Alexander Drabinko
Controversial priest Alexander Drabinko owns expensive real estate and cars and was caught in financial fraud during the construction of a major church, reports KyivVlast.
The Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine is investigating a case of alleged pressure on the late Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, His Beatitude Volodymyr, by former President Viktor Yanukovych and his entourage. A key witness in the case of the "great conspiracy" against the Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Ukraine is Priest Alexander (Drabinko), former head of the UOC's Department of External Relations and former secretary to His Beatitude.
The media have reported on how Drabinko is exploiting the current government and how he plans to evade responsibility for his past sins. We decided to take a closer look at Oleksandr Drabinko, who frequently appears in Ukrainian media, and gather as much information about him as possible.
Father Alexander is not yet forty, yet he has made a remarkable career in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Recently, he has positioned himself as a supporter of rapprochement between the UOC and the UOC-KP, demonstrating his patriotic sentiments in every way. Furthermore, Father Alexander is known in the world as a great admirer of luxury, which will be discussed below. At the age of 29, in 2006 alone, he rose through the ranks from priest (deacon) to archimandrite, and at 30, he became a bishop. In 2010, he became head of the UOC's Department of External Relations, and in 2013, he was elevated to the rank of metropolitan.
Many in the church are surprised by this career advancement. Church circles attribute it solely to the personal patronage of His Beatitude, who turned a blind eye to Drabinko's unbecoming behavior. Below, we present a few facts about the life of the controversial metropolitan.
Real estate: apartments, houses, land plots
Alexander Drabinko is the owner of numerous luxury properties both in Kyiv and beyond. In 2012, he acquired a plot of land at 10 Zemlyanska Street. The plot, located in Tsarskoe Selo (an elite private development in central Kyiv), was originally intended for Metropolitan Vladimir. However, after a series of manipulations, his secretary took possession of the land. The 545-square-meter house located on this plot also belongs to Drabinko.
Moreover, according to the open real estate registry, Metropolitan Alexander owns apartments at 5 Simonenko Street (Teremki, the very area where Alexander's "base" church is located), with an area of 202 square meters, and at 13 Staronavodnitskaya Street (near the Central Election Commission), with an area of 86 square meters. The priest also owns a cottage in the village of "Khutor Yasny" near Khodosovskaya (Obukhovskoye Highway), with an area of 430 square meters. The total value of the property is at least several million dollars.
Cars
Oleksandr Drabinko is a fan of expensive cars. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs' public registry, he owns a 2013 Land Cruiser 200 with a market value of over 2 million hryvnias. He was seen driving this car right outside the cathedral after the service. The sunglasses he had on the dashboard alone cost approximately 5,4 hryvnias.
"During the service, Bishop Alexander Drabinko called on the faithful to renounce all earthly goods in order to have eternal life! After the service, Alexander Drabinko got into a Toyota Land Cruiser 200…, put on Affliction Romansilver-black sunglasses, which cost 5398 hryvnias, and drove off. So, Drabinko is in no rush to renounce all earthly goods for the sake of eternal life," one social media user, a parishioner of the church on Teremky, commented on the video.
It was previously known that Drabinko also owned a luxury Lexus LS460. It was this car that was searched by law enforcement as part of the criminal case regarding the abduction of nuns (more on that below). The vehicle registry provides information on the cars Drabinko owned over the years: a Toyota Prado, a Lexus LX 570, a Lexus LS460L, a Toyota LandCruiser 200, and more.
Travels
Bishop Alexander is a passionate traveler, regularly posting photo reports on his VKontakte page. Until recently, however, traveling around the world presented no problems at all: Drabinko, for some unknown reason, held a diplomatic passport and was included on a list of several hundred former government officials whose passports were confiscated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, amid shame and public censure, just a year ago.
Before, after, and during his tenure as the "right hand" of His Beatitude Metropolitan Vladimir, the priest traveled to many countries around the world. And, judging by the photographs, he didn't always don the cassock required of a monk (after all, only a monk can attain the rank of metropolitan). Moreover, the tourist's photos seem more like self-admiration than actual work reports, even assuming he visited even half of the places on church business.
But even so, such an extensive travel schedule is puzzling. Is this really what the community donates money for? And if donations aren't the source, then what is?
Frauds in the construction of the world's largest Orthodox church
One of the darkest spots in Oleksandr Drabinka's biography was his participation in the construction of the Holy Resurrection Cathedral of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Kyiv, near the Lybidska metro station. This cathedral is slated to become the largest Orthodox church in the world—according to the plans, the building will reach a height of 120 meters.
Only the first 8-10 meters of the structure have been erected so far. But the money already spent would be enough for two or three similar churches.
Bishop Alexander, as Vladimir's "right hand," oversaw church affairs throughout 2011, while the head of the UOC was seriously ill, including the construction of the largest church. Formally, this was expressed in Alexander's role as rector of the Church of All Saints, a temporary church during the construction of the Cathedral.
At the end of the year, the Synod decided to conduct an audit of the funds expended. The abbot of the Lavra, Pavel (Lebed), was initially appointed auditor. The audit was then transferred to Metropolitan Sophrony of Cherkasy and Kanev, who, as an experienced builder, prepared a fairly comprehensive report, the general gist of which can be summarized as follows.
Firstly, it turned out that the construction was financed not by the charitable foundation that was mentioned in all sources, but by Sobor LLC, whose co-founders are Alexander Drabinko (15%) and two more of Vladimir’s secretaries – Georgy Kovalenko and Viktor Ivashchuk (both 15% each).
The remaining shares are owned by the parish council of the now-defunct cathedral. The LLC even obtained a construction license to build the building itself, but it all turned into a scam.
