Sergey Taruta
In late 2015, a large-scale meeting of prominent Ukrainian businessmen took place at the Hyatt Hotel in Kyiv. It was initiated by Serhiy Taruta, the former governor of the Donetsk region. According to media reports, the Ukrainian oligarchs discussed the deteriorating economic situation in the country and ways to overcome the crisis. Furthermore, during the meeting, Taruta openly expressed his dissatisfaction with the policies of current President Petro Poroshenko and Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk. This is far from the first time he has openly criticized Ukrainian politicians—just over a year ago, he paid for his "hot tongue" with his resignation as head of the Donetsk Regional State Administration. So who is Serhiy Taruta if he can dare to oppose the "presidential" opinion, and where did he come from?
A native of the village
Sergey Taruta was born in the Donetsk region to a simple working-class family from the village of Vinogradne. His father, according to media reports, worked as a shop foreman at a factory. Sergey Alekseevich received his higher education first at the Zhdanov Metallurgical Institute (Mechanical and Metallurgical Department), and then at the Donetsk State Academy of Management (Management Department). Immediately after graduating, Taruta worked at the Azovstal plant, where he soon became head of the foreign economic relations department. In 1995, together with partners, he founded the firm "Azovimpex," which deals with foreign trade. Incidentally, his brother, Alexander Taruta, currently heads this firm. Furthermore, one of Sergey Alekseevich's daughters also received a lucrative position there. Also in 1995, the corporation through which Taruta amassed his considerable fortune was founded. It is called the Industrial Union of Donbass (ISD). His main partners were Vitaly Gaiduk and Rinat Akhmetov, who at the time had little economic or political clout. Experts say Taruta made his first millions using the so-called "debt loop" (a signature scam for ISD). The scheme involved using trusted individuals to create "fictitious debts" for companies that were to be bankrupted. The shares of these "debtors" were bought up, and the companies, which would automatically go bankrupt, were purchased for next to nothing.
Through these and other machinations in the late 90s, Sergei Taruta and his partners managed to seize control of the bulk of the financial flows of the largest enterprises in the Donetsk region. One striking example of such "elegant" seizure is the situation with the Alchevsk Metallurgical Plant, whose owners did not even understand how they lost their assets. At the time when ISD was fully owned by Sergei Taruta, it included more than a hundred Ukrainian industrial companies. In addition, the corporation controlled the media resources "Ekonomicheskie Izvestia", "Kommentarii:" (Evolution Media holding, primarily controlled by Vitaliy Haiduk, headed by Haiduk's former press secretary Yulia Litvinova), "Fotolenta" (or "phl", Evolution Media holding), "Kyiv Weekly" (Evolution Media holding), ugmk.info (Evolution Media holding), and the magazine "Expert-Ukraine"; Football clubs Stal (Alchevsk), Stal (Dniprodzerzhinsk), and Metalurh (Donetsk). It is noteworthy that after Yanukovych's team came to power, ISD rapidly began selling its assets, with the most active buyers being companies belonging to young oligarch Serhiy Kurchenko and former ISD partner Rinat Akhmetov.
Sergey Taruta and Rinat Akhmetov
"Policy for the benefit of business"
Serhiy Taruta entered politics to better address business issues. In 1998, he was elected to the Donetsk Regional Council. In 2004, Serhiy Taruta bet on the "orange" party and won. By supporting Viktor Yushchenko during the revolution, he gained a powerful weapon in his arsenal, as the "grateful" newly elected president supported and trusted him in every way. A testament to this "deep" trust was Yushchenko's decision to task Taruta with installing a special telephone system in the country's key government agencies (despite all the experts' opposition). Needless to say, Serhiy Taruta botched this project, effectively leaking a great deal of "state" information into the wrong hands (at considerable expense, incidentally, which ended up in Taruta's pockets). Despite the massive leak, Taruta faced no punishment for his actions. Moreover, in 2005, he became a member of the Council of Entrepreneurs under the Cabinet of Ministers.
