Alexander Danilenko
According to our sources, Deputy Head of the Security Service of Ukraine Vitaliy Yalovenko has urgently gone on sick leave. In our country, even children know that if a high-ranking official suddenly falls ill with a nasty cold or, God forbid, pneumonia, it means he's headed for dismissal...
It's no secret that newly appointed SBU head Vasyl Hrytsak is determined to purge his agency of employees with, to put it mildly, tarnished reputations. But whether Hrytsak will succeed in getting rid of Yalovenko remains to be seen.
First, we think it's necessary to briefly explain who this Mr. Yalovenko is, and what his chances are of surviving his unexpected "cold" without complications in the form of resignation.
"Knock-knock-knock, I'm your friend..."
Major General Yalovenko was appointed Deputy Head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) by presidential decree back in June of last year. Prior to this, Vitaliy Oleksiyovych served as Head of the Internal Security Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, where he was appointed by Arsen Avakov during the Maidan revolution. Before Maidan, Yalovenko headed the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine in the Kyiv region.
So, while working in Avakov's department, Yalovenko, according to media reports, was the direct organizer of the wiretapping of telephone conversations of various respected citizens of our country.
Vitaly Yalovenko
Therefore, no one had any particular questions about Vitaliy Yalovenko's future activities in the Security Service. Indeed, having assumed leadership of the SBU, Vitaliy Oleksiyovych has reportedly gained the opportunity to take illegal wiretapping to a whole new level, something Ukrainian politicians, especially those in the opposition, are particularly (and not without reason, after Mosiychuk's imprisonment).
And judging by how decisively Pyotr Alekseevich is clearing out his political rivals, preparing the ground for his second term, there will be a lot of work in Yalovenko's department...
This brings us to the question of the "wiretap chief's" powerful patron, who closely monitors his protégé's health. We're talking about the former Deputy Prosecutor General. Anatoly Danilenko.
Head of the fish farm
Yes, yes, that same Danilenko, who managed to emerge unscathed from a situation from which it seemed there was nowhere to escape except a prison cell...
To understand who Danilenko really is and what his real influence is on those in the highest offices of the country, we need to begin our story from afar – from the resignation of the acting Prosecutor General Oleg Makhnitsky.
The man who managed to earn, according to media reports, $300 million in just four months as acting prosecutor general is undoubtedly very talented... But whether his talent wasn't enough, or whether Oleg Igorevich wasn't willing to share, last June Petro Poroshenko told him to "bye-bye."
This is where Anatoliy Danilenko, a rumored friend of Yuriy Lutsenko and the president himself, comes into the picture. According to our sources, in a confidential conversation between Petro Oleksiyovych and Anatoliy Vasilyevich, the latter dissuaded the president from recommending his candidacy for the position of Prosecutor General to parliament, citing his absolute "impassability" in the Verkhovna Rada's session hall.
It was only later that information about Danilenko's hundreds of hectares of land, cascading lakes, and houses and cars worth hundreds of thousands of dollars became public knowledge. However, deputies are not the general public, and they are well informed about the financial situation of their "colleagues" in the domestic establishment. Therefore, Danilenko had no chance of securing 226 votes in favor of his candidacy. Therefore, Danilenko, according to reports, suggested to the president that he recommend Vitaliy Yarema, at the time a staunch supporter of the "hero of Maidan" image, for the post of Prosecutor General.
After Yarema’s arrival at the GPU, Anatoly Danilenko was immediately appointed his deputy “for economic affairs.”
"Hero of Maidan" with an unpleasant odor
Today, Yarema is well known to the public as one of the most prominent corrupt figures who inflicted colossal reputational damage on the post-Maidan government.
We believe that if Pyotr Alekseevich could have foreseen the consequences of this appointment for his presidential approval rating, "advisor" Danilenko would have been immediately dismissed. But few can foresee the future.
Much later, society was shocked by the high-profile scandals that constantly surrounded Prosecutor General Yarema, including the story of the "land holdings" of his deputy and longtime associate, Anatoly Danilenko.
Let us recall: one day in June 2014, the public became aware that 140 hectares of water bodies (the size of a small Kyiv Sea) near the villages of Mala and Velyka Soltanivka in the Vasylkiv district of Kyiv region, through corruption schemes, had been transferred from state ownership to the family of Yarema's deputy.
Society was once again shocked: how? Once again, a representative of the new government had become embroiled in a corruption scandal up to his ears? To which the perpetrator of the scandal, looking down, responded (in an interview): "There was a cascade of lakes... About five years ago, my son co-founded a fish farm. It was a carp farm. My son raised fish, paid taxes, and was an employer. Many people worked at that state farm and received wages. If you're so inclined, you can go to that village. Not a single villager, except for drunks and drunks, will say a bad word about my son."