Secondly, during the construction, 86 million hryvnias were spent on the 8-meter wall (compared to the 120-meter design). However, according to Sofroniy's calculations, 40 million hryvnias (2011 prices) would have been enough to build the entire structure (!) of this size.
Third, according to the audit, funds were spent en masse on non-targeted items. For example, 1,5 million hryvnias were spent on books, and 1,2 million hryvnias on the "spiritual needs" of the "Spiritual Enlightenment" mission. The mission's director, by a "strange" coincidence, was Yuriy Kovalenko, one of the co-founders of Sobor LLC.
Fourthly, even for actual construction work, the discrepancy between completed and paid work amounted to approximately 16 million hryvnia (19%).
But despite the report's thoroughness, the Council merely took note of it and removed Sophronius from further oversight of the construction. At the time, observers considered this a sign of Alexander Drabinko's power, which had thus reasserted control over the financial flows.
Intrigues surrounding Metropolitan Vladimir
Following the death of Patriarch Alexy in 2009, Russia began organizing the Synod's election of a new head of the Russian Orthodox Church. Despite Metropolitan Vladimir's serious illness, Alexander Drabinko organized an appeal to His Beatitude, ostensibly on behalf of the dioceses, requesting that he run for the high post of patriarch.
But some time later, the most influential hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church received a letter stating that the proposal to nominate the now-deceased His Beatitude Vladimir had allegedly been made under pressure from Metropolitan Alexander. Whether this was a provocation or a sincere impulse on Drabinko's part is difficult to say. What is certain, however, is that in this same letter, its authors provide a rather unflattering description of who Bishop Alexander is and what can be expected of him.
"In a close circle, it was known that the relationship between the Metropolitan and his cell attendant (Drabinko) was seriously problematic (Drabinko, behind his back, unashamedly called His Beatitude "grandfather" and "blessed one," and in private, even in front of strangers, addressed him only as "you"). For those close to the court, public scandals at banquets and the cell attendant's boorish behavior became the norm, forgiven and tolerated by the Metropolitan. At the Red Sea, the cell attendant, through negligence, nearly drowned his boss. On more than one occasion, the cell attendant persistently plied the Metropolitan with drink at receptions in order to present him in an unseemly and "ridiculous" light (as happened in several Kyiv restaurants with the participation of "church" sponsors and deputies)," the letter's authors wrote, in part.
In addition, they reproached Drabinko for the fact that unknown people began to come to the church and be appointed bishops without having the appropriate training and experience.
In the journal of the Holy Synod of the UOC, No. 23, dated February 21, 2012, the following can be read about Drabinko: "His destructive actions and unworthy behavior, his intrigues and lifestyle, sow discord and suspicion among the episcopate and clergy, and create great temptation among the faithful. At the same meeting of the Holy Synod, Drabinko was dismissed from his post as the Department of External Church Relations of the UOC and as editor-in-chief of the official website of the UOC. Today, he is the ordinary rector of a small church in Teremki, built by the company "Liko-Holding" of former Member of Parliament (Party of Regions) Ihor Lysov. Drabinko owns a 200-square-meter apartment in the residential complex. Information about the illegal allocation of land for this church can be found online."
Participation in the abduction of nuns
This story has been written about in detail many times, so we'll just outline the plot. The fraudster Natalia Panko, having gained the trust of the nuns of the Holy Protection Monastery, posed as a novice and literally "foisted" wealthy parishioners into participating in a "super-profitable" scheme to buy luxury foreign cars at a 30% discount.
The cover was supposed to be a mythical charitable foundation, which supposedly had the ability, through an agreement with perhaps the Cabinet of Ministers, to import cars with minimal duties. She suggested others "invest" in "church business."
Among the victims of the scam was Alexander Drabinko, who lost $2 million but was reluctant to report it to law enforcement, as he couldn't prove the origin of the money. He also recruited his friend, businessman Sergei But, to join the church's MMM organization.
The denouement came in the summer of 2013, when But, Drabinko, and a number of other "deceived investors" suddenly discovered that Panko had no intention of paying them exorbitant interest rates or supplying them with cheap cars. She herself allegedly reported that she had given the accumulated funds to the nuns of the Holy Protection Monastery for safekeeping.
Apparently realizing they'd been duped, Drabinko and But plotted to force the abbess of the Holy Protection Monastery to return the millions. As Drabinko would later testify in a conversation with the investigator, the kidnapping plan was devised for this purpose.
Drabinko was initially detained by law enforcement as one of the suspects in organizing the crime. Just like the apartment of Sergei Bout, his businessman friend, Drabinko's apartment and car were searched.
Moreover, according to investigators, the priest cooperated during interrogations and admitted to being aware of Bout's plans to take the nuns into the forest, and he testified against his accomplice. This is precisely why he requested protection under the witness protection program, which he later "reversed" as a forced imprisonment allegedly carried out by the previous regime.
In the final part of the scandalous story, Bishop Alexander appears solely as a witness. According to available information, this became possible thanks to the personal intervention of Metropolitan Volodymyr, who interceded for his aide's fate with Viktor Yanukovych, who only agreed out of respect for His Beatitude.
As a result, only those who directly carried out the order received the punishment they deserved, while Drabinko thrived under the protection of "Griffin," using his own personal car with a driver, participating in religious services, and only refusing protection on February 22, 2014, when the country's government changed hands.
Now, Drabinko is simply using the current government to evade responsibility for his past sins. Playing on the desire of current law enforcement officials to demonstrate at least some success in punishing representatives of the previous "criminal regime," he is willing to give any testimony to the investigation, play the victim of "Yanukovych's criminal regime," and confirm any conspiracies. His goal is simple: to preserve his "hard-earned" fortune, deflect attention from his past, and demonstrate to the authorities that he is willing to cooperate on any issue.
Alexey Altynov
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