Valery Geletey. I'm not happy to serve, but I must be subservient.

Valery Geletey

Ukrainian officials live much better than the people they are supposed to serve. Another "prominent Ukrainian," Valeriy Heletey, who is once again head of the State Security Service, declared a salary of 217,567 hryvnias for the year and another 370,000 hryvnias in other income. However, for a man who recently spent one and a half million on his son's wedding, this is clearly not his only source of income. Moreover, throughout his very long and very rapid career, he has never been accused of corruption or any other crimes. Want to know how to always remain clean and uninvolved while briskly climbing the corporate ladder? Ask Heletey! Although, I doubt he'll tell you...

A very lucky young man

Valeriy Viktorovich Heletey was born on August 28, 1967, in the village of Verkhniy Koropets, Mukachevo district, Zakarpattia region. Immediately after graduating from high school, he found work in the district center as an auto electrician for ATP-06011. Fortunately, the commute from home to work was only a few stops on the commuter bus, which the company's employees could ride for free. However, this was the only perk of his first job: it's unlikely that a recent high school student without specialized education and experience would have been entrusted with anything more complex than cleaning old batteries. It's not surprising that Heletey never returned to his native depot after serving in the army.

And yet, during his time as a mechanic, Valeriy Heletey clearly didn't waste his time, as evidenced by his subsequent military service location: military unit 2142, better known as the Mukachevo border detachment. Service in the KGB Border Troops of the USSR was considered the most prestigious at the time, and recruits were selected based on more than just physical criteria. How many Soviet conscripts were fortunate enough to serve close to home? A simple village boy, Valeriy Heletey got both, and even three: he didn't have to run around the Carpathian slopes with a dog on a leash; he worked as a junior controller, helping check documents at the border checkpoint. And he still prefers to remain silent about the secret of his incredible success.

In the spring of 1988, the doors of all law enforcement agencies in the Soviet Union were open to the demobilized border guard, especially one so fortunate. Heletey chose the "easy" position of an officer in the Ministry of Internal Affairs' non-departmental security service, which, however, he soon left to study at the Ivano-Frankivsk Police School (1988-1990). After graduating, he took up a position as a criminal investigation officer in the Mukachevo Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs—in other words, he became a real "cop." Just like his older brother, Vladimir Viktorovich Heletey.

But apparently, the fame of the provincial detective brothers didn't suit Valeriy either, because two years later he enrolled in the Academy of Internal Affairs of Ukraine. Graduating in 1994, he immediately transferred to the capital's Organized Crime Control Department, where his meteoric rise began.

The Untouchables of the Transcarpathian "Tsymbory"

The first rule of a hussar: if general's epaulettes can't be earned in battle, they can be obtained through a successful marriage. Valeriy Heletey may have done just that, as the beginning of his career in the Ministry of Internal Affairs coincided with his marriage to Angela Popovich, who is said to be related to either Vasyl Durdynets himself or his assistant. Well, given the national tradition of choosing relatives as assistants, both possibilities are likely correct. However, since the Popovichs, father and daughter, are residents of Brovary, Moscow, and have only ever visited Transcarpathia for a sanatorium, they deny any family connection to Durdynets, even in the fifth generation.

However, it's interesting that the veteran Soviet functionary Durdynets, who wielded enormous influence over the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs in the 90s and was a favorite of Kuchma, is a fellow countryman of the Heleteys: he hails from the village of Romochevytsia, 9 km from Verkhniy Koropets. Of course, given the difference in return, and the fact that Durdynets held leadership positions in Lviv and then Kyiv since the 60s, it's unlikely he had previously crossed paths with Valeriy and Volodymyr, who are young enough to be his sons, but their relationship is clear.

Victor Baloha

The Venniki could have been acquaintances. After all, their villages are practically next door, as is their native Zavidovo, another significant figure in the biography of Valeriy Heletey – the famous Transcarpathian oligarch and "gray cardinal" Viktor Baloha (read more about him in the article). VICTOR BALOGA. PHENOMENON OF THE TRANSCARPATHIAN GOD).

However, from 1987 to 1992, the future oligarch was still only a merchandiser at the Mukachevo hardware and goods depot, and then the director of Rey Promin LLC. And although there were rumors that Baloha allegedly ran the "Mukachevo common fund" at the time, even so, his influence was unlikely to extend beyond the region. Therefore, it would have been very difficult, if not impossible, for him to help Valeriy Heletey build a career in the capital's UBOP. Therefore, it is more logical to assume that in the 90s, he was a protégé of Vasily Durdynets, and only later began to form a closer affiliation with Viktor Baloha.

In the early 90s, fate gave both brothers a chance in life, but they used them differently. The elder brother remained working in the Mukachevo UBOP, as he could hardly have graduated from the Ministry of Internal Affairs Academy even with such impressive support: his colleagues said that Geletey Sr. would make fifty grammatical errors in his reports or protocols. However, he excelled in his ability to work with "clients," who soon shuddered at the mere mention of his nickname, "Geiza." The Mukachevo UBOP mercilessly fought against any organized crime and smuggling that was not part of the local "tsimbora" "trade union." This led to a close bond between Vladimir Geletey and Viktor Baloha, whose company was later joined by Tiberiy Durdinets, the nephew of a renowned veteran of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

But Valeriy Heletey, who had settled in Kyiv, was hardly interested in the affairs of his Transcarpathian relatives and fellow countrymen. He had more than his share of concerns of his own, as business and organized crime were developing much more rapidly in the capital, and he needed to waste no time.