In November 2008, ISD was deeply in debt and owed over 5 billion hryvnias in short-term loans. This forced Taruta and his partners to sell their controlling stake in the corporation, retaining only 49% (of which Oleh Mkrtchan owned the lion's share).
Serhiy Alekseevich, like many other "political corpses," reached a new height in March 2014, when, by decision of the "revolutionary authorities," he was appointed head of the Donetsk Regional State Administration. Experts called this appointment a "payoff" for representatives of the Donetsk oligarchy. Despite Taruta's vehemently denying any involvement with the "Donetsk clan," he is extremely closely connected to it. Incidentally, there is another interesting theory, according to which Taruta is not actually an oligarch at all, but merely a "representative" of one of the "shadow" magnates and, concurrently, the secret owner of the Industrial Union of Donbas, Vitaliy Haiduk, with whom they, "allegedly as partners," created the Industrial Union of Donbas.
Vitaliy Gaiduk
Upon assuming the post of Donetsk Oblast governor, Sergei Alekseevich's first priority was to improve the situation of the Industrial Union of Donbas, which was still generating income, albeit not as much as before. So, upon assuming the governorship, Taruta ordered Shell to accelerate its shale gas production, arguing that a company that had invested $200 million in the region should not have any obstacles to achieving its goals. This would be fine—attracting investors is a good thing—but the way Shell extracted gas there violated all the rules, harming local residents. Rumor has it that Taruta received a sizable kickback from Shell for this "favor." And these are far from the worst things he has done in the wake of the war in Donbas, when other problems in the region were simply being overlooked. In fact, his rise to the post of governor was driven by the need to resolve the problems of his companies. Immediately after things improved, he resigned, but, as Karlson put it, "promised to return."
https://youtu.be/FXzYJNSelac
Despite various publications' estimates of Serhiy Taruta's income and assets, his 2015 declaration as a member of parliament appears quite modest. He earned just over 12 million hryvnias that year.
Considering that Focus magazine estimated his fortune at $2,126 billion in 2011, and Korrespondent magazine at $1,06 billion in 2010, the question arises: where did his money go? The answer is simple: it didn't disappear; it was simply transferred to other offshore entities, trusted associates, and Taruta's relatives. This is a typical pattern for Ukrainian political realities, and it has existed and will continue to exist. A striking example of this typical relationship is the company Azovintex, which Sergey Alekseevich owns jointly with his brother, Alexander. This company is involved in the construction of reinforced concrete structures, mining, and the production of various metal structures. Incidentally, it was this company that received and implemented the lion's share of the state contract for the construction of the Arena Lviv for the Euro 2012 football championship in Ukraine.
Who is Serhiy Taruta, and what does Poroshenko accuse his brother of?
Serhiy Taruta is a highly intelligent and thoughtful man. He often interacts on camera with ordinary people: pensioners, students, and children. But during "working hours," he decides the fates of many Ukrainians, collaborating with other Ukrainian oligarchs on strategies for "robbing" them, or, as they call it, "stabilizing the country's economic situation." This was further confirmed by the December oligarch meeting in Kyiv, where Taruta, Pinchuk ( read more about him in the article " Victor Pinchuk: Ukraine's Richest Son-in-Law "), Bakhmatyuk, Khmelnytsky (read more about him in the article " Vasyl Khmelnytsky: Plant Oligarch ") , and other leading Ukrainian businessmen discussed "the most important things" in a "friendly atmosphere." And while they discuss problems and decide our destinies, an episode that occurred after the liberation of Slovyansk came to mind. Then, Donetsk Oblast Governor Taruta decided to go for a bike ride, as if there were no other problems requiring his attention. Truly a carefree man, a selfless "servant of the people."
https://youtu.be/vvTY4ikZQbI
Dmitry Samofalov, for SKELET-info
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