The journalists, incidentally, followed Mr. Danilenko's advice and went to the "fish farm." They couldn't recall such lawlessness as they see now—the villagers admitted off-camera. Access to the village ponds was restricted to a select few. A tiny pond remained for public use. One step left, one step right—the penalty was immediate... Behind the fence of Danilenko's estate, a journalist from the program "Nashi Groshi" (Our Money)—before a security guard pounced on her—managed to count ten houses.
But after the first high-profile investigation, other journalists flocked to the estate of "Tolika Supermarket" (as Danilenko is affectionately known in certain circles), and they were able to see that the deputy prosecutor's estate, consisting of a dozen brick buildings, was separated from the "common people" by three barriers: a high fence, a moat, and a brick wall. Furthermore, surveillance cameras were installed throughout the property. Incidentally, construction behind the high fence, according to journalists, continues today.
The Quiet Prosecutor's High-Profile Connections
However, after that high-profile journalistic investigation, Anatoly Danilenko continued to quietly work in the Prosecutor General's Office. However, by a strange coincidence, after the story about the deputy prosecutor's real estate was published, his son sold his "fish farm." Sources claim that without Danilenko's powerful connections to Bankova, he would not have been able to escape such a major scandal unscathed.
Some media outlets link the Danilenko family to the family of Kyiv City Council member Gennady Ilyin, whose son, according to journalists' investigations, is a partner of the former deputy prosecutor. Ilyin himself, according to some reports, was formerly the head of Petro Poroshenko's security detail.
We believe Danilenko has far more connections than we could possibly imagine. After all, according to previously published media reports, Anatoly Danilenko is implicated in a property scandal and has been stalling criminal cases against Raisa Bogatyreva, Nikolai Prisyazhnyuk, Andrei Klyuev, and many other "predecessors," most of whom still hold high-ranking positions on Bankova Street.
But ultimately, Danilenko resigned as deputy prosecutor, along with Prosecutor Yarema. And while Vitaly Grigorievich's resignation leaves every reason to believe his name will never again surface in the context of big politics, things are not so simple with Anatoly Danilenko.
When, in June of this year, SBU head Valentin Nalyvaichenko made statements alleging that Danilenko had allegedly "covered up" the illegal activities of the BRSM-Nafta company (the massive fire at whose base everyone remembers), Prosecutor General Shokin unexpectedly took Danilenko's side, declaring that the former deputy general had no connection to BRSM-Nafta, and that the case for so-called "ecocide" had been opened without justification.
True, according to reports, Mr. Danilenko was initially a bit nervous and even had to urgently fly to Germany. However, he was returned on a charter flight, promised freedom and safety on the condition that he begin to brutally "take out" Nalyvaichenko, then head of the SBU. Danilenko, of course, agreed, immediately calling Nalyvaichenko's claim about his "protection" of BRSM "insane" and announcing that he was preparing a lawsuit against the then head of the SBU.
The Boss from the Dumpster
Here we return again to the "cold-stricken" Deputy Head of the SBU, Yalovenko. According to our information, Anatoliy Danilenko will agree to his protégé's resignation only if his replacement is replaced by another of his protégés, Mykola Gerasimyuk.
Yes, that same Gerasimyuk, whom activists demanded be dismissed from his post as Kyiv prosecutor immediately after the Maidan, accusing him of falsifying cases against Maidan participants.
However, both Makhnitsky and Yarema stood by Gerasimyuk. Oleh Makhnitsky had once promised activists to launch an investigation into the activities of the capital's prosecutor. But he later forgot about his promise to his "brothers." And Vitaliy Yarema, immediately after his appointment as Prosecutor General, declared all accusations against Gerasimyuk "insane" and appointed him his deputy. However, in December 2014, Gerasimyuk was forced to resign, as his caring boss Yarema explained, due to "information pressure."
By information pressure, in particular, Mr. Yarema meant the “ritual of garbage lustration” that he personally had to go through together with Mr. Gerasimyuk.
And now Anatoliy Danilenko is lobbying for the "hero of Maidan" Gerasimyuk to become deputy head of the SBU.
Having conducted a brief analysis of Danilenko’s own “unsinkability,” one can say that he will succeed.
And Vasily Gritsak, as sad as it may be, will remain a screen for the further and very effective behind-the-scenes games of Tolika Supermarket...
Victor Landarenko, iamir.info
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