Which major Ukrainian businessmen could become members of parliament in the snap parliamentary elections?
More than 5000 people are participating in the snap elections to the Verkhovna Rada. Sixteen of them are among the top 16 richest businessmen according to Forbes Ukraine.
Millionaires and billionaires are on the lists of almost every party except the People's Front. But they most often prefer to run in single-member constituencies.
Billionaires
Vadim Novinsky
Net worth: $1.4 billion
Business: Smart Holding Group, which owns 27,5% of R. Akhmetov's Metinvest. Ukraine's richest businessman is also Novinsky's partner in the agro-industrial holding company HarvEast.
Just two years ago, Novinsky was a Russian citizen and ineligible to run for parliament. This election will be his second. His first, he won a seat in single-mandate constituency No. 224, centered in Sevastopol.
After being elected as a people's deputy, Novinsky joined the Party of Regions.
According to an investigation by the Yanukovichleks journalist group, Vadym Novinsky is one of 22 members of the presidential hunting club "Kedr," which included the most influential Ukrainian politicians and businessmen of the Yanukovych era.
Novinsky continued to cultivate the district after the elections, holding meetings with voters and funding the local football club, Sevastopol. Following the annexation of Crimea, the businessman apologized to fans and announced that he would no longer sponsor Sevastopol football.
Novinsky is running in the early elections on the Opposition Bloc list under number 11.
Konstantin Zhevago
Net worth: $1.4 billion
Business: Ferrexpo Group of Companies (Poltava and Yeristovsky Mining and Processing Plants, Belanovskoye and Galeshchinskoye iron ore deposits), Finance and Credit Bank, KrAZ, Rosava Tire Plant
If elected, Ukraine's youngest billionaire will become a member of parliament for the seventh time. As in 2012, he is running in District No. 150, located in the city of Komsomolsk in the Poltava region. The Poltava Mining and Processing Plant, which he owns, is also located there. The plant's employees are Zhevago's main electoral base; in the last election, he received over 60% of the votes.
In recent years, some media outlets have named Kostiantyn Zhevago as the main sponsor of the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc. In 2011, the billionaire's business came under scrutiny from law enforcement agencies. Inspections were conducted at the Rosava tire factory, the Finance and Credit bank, and the Vorskla football club, which he owns. Zhevago did not participate in the vote on the dictatorial laws on January 16, nor in the adoption of the "Lustration Law." He was absent from work on the days of the vote. The billionaire is one of the most notorious absentees in the Rada: in two years, he registered at work only 38 times.
Sergey Tigipko
Net worth: $1.4 billion
Business: TAS Insurance Company, Dneprovagonmash, Kremenchuk Steel Foundry
According to the BBC, Serhiy Tihipko held talks with the parties that comprised the Opposition Bloc about a joint campaign until the very end. They failed to reach an agreement. The stumbling block was the politician's demand that the Party of Development of Ukraine and the Party of Regions join his "Strong Ukraine" party.
But potential partners insisted on a separate platform, Boris Kolesnikov told the BBC. However, Tihipko cites a completely different reason. "The people in this bloc are tainted by corruption and, to put it mildly, unpatriotic," he declared at his party's congress.
"Strong Ukraine" has a good chance of entering parliament. The Donbas region could provide the necessary votes. For voters, Tihipko's regional party is positioning itself as a "third force" between the pro-government parties and the discredited Party of Regions politicians who have united to form the "Opposition Bloc."
Millionaires
Sergey Taruta
Condition: $ 479 million
Business: Industrial Union of Donbass Corporation
Donetsk Oblast Governor Serhiy Taruta will run as an independent candidate in his hometown of Mariupol.
One of the richest men in Donbas has found himself in a difficult situation. The capital of the region entrusted to him is under the control of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, and his business has been seized by order of Russian courts. "My business no longer exists... And the assets that were seized, assets located both here in Ukraine and abroad, by order of the Basmanny Court, the fairest court in the world, these assets are now seized," he said on the program "Persha Shpalta."
The asset seizure is most likely an attempt to put pressure on Taruta. The controlling stake in ISD belongs to anonymous Russian investors who borrowed the money for the purchase from the state-owned Vnesheconombank. ISD's key enterprises—the Alchevsk Metallurgical Plant and Alchevsk Coke—are located in separatist-controlled territory.
Alexander Feldman
Condition: $ 248 million
Business: The largest market in the country is "Barabashovo"
The owner of the Barabashovo restaurant in Kharkiv was elected on the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc list in the 2007 snap elections. In 2011, after Viktor Yanukovych came to power, Feldman switched to the Party of Regions faction. A year later, in the parliamentary elections, he was nominated by the party for the single-member constituency No. 174 in Kharkiv.
On October 26, the owner of Barabashovo intends to repeat his success: he's running in his home district as an independent candidate. He faces no serious competition.
Vyacheslav Boguslaev
Condition: $ 234 million
Business: PJSC Motor Sich, which develops, manufactures, and services aircraft engines
Vyacheslav Boguslayev has been a permanent member of parliament since 2006. Since then, he has never changed his political allegiance and remains a member of the Party of Regions.
According to Liga.net, Motor Sich, a company owned by Boguslayev, generates approximately 70% of its revenue from exports to Russia. The company supplies helicopter engines to Russia and also imports components for its machinery from Russia. Boguslayev's company is in no hurry to abandon exports to a country with which Ukraine is effectively at war. Their main argument is that their products are intended exclusively for civilian aircraft.
Boguslayev is running in single-member constituency No. 77 in Zaporizhzhia. Boguslayev is running against Zaporizhzhia businessman Oleksandr Lekhovitser on behalf of the Poroshenko Bloc. Zaporizhzhia media have described him as a man of Oleksandr Anisimov, a well-known "overseer" of the Donetsk party in the Zaporizhzhia region.
Alexander Gerega
Condition: $ 218 million
Business: Epicenter construction hypermarkets
The founder of Epicenter is running for the Verkhovna Rada for the second time, again in the single-member district 192 in the Khmelnytskyi Oblast. In 2012, he received 58% of the votes there. According to his then-contestant in the district, Yaroslav Musiy, Gerega was bribing voters by providing cars and construction materials to village councils. Musiy is again running in the same district as the millionaire. Gerega's rival was nominated by the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc.
There are no candidates from the Poroshenko Bloc in the district.
Gerega, a former member of the Party of Regions faction, voted in sync with the Party of Regions, including against the resignation of the Azarov Cabinet in December 2013. This led to Epicenter being included on the "Boycott Party of Regions Products" list. In Western Ukraine, pickets were held outside hypermarkets and leaflets were posted calling for people not to buy anything from Epicenter.
Valery Khoroshkovsky
Net worth: $210 million
The former owner of the Inter TV channel has not lived in Ukraine since 2012. He preferred elite Monaco to Kyiv, where he met with journalists, Ukrainian businessmen, and politicians.
This fact did not prevent Strong Ukraine from including Khoroshkovskyi on its election list, despite the legal requirement that candidates must reside in the country for five years. Yesterday, the Kyiv Administrative Court of Appeal accepted a complaint demanding the deregistration of Khoroshkovskyi. The lawsuit was filed by candidates from the Petro Poroshenko Bloc – journalists Serhiy Leshchenko, Mustafa Nayyem, and Svitlana Zalishchuk.
“We have doubts about the veracity of the documents provided by Khoroshkovsky to the Central Election Commission,” Nayem noted on his Facebook page.
Nikolai Rudkovsky
Condition: $ 195 million
Business: Oil and gas company "Neftegazdobycha"
Together with Nestor Shufrich, he owns a stake in the largest oil and gas company, Naftogazdobycha. In 2013, Rudkovsky sold a 25% stake to Akhmetov's holding company, DTEK, netting him $125 million.
The controversial Minister of Transport, known for his love of state-funded charter flights, is running in District No. 210 in the Chernihiv Oblast. Thanks to him, he entered parliament in 2012.
After winning the election, the millionaire joined the Party of Regions faction, which he left in March 2014. Rudkovsky is currently running as an independent candidate as a member of the Socialist Party of Ukraine. Oleh Dmitrenko, a well-known businessman in the Chernihiv region, is running in the constituency for the Poroshenko Bloc.
Nestor Shufrich
Condition: $ 195 million
Rudkovsky's partner at Naftogazdobycha, a former member of the Party of Regions, is running for the Verkhovna Rada on the Opposition Bloc list under number 7. Shufrych was an active spokesman for the Party of Regions, and this summer, along with Viktor Medvedchuk, he participated in negotiations with the leaders of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics.
According to Shufrych, he and his colleagues intend to protect Ukrainian citizens from the authorities. "By uniting, we will become a powerful voice for the Southeast in the next Rada and keep Ukraine united," he declared.
Sergei Klyuyev
Condition: $ 166 million
Business: PJSC "Semiconductor Plant", PJSC "Ukrpodshipnik", ActivSolar company
Serhiy Klyuyev's older brother, Andriy, was one of the most influential politicians in the country and one of Yanukovych's closest allies until February 2014. In December 2013, Ukrainian media reported that Klyuyev was one of the instigators of the dispersal of the student Maidan protests on November 30. The politician vehemently denied these accusations.
Since 2010, the Klyuevs' companies have received multimillion-dollar loans from the state-owned Ukreximbank, as well as financial assistance from special funds to repay these loans. With active government support, the Klyuevs' company, Activ Solar, has become a monopoly in solar power generation. The tariff for electricity generated by solar power plants in Ukraine is among the highest in the world.
According to UNIAN, an investigation has been launched in Austria into money laundering by Sergei Klyuev's brother, Andrei. Klyuev is running in District No. 46 in Artemovsk, where he ran as a candidate for the Party of Regions in 2012. He has now registered as an independent candidate. Klyuev has a good chance of success, as the city is home to all the major enterprises controlled by the brothers. Their employees will be able to ensure the former member of the Party of Regions' parliamentary immunity.
Klyuev has virtually no competition in the district. Other candidates running in the district include independent candidate Oleksandr Rzhavsky, who garnered 0,03% of the vote in the 2004 presidential election. Also running against him are Leonid Perebyinis, the longtime mayor of Krasny Lyman, the brother of the former head of Yanukovych's administration; unemployed Natalia Kidina, a member of Strong Ukraine; and two other unknown independent candidates.
Leonid Klimov
Condition: $ 122 million
Business: Imex Bank, Ilyichevsk Reinforced Concrete Plant, the Black Sea hotel chain, and eight shopping centers
Leonid Klimov, a Party of Regions MP, was recently pelted with eggs during a meeting with voters in the village of Belino in the Balti district, where the former advisor to Viktor Yanukovych is running in the snap elections.
According to Odessa media reports, Klimov dodged the projectiles flying at him and even subdued one of his attackers. He then sang the Ukrainian anthem with the remaining attackers.
Tariel Vasadze
Condition: $ 104 million
Business: UkrAvto, one of the country's largest auto manufacturers and importers
Businessman Tariel Vasadze is one of the most famous political weathercocks. From 2006 to 2010, he was a member of parliament and the main sponsor of Yulia Tymoshenko's political force. After Yanukovych came to power, the businessman defected to the Party of Regions. In the current elections, Vasadze remained true to his volatility, joining the "Strong Ukraine" list at number 11, a runner-up.
Vasadze's Zaporizhzhia Automobile Plant will go into hibernation mode on October 15, the businessman announced. This means the plant will operate at a minimum capacity of six vehicles per hour. The businessman plans to operate in this mode for three months, after which the situation in the country will improve.
Igor Eremeev Stepan Ivakhiv
Net worth: $87 million; $87 million
Business: WOG gas station chain, Galichina dairy company
The candidates are business partners in the Continuum group of companies. Until 2013, the company Ivakhiva Yeremeyev and Yeremeyev were the largest importers of gasoline to Ukraine. But they were supplanted by the companies of another player in the fuel market, Serhiy Kurchenko.
In early 2014, Continuum faced a large-scale tax audit and the seizure of gasoline trains at the border. This was how the current government forced businessmen to vote "correctly" in parliament. At the time, Yeremeyev effectively led a group of independent deputies, which included about 10 members.
Ivakhiv and Yeremeyev are running in single-member constituencies in their native Volyn Oblast. They have a high chance of winning seats in the Verkhovna Rada. For the past two years, the millionaires have consistently supported village councils.
Igor Palitsa
Condition: $ 72 million
Business: Igor Kolomoisky's partner in the Privat Group and governor of the Odessa region.
Mace He became governor of the Odessa region during a challenging period. He was appointed to this position following the events of May 2, when a fire at the Trade Union Building killed more than 40 people. He managed to maintain a peaceful situation – separatist rallies have not taken place in Odessa, and Lenin monuments have not been torn down.
"Regarding the statements of fools and provocateurs regarding the task of reaching Odessa: I understand that in your country a lot of refrigerated trucks have become available due to the refusal of European products, but can't you really find a better use for them than delivering "little green men" from our country to their families?" he wrote recently. Mace on his Facebook page (the author's punctuation and spelling have been preserved).
The governor of Odessa is running for the Verkhovna Rada on the list of the Petro Poroshenko Bloc.
Ekateriana Shapoval, Hubs
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