Valentin Nalyvaychenko
Recently, the press reported on an international scandal involving paintings stolen from a Dutch museum that surfaced in the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) zone. In connection with this, the name of former SBU head Valentyn Oleksandrovych Nalyvaichenko was mentioned. The same one who, after leaving that post, became increasingly active. We have written about his work on numerous occasions.loud statements that Russian politician Vladislav Surkov is allegedly involved in the "Heavenly Hundred" caseWe also wrote about him. accusations against the president and the "gray cardinal" of the BPP Igor KononenkoOne strange detail stands out. For some reason, all these cases surfaced and received widespread publicity not while Valentin Aleksandrovich occupied his office at 33 Vladimirskaya Street. This would have been logical, since these were the very cases he was supposed to handle. But after he was kicked out of that building, it seems less like a genuine desire to help his country resolve high-profile criminal cases than petty blackmail aimed at returning to big politics. So, let's try to figure out how he even got into big politics in the first place.
A half-trained spy
In 1991, Nalyvaichenko apparently dreamed of a career as a spy or super-agent. It was that year, no longer a young man, at 25, so it could be considered a conscious choice, that he enrolled in the Andropov Institute of Intelligence of the KGB of the USSR. Incidentally, Vladimir Putin himself had graduated from this same institution, as had Sergei Ivanov, Yevgeny Murov, Vladimir Yakunin, and Sergei Naryshkin. It turned out to be quite a group, with practically all the highest officials of the Russian Federation among them. After studying at this institution for four years, until 1994, just in the first years of Ukraine's independence, he unexpectedly left without finishing his studies. He came to Kyiv. The reason for this "sudden" departure from the KGB's cadre-making center, and whether it was somehow connected to the Russian intelligence services' need to infiltrate their people into the Ukrainian intelligence services, remains unclear. Although corporate ties between former graduates of this educational institution are legendary, at least two facts appear quite suspicious. First, for some time, Valentyn Nalyvaichenko didn't exactly hide this episode in his biography... let's say he kept quiet about it. Although his service in the KGB (and studying at the intelligence institute is also a service) posed no danger. After all, the law on lustration of those who served in state security had not been passed at the time. The second fact is even more interesting. Upon returning to his homeland, Valentyn Aleksandrovich immediately joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Moreover, in that same 1994, he was immediately appointed Second Secretary of the Ukrainian Embassy in Finland, Norway, and Denmark. Career diplomats can confirm that to attain such a position, a person must have worked in the system for several years, starting as an assistant. And we're talking about people with specialized educations who graduated from the Institute of International Relations—that is, international economists, international lawyers, and so on. But Nalyvaichenko, who has no relevant education and had never worked a day in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs before, was appointed immediately.
Valentin Nalyvaychenko
Diplomacy
General Oleksandr Skipalsky, then head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, claims that Nalyvaichenko was promoted to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs through the patronage of Russian intelligence services. He likely knows the names of his patrons, but they won't reveal anything to the public. However, Valentyn Aleksandrovych didn't achieve any particular success in the diplomatic field, at least not publicly known. Nevertheless, his career was quite successful. By 2001, he had already taken the lucrative position of consul at the Ukrainian Embassy in the United States. This meant he became the third-highest ranking diplomat in the most prestigious Ukrainian diplomatic mission. Apparently, it was here in Washington that he met his new friends from the CIA. However, more on them later. It might be confusing to some that the future head of the SBU collaborated with two opposing intelligence agencies. But in the world of intelligence, this is considered normal. Be that as it may, a new career leap was not long in coming, and in 2004 Nalyvaichenko became Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. Such a rise would have been the envy of any career diplomat. The Minister of Foreign Affairs at the time was Kostiantyn Grishchenko, a Kuchma protégé who later supported the Party of Regions. He consistently pursued a policy of improving relations with Russia and delayed, or as he put it, "took a pragmatic approach" to relations with the European Union. However, after the Orange Revolution in February 2005, he was replaced in this post by Borys Tarasyuk, then a rather ardent proponent of European integration and a member of the Reforms and Order party. Moreover, Tarasyuk was an experienced career diplomat, having started his career under the Soviet Union. Apparently, he mistrusted his deputy and sent him into honorable exile as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Republic of Belarus. However, less than a year later, Valentin Aleksandrovich found himself a new patron.
