a bit of nepotism). Since March 2012, Metrudtrans has signed contracts with state-owned companies totaling approximately UAH 15 million.
Having become a member of parliament for the second time, Ruslan Solvar seizes every opportunity to profit from the companies he controls in one way or another. He uses his entire political arsenal to ensure that key rail transit routes are awarded to his companies. Furthermore, he methodically pressures the management of Ukrzaliznytsia, forcing the tariff commission to hinder the operations of his main competitors (Lemtrans Transit, ITEK Trans, PLASKE, and Tengizchevroil). According to information from competent sources, Ruslan Solvar engages in fraud to secure the most lucrative routes. He negotiates with clients in advance and then simply pressures the Ukrzaliznytsia tariff commission to lower fares on the routes he wants. At the highest level (in the Verkhovna Rada), he actively destroys his competitors by disseminating defamatory materials and subtly leading members of parliament to believe that these allegations need to be investigated by law enforcement. As a result of such actions, competing firms begin to experience endless problems; they are constantly subject to unexpected inspections, which result in their work being completely blocked.
Immediately after Ukrzaliznytsia became a private joint-stock company, Ruslan Solvar hired one of his employees, and not just for a simple position, but as CEO of the Ukrainian Transport and Logistics Center (UTLC). This position essentially allows him to oversee nearly 100 railcars. For Solvar, who had been scheming around the railway for decades, this was a truly "royal" gift. Rumor has it that the head of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine, Boris Lozhkin, and his advisor, Mikhail Beilin, facilitated this move. Incidentally, it was Beilin who appointed Yevhen Khroshchak as head of Ukrzaliznytsia. This figure systematically awarded tender victories to companies that significantly inflated the prices of their products. And these are far from all of Beilin's "high-quality" appointments.
"Poor Relative"
According to his income declaration, Ruslan Solvar is one of the poorest members of parliament. In 2014, he declared a total income of 163 hryvnias. He and his family members own no car or apartment. This is quite odd, as Solvar is effectively the owner and founder of several transportation companies, which are now making a lot of money. A member of the Verkhovna Rada's transportation committee, he vehemently denies any involvement in the transportation business, claiming he's not involved in any business at all. Considering that he recently purchased a far-from-cheap Chevrolet Express minibus and carries a phone worth around 50 hryvnias, the question arises: where do all these expensive items come from?
Investigating his activities and business connections revealed that his mother, Maria Solvar (a school teacher), is literally raking in money, as she owns dozens of properties, including several luxury apartments.
But that's not all, because he has many other relatives, and they all need to be "provided for." More details about his relatives' apartments can be found here. read here.
While the MP's mother earns enough to buy another apartment by toiling away at school, "poor" MP Ruslan Solvar lives on his meager salary. It breaks my heart. Such is the injustice of life: you work hard all your life, building a railway business empire, and still haven't saved up for an apartment.
Dmitry Samofalov, for SKELET-info
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