Apartment combinations

Valeriy Heletey's appointment in 1996 as head of the Minsk District Department for Combating Organized Crime in Kyiv coincided, surprisingly, with his father-in-law's purchase of a three-room apartment on the fourteenth floor of an eighteen-story building on Tychyna Avenue. Three years later, Heletey himself purchased the adjacent apartment in his own name, merging the two properties into one large family home. While not exactly luxurious by today's standards, back then, the salaries of district department heads were quite modest, and his "parents' lard" wouldn't have been enough to buy even an old barn in Kyiv.

Heletey Jr. never publicized the origins of his stash, being far more circumspect than his older brother. However, according to leaked intelligence, from 1996 to 2005, while holding senior positions in the Kyiv Ministry of Internal Affairs, Valeriy Heletey had numerous "business" contacts with Kyiv officials, businessmen, and organized crime leaders. Specifically, as head of the Oktyabrsky District Department of Internal Affairs (2000), he had close ties with the management of TNK-Ukraine and turned a blind eye to the company's less-than-transparent allocation of land for gas stations. Heletey was also accused of ties to Kyiv crime bosses Vladimir Kisil, Boris Sovlokhov, Tatarin, Pryshch, and leaders of the Caucasian diaspora. However, he could explain this as operational necessity, while other accusations were malicious slander.

It would have been much more difficult for him to justify his apartment schemes. Thus, on August 4, 2005, the head of the capital's Organized Crime Control Department (!), Valeriy Heletey, was officially declared homeless, having sold his "double" apartment. He modestly kept silent about the availability of housing for his wife (Brovary, 8th Syezda Sovetov Street, 31) and mother-in-law (also there, building 33), where construction of a cottage was underway. Having temporarily registered at the Ministry of Internal Affairs dormitory at 18 Grekova Street, he joined the waiting list for government housing. On November 29 of that year, by order of the head of the Shevchenkivskyi District Administration, the Heletey family received an apartment in central Kyiv (Shevchenko Boulevard, 11/6), measuring 96,7 square meters.

On December 19, by order of the same head of the Shevchenkivska District State Administration (No. 5554), this apartment was transferred to Heletey as private property, or "privatized." The apartment's estimated market value is 2,500,000 hryvnias, or over $500,000, but the needy fighter against organized crime acquired it for a nominal fee.

It's worth noting that Valeriy Getelei's living conditions have improved significantly since then. In his most recent declarations, he listed not only the aforementioned apartment on Shevchenko Boulevard, but also a house within Kyiv city limits of 651 square meters, as well as a "dacha" of 275 square meters. However, these would be mere modest "huts" if rumors of Getelei's acquisition of an estate in a picturesque area near Immingham (Lincolnshire, England) are confirmed.

Lord Commander of the Presidential Guard

Valeriy Heletey's career took off with the appointment of Viktor Baloha as the new head of the Presidential Secretariat of the President of Ukraine in the fall of 2006. He immediately appointed him to the Secretariat as its head of the law enforcement service. The position was somewhat abstract for the average citizen, but not useless for its creator. At the time, the confrontation between the Bankova and the "anti-Orange" coalition that formed Yanukovych's government was intensifying. Baloha, who had volunteered to rescue Yushchenko, placed his people in key positions within the security agencies where possible, or created new ones.

At the same time, Baloha's men were also deployed to the main "streams." Tiberiy Durdynets became deputy head of the SBU, heading the anti-smuggling department—a position he earned considerable notoriety for being implicated in numerous corruption scandals. Meanwhile, Volodymyr Heletey became deputy head of the SBU in the Zakarpattia region.

Valeriy Heletey didn't get involved in their "business" here either. Moreover, he soon found something more pressing: on May 24, 2007, he was appointed head of the State Guard of Ukraine. It might not have seemed like the most lucrative position, but Heletey Jr. demonstrated remarkable resourcefulness. Specifically, with his and Baloga's assistance, the Uzin military airfield (Bila Tserkva) was leased to commercial entities for 49 years! The scandal was so high-profile that the BYuT faction filed a complaint with the Prosecutor General's Office and a petition to the resident demanding that the lease be declared invalid.

And yet, Valeriy Heletey's primary task was to protect "body number one." Perhaps not literally, since an assassination attempt on Yushchenko, even during the political crisis of that time, seemed unthinkable and downright pointless. If anyone deserved protection, it was Baloha himself and Yulia Tymoshenko, since it was precisely her intransigence that prevented the "broad coalition" from forming and pushed the President into battle. However, the State Security Service still played the role of a small, but capable and politically reliable security agency, essential to Bankova in the most urgent cases.

This incident almost happened on Heletey's very first day in his new position, when he and his staff went to the Prosecutor General's Office to prevent the dismissed Svyatoslav Piskun from entering. Then-Interior Minister Vasyl Tsushko rushed to Piskun's aid with a Berkut unit. After a brief skirmish, Heletey wisely relented, but any further action could have escalated civil war in Ukraine.

The ensuing standoff demonstrated Valeriy Heletey's complete loyalty, if not to Yushchenko himself, then to his "cardinal," Baloha. And it was rewarded not just generously, but even abundantly. A shower of generalship stars descended on the "chief security guard": major general in June 2007, lieutenant