Valentin Nalyvaychenko
Employment in your specialty
His new patron was then-Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, who appointed Nalyvaichenko head of the SBU in 2006, employing him in the skills he hadn't yet mastered at the KGB Institute. He did everything to please his boss. He declassified SBU archives relating to the repressions and the agency's intelligence work during the Stalin years, even though many of the defendants in those cases were still alive and could have suffered. Officers recount how they took under their wing veterans of the secret service, whose only guilt was that they had followed orders during those years and could have suffered at the hands of nationalists. He opened the Museum of Victims of Repression and initiated the Holodomor trial. In short, he did everything but his direct work. It is said that it was under his leadership that the SBU's most powerful personnel were dismissed and replaced with loyal and committed ones. For example, his deputy, Andriy Kislinsky, was accused of pimping in the 90s and was also caught using a fake diploma. General Skipalsky, mentioned above, claims that it was Valentyn Oleksandrovich who introduced his friend Valeriy Khoroshkovsky to Yushchenko, and through his efforts, Khoroshkovsky became First Deputy Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council. The story of Nalyvaichenko's wallet is the most telling example of the professionalism of the service at that time. In March 2008, his wallet was stolen in the fitness center of the Hyatt Hotel. The Security Service of Ukraine's investigative capabilities were insufficient to find its chairman's wallet. He was even unable to determine who poisoned his boss, Viktor Yushchenko. But this had no impact on his career. Perhaps because, in addition to the aforementioned public affairs, he performed numerous private favors for his boss. For example, he ordered the preparation of documents for the transfer of the SBU clinic and hospital located at 11 Lipska Street to the Kateryna Yushchenko-Chumachenko Foundation "Ukraine 3000" as an office. In September 2008, he secretly trained a special task force consisting of officers from Unit "A" under the command of Major General Chalyi to capture then-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. However, the SBU officers again lacked professionalism in this case, and it became public knowledge. Perhaps this is why Yulia Tymoshenko remained free at the time.
Treason
During Nalyvaichenko's tenure, various shadowy figures, primarily from the CIA, began appearing at 33 Volodymyrska Street. In particular, Jeffrey Egan, then the CIA's regional representative in Ukraine, showed up there. Another American intelligence officer, Charles Levy, even had his own office in the SBU headquarters, number 112, and lived in a safe house on Patorzhynsky Street. Moreover, he had access to documents containing state secrets, a clear violation of the law, and a grave one at that, and it's called "high treason." Whether such a crime could have been committed in the SBU's main building without Valentyn Aleksandrovich's knowledge is a rather rhetorical question. Furthermore, Nalyvaichenko personally invited the US ambassador and CIA officers to the graduation ceremony for graduates of the SBU Higher School. Apparently, so they would know our future agents by sight. Back in 2008, Gennady Moskal accused Nalyvaichenko of betraying state interests to the Americans. (more about it in the article Gennady Moskal: the many-faced foul-mouthed general), then a people's deputy. In 2013, the Prosecutor General's Office opened a criminal case against Valentyn Oleksandrovych. He was charged with three counts: treason, disclosure of state secrets, and transfer of confidential information. The then-head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), Oleksandr Yakimenko, also alleged these same crimes against his predecessor, adding that he had been recruited while serving in the diplomatic service in the United States. Apparently, these charges, which could have carried a hefty prison sentence, were the reason Nalyvaichenko participated in the events of the Euromaidan. Moreover, unlike other Euromaidan leaders, he had his own personal combat unit.
"Eagles" Nalyvaichenko
Back in 2007, Valentyn Oleksandrovych, while head of the SBU, supported the nationalist organization "Trident named after Stepan Bandera." We already wrote about this in the article about Dmytro Yarosh. The organization needed not only funds but also specialized trainers, weapons, training camps, and the loyalty of local authorities and the police. Nalyvaichenko could easily provide all of this. "Trident" was founded in 1993 by Vasily Ivanishin. It was a rather tough and unruly organization. Ivanishin was a very intelligent and ambitious man, so he wouldn't dance to someone else's tune. In 1999, he separated from the Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists, whose security wing he initially considered himself to be. And in 2007, Ivanishin died suddenly at the age of 63, not yet an old man. According to some sources, he died of an aortic aneurysm; others, of a heart attack, after which he was suspiciously quickly buried in the Drohobych cemetery. Whatever the case, command of the Tryzub passed to Nalyvaichenko's man, his godfather, Dmytro Yarosh. And 2007 marked the peak of the SBU's support for this organization. Valentin Oleksandrovich personally visited the extremists' summer camp and addressed them. Read more about Dmytro Yarosh in our article: Dmitry Yarosh. Who are we working for?
Family matters, land matters
Valentyn Nalyvaichenko isn't involved in business; he declared an annual income of 100.000 hryvnias. The same can't be said for his family. For example, his wife, Elena, simply collects land plots. In 2009, when her husband was head of the SBU, she received land in the Kyivo-Svyatoshinsky district, as well as plots in two village councils in the Brovarsky district, plus another plot for her daughter. The land granted to this woman was intended for farming, gardening, and grazing. Furthermore, his wife owns a luxury apartment in the new Alpiysky residential center on Batuyeva Gora in Kyiv.
Valentin Aleksandrovich's daughter, Olga, despite her relatively young age (26), is already working as the head of the legal department at TechnoEnergoTrade. The company is owned by Vladimir Polischuk, the owner of the Eldorado chain, the Gulliver shopping center, and Mikhailovsky Bank, and, in essence, a figurehead for the assets of the fugitive Minister of Revenue and Duties. Alexandra Klimenko, about whom we wrote recently. The same company is registered to Nalyvaichenko. They all have the word "Smile" in their names—Smile Trading, Smile Media, Smile Consulting, and so on. They generated income for Valentyn Nalyvaichenko during the years when he was dismissed from the SBU and a lowly member of parliament. This is further evidenced by the fact that during the elections, he was listed as the head of a consulting group for Smile Holding. Viktor Yanukovych was president at the time, and Valeriy Khoroshkovsky, who had direct ties to Dmytro Firtash, was the head of the SBU. Nalyvaichenko, meanwhile, won a seat in the Rada on the UDAR party list, which also has ties to Firtash. In short, one hand washes the other. His Smile Holding won tenders to service Chornomorsknaftogaz, Ukrnaftovydobuvannya, Ukrnaftogaz, and other lucrative government contracts. However, in 2013, the "young oligarchs" began to gain power, and the "Firtashevites" began to run into trouble. Khoroshkovsky fled abroad, and criminal proceedings were opened against Nalyvaichenko, as we described above. They were forced to take to the Maidan.
From Euromaidan back to the SBU
The Trident organization, mentioned above, played a huge role in Euromaidan. It became the core of the Right Sector. Thus, Valentyn Oleksandrovych, through his godfather and former aide Dmytro Yarosh, gained control over all the extremist organizations of the Maidan. After the victory of Euromaidan, Crimea was seized and the war with Russia in Donbas began. Therefore, the new government was simply forced to appoint him head of the SBU, at a time when military and paramilitary units were demoralized, volunteer battalions were only just being formed, and only the Right Sector's DUK remained relatively combat-ready. So, straight from the Maidan, Valentyn Nalyvaichenko went to his familiar office at 33 Volodymyrska Street. To say that the SBU functioned poorly under his leadership would be an understatement. The security service shut down everything that could be shut down. Viktor Yanukovych, after a few days of traveling around the country, left for Russia unhindered. Crimea was simply "flushed." In Donbas, SBU officers defected en masse to the DPR and LPR. Aleksandr Khodakovsky, for example, was the head of the SBU's "A" unit in Donetsk Oblast. They say that at the beginning of the events in Donetsk, he was unsure which side to choose. Nalyvaichenko simply refused to speak with him on the phone, but the FSB did, and that was the deciding factor in his decision. Yulia Mostovaya, editor-in-chief of the Zerkalo Nedeli newspaper, also said that the Security Service missed an opportunity to curb the events in Crimea and the east. She also said that Aksyonov, Konstantinov, Gubarev, Bezler, and Pushilin should drink to the health of Valentin Aleksandrovich. In principle, if this was the original goal of the Russian special services and his instructors from the KGB Institute, they succeeded.
Honorable discharge
The only "achievement" of the SBU chairman was his hiring of well-known bloggers—Sergey Ivanov, previously fired from the prosecutor's office for drunkenness, and Denis Kazansky. Everyone in the SBU was baffled as to what these guys would do there. In fact, they did nothing. They just hung around the halls and left. Under Valentyn Nalyvaichenko, the SBU failed to respond to a single public inquiry. No criminal cases were opened against the Berkut officers who dispersed the Maidan. The organizers, or even the perpetrators, of the Heavenly Hundred shooting were never found. Meanwhile, Nalyvaichenko, through his advisor Markiyan Lubkivskyi, periodically reported on the arrest of "terrorists," "separatists," and "spies." But since none of them were brought to trial, or at least there were no public trials, the public finally stopped trusting him. Instead, he "forced" himself into being a combat veteran. According to Serhiy Leshchenko, during his tenure as SBU Chairman, Valentyn Oleksandrovych's only real fight was for Dmytro Firtash's interests. Eventually, both the public and Petro Poroshenko grew tired of this. They decided to dump Valentyn Oleksandrovych, but it wasn't so simple, as the president also has a very direct connection to the Firtash-Levochkin group. A compromise was eventually reached. Nalyvaichenko was removed not by presidential decree, as required by procedure, but by a vote of the Verkhovna Rada. MPs Leonid Yemets and Boryslav Bereza claim that his resignation was exchanged for an agreement to hold the Kyiv mayoral elections in a single round, with Vitali Klitschko expected to win. The elections ultimately went to two rounds, but Klitschko won. Valentyn Oleksandrovych himself faltered for a while, then announced he would run for president. Then he announced he would create his own political force. However, things didn't go beyond talk.
After a brief silence, Valentin Aleksandrovich resurfaced at the Anti-Corruption Forum hosted by Mikheil Saakashvili. There, he accused the Ukrainian government of stealing $15 billion and, in general, attempted to make a host of other high-profile accusations. So, he's trying his best to return to the country's political life. So far, it's not working out very well. Will it work in the future? Time will tell.
Denis Ivanov, for SKELET-info
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