Sergei Kunitsyn: Crimea's Master of Land Grabbing and Political Disguises. Part 1
One of the most ossified remnants of the Kuchma era continues to sit in the Verkhovna Rada, and not just anywhere, but in the Petro Poroshenko Bloc faction. The man who bears his share of responsibility for the loss of Crimea now poses as a Ukrainian patriot in Kyiv, a kind of "typical, sincere Ukrainian" (see below). Why, then, does Sergei Kunitsyn remain in demand under any government? Is it simply because, in his quest to curry favor, he's willing to embrace any political stance and step over anyone, even his former comrades-in-arms? Or is it because he's always known who to share with, who to "bring in," and who to "cut off"—including a chunk of Crimean real estate, which he generously handed out over several years.
However, the former chairman of the Crimean Council of Ministers, advisor to three presidents, and appointed chairman of the Sevastopol city administration didn't forget about himself. On one of the plots of land allocated to himself in Simferopol (Sadovaya Street 35a), he once built a five-story house with a total floor area of 715 square meters, 12 bedrooms, 7 bathrooms, a billiard room, and a swimming pool. The "palace," however, turned out to be typically cheap and tasteless, as its foundation is constructed of shell rock (the Crimean equivalent of aerated concrete blocks). Kunitsyn clearly skimped on concrete and steel, spending it instead on the interior "gilding" of the apartments. Nevertheless, Kunitsyn valued it at $2 million—that's what he asked for the house in 2013, when he first listed it for sale. He's been selling it for four years now, having lowered the price to $1,1 million, but, according to Skelet.Org , has yet to find a buyer. Or maybe this sale is some kind of sham, a scam, just an ad in the newspaper? Who knows!
Kunitsyn's house in Simferopol
But today, Russian media picked up on this announcement and used it for counter-propaganda: supposedly, if Kunitsyn is selling his house in Crimea, it means he recognizes Crimea as Russian – after all, the sale can only be formalized through Crimean registration authorities, which are currently subordinate to Russia.
Sergei Kunitsyn. Afghan Ballad
Sergei Vladimirovich Kunitsyn was born on July 27, 1960, in the village of Bekdash, Krasnovodsk District, Turkmen SSR, where his father worked in geological exploration (oil and gas). Kunitsyn's parents were ethnic Russians: his father from Murmansk, his mother from Saratov. In 1973, his father struck it lucky: he was transferred to Crimea to explore the local oil fields. The Kunitsyn family moved from the hell of the desert to a resort—at least, that's what 99% of Soviet citizens thought of Crimea. However, they settled not in Yalta or Yevpatoriya, but in Krasnoperekopsk.
After high school, Sergei Kunitsyn enrolled in the Simferopol branch of the Dnipropetrovsk Civil Engineering Institute, majoring in "Production of Building Products and Structures." Surprisingly, he wasn't drafted into the army after his first year (even though the university didn't have a military department). In fact, after graduating, he worked in his field for eight months: first as a pipelayer for the Perekopkhimstroy trust, then as a foreman at a KPB plant in Tyumen. According to Kunitsyn, he was assigned to this job. However, what's surprising is that while his fellow students were being invited by the military enlistment office to serve their country immediately after defending their diplomas, Kunitsyn managed to miss two drafts (the spring-summer and fall-winter of 1982). This raises the question: did he flee to distant Tyumen to avoid the army? He himself, of course, won't admit to anything of the sort.
Later, according to Kunitsyn's own self-described tales, the Tyumen military enlistment office offered him the chance to serve in a construction battalion in his specialty. "But I declined—I was into sports and didn't want to lose my form. They offered sergeant school. I accepted," he recounted. One wonders why the athlete didn't apply for the Airborne Forces, the Border Troops, or reconnaissance. However, Skelet.Org sources report an alternative version of events: the military enlistment office, as usual, threatened to send yet another draft dodger to a construction battalion, fortunately for him, who had a suitable specialty. In response, Kunitsyn went all-in and asked to be sent to Afghanistan—not yet knowing the details of the war there (zinc coffins hadn't yet arrived in Krasnoperekopsk). Thus, Kunitsyn found himself in military unit 81102 (Ashgabat), known as the Kishinsky Training Regiment, and immediately managed to get into sergeant school. The calculation was simple: after graduating from university, Kunitsyn only had to serve for a year, including six months in training, and then demobilization was just around the corner.
Sergei Kunitsyn (left) in the army
In December 1983, the newly commissioned junior sergeants were assigned to units, and Kunitsyn was assigned to the 682nd Motorized Rifle Regiment, which was being formed in Termez. In March 1984, the regiment was deployed to Afghanistan (Bagram), and in April, it was sent to participate in the Third Panjshir Operation. During this operation, the regiment's 1st Battalion (the "Royal Battalion") was ambushed and 50% destroyed, suffering 57 killed and 105 wounded. There is no definitive assessment of this battle. Some call it a criminal miscalculation by the operation's command, saying that due to the commander's death in the first minutes of the battle, the battalion was disorganized and unable to retreat or properly establish a defense, only firing back in disarray. The only survivors were those who managed to swim down the turbulent river current or find cover behind rocks. Others made solemn speeches about how "the boys heroically held out until the end, true to their oath." But in any case, the battle was lost immediately, the battalion was routed, and the dead heard neither honors nor apologies.
Sergei Kunitsyn was assigned as a squad commander in the 2nd company of this battalion and, accordingly, was supposed to participate in this battle. What really happened, and how did he manage to survive? Kunitsyn spends his entire life telling stories of his friends dying before his eyes, and of how he himself was wounded by shrapnel "in the face, shoulder, legs," but he bandaged himself and even refused medical attention. He then adds that a few weeks later, he was again ambushed. A grenade exploded nearby, concussing him and injuring his spine, but he once again simply brushed himself off and continued on. A veritable cyborg! And in August 1984, Sergei Kunitsyn returned home, having served his time.
But what soldier doesn't love to tell heroic stories? Some ATO battalion commanders now spend their days on television reminiscing about how they stopped Russian tank columns with practically their bare hands and smashed three battalions of mounted Buryat special forces at a time—and people believe them! Kunitsyn kept his fantasies in check, trying to appear a serious, respectable activist, as the Afghan War became an additional political springboard for him. First, he was elected chairman of the Krasnoperekopsk district branch of the Union of Afghan Veterans, then in 2004 he headed the Crimean branch, and in 2014 he was the "self-appointed" chairman of the newly created All-Ukrainian Association of Afghanistan Veterans. By this time, Kunitsyn's relationship with most of the "Afghans" had become very strained, and he would hardly have received their support—but he had UDAR and Klitschko behind him , and therefore the entire Maidan. And Kunitsyn considered it a sin not to take advantage of such an opportunity!
S. Kunitsyn heads the Crimean branch of the Union of Afghanistan Veterans
Even before the events of 2013-2014, members of the Crimean Union of Afghanistan Veterans constantly accused Kunitsyn of using the organization for his own selfish political and corrupt ends, without consulting the opinions of the "Afghans" themselves. Veterans from other regional branches of the Union had also heard plenty about Kunitsyn, both as the chairman of the Crimean branch and as a Crimean official. They also disliked Kunitsyn's constant clashes with the chairman of the All-Ukrainian Union of Afghanistan Veterans, Serhiy Chervonopysky. A Hero of Ukraine (since 2012), a disabled veteran of the Afghan War, a former company commander in the 350th Airborne Regiment, and the first commandant of the Kabul Airport, Serhiy Vasilyevich Chervonopysky has been the founder and permanent chairman of the Union of Afghanistan Veterans since 1991 – and, unlike Kunitsyn, enjoys the respect of the "Afghans."
Sergey Vasilievich Chervonopisky
Kunitsyn had long had his sights set on Chervonopisky's position, but he realized his ambitions were futile, so he resorted to a ruse: in early February 2014, at the height of the second Maidan, he (as chairman of the Verkhovna Rada subcommittee on veterans and the disabled) initiated an extraordinary congress of Afghan war veterans in Kyiv. It was attended primarily by opposition and Maidan supporters (including the "Afghan Hundred," which had participated in the events), who adopted a declaration establishing a new organization—the All-Ukrainian Association of Afghanistan Veterans—and elected Sergei Kunitsyn as its head, on the recommendation of opposition leaders. This Association became an alternative to the existing Ukrainian Union of Afghanistan Veterans. The outcome was rather unseemly: while it has become the norm in business and politics to "ditch" one's own, doing so to one's comrades in arms is simply vile.
And then, after the change of power in Ukraine, the newly created Association of Afghanistan Veterans immediately received the full support of the authorities (it was immediately allocated a huge office in the center of Kyiv) and became, so to speak, "official." But the authorities began to ignore the old Union of Afghanistan Veterans, especially when its chairman, Chervonopysky, began mercilessly criticizing them. Thus, two "unions of Afghan veterans" emerged in Ukraine: one that had fallen out of favor, and which even the media had already stopped mentioning, and the other, favored by the authorities, whose chairman, in turn, diligently kisses the government below the belt.
The new "Afghan Union" has become tame for the new government
Sergei Kunitsyn. Political Tag
Upon returning from Afghanistan, Sergei Kunitsyn immediately forgot about his supposed assignment to Tyumen and stayed home in Krasnoperekopsk, where he went to work as an engineer at the local reinforced concrete plant. After four years of persistently pleasing his superiors, he rose to the rank of chief engineer, after which he decided to try his hand at party work. It's hard to believe, but in the late 1980s, Sergei Kunitsyn wasn't just a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union; he was the secretary of the party committee, and in 1989, he became an instructor in the ideological department of the Krasnoperekopsk city committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine. He would have become the secretary of the regional committee, no less, if perestroika hadn't culminated in the collapse of the USSR. Kunitsyn weathered this cataclysm easily, as in 1990, with the help of the city committee, he was elected to the Verkhovna Rada, where he immediately began making the right connections. At the same time, he was elected chairman of the Krasnoperekopsk City Council, a position he held until 1998. In fact, thanks to this, he also became chairman of the city branch of the Union of Afghanistan Veterans.
However, Kunitsyn had his own selfish interests in this. Firstly, the "Afghans" were a force back then, just as ATO veterans are today, albeit without the "patriotic indulgence." Seeking a better life, some became businessmen, some joined organized crime groups, and others, on the contrary, went into law enforcement. In the early 90s, when Crimea fell under the influence of several major organized crime groups (Bashmaki, Salem), which did not hesitate to even murder government officials, the "Afghan protection" helped Kunitsyn control his Krasnoperekopsk even in the shadow economy. Secondly, through the Union of Afghan Veterans, Kunitsyn sought support from other organizations and their leaders, including Russian ones. For example, his contacts with the Russian organization "Combat Brotherhood" have been repeatedly reported: its leader, General Boris Gromov (Deputy Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation and Governor of the Moscow Region), provided Kunitsyn with every possible assistance, and in return, lobbied through Kunitsyn for his own interests in Crimea, primarily in Sevastopol. Given Gromov's close relationship with Putin, it's safe to say that these interests also supported the Kremlin.
Boris Gromov
In 1993, Sergei Kunitsyn led the new party "Union in Support of the Republic of Crimea." Despite its rather provocative name, it was not a party of separatists, but rather of federalists. Incidentally, in the mid-90s, at one of the party's congresses, Sergei Kunitsyn officially supported bilingualism and a federal structure for Ukraine, and even proposed holding a national referendum on these issues. In the 1994 presidential elections, the "Union in Support of the Republic of Crimea," like many Crimean parties and movements, backed Leonid Kuchma—both because he positioned himself as a pro-Russian politician and because they hoped to squeeze even more autonomy for Crimea out of him. However, unlike its radically pro-Russian (almost separatist) allies, Kunitsyn's party categorically opposed separation from Ukraine and stood in opposition to the newly elected Crimean President Meshkov even before the newly elected President Kuchma "pressed" him.
Sergey Varis, for Skelet.Org
CONTINUED: Sergei Kunitsyn: Crimea's Master of Land Grabbing and Political Disguise. PART 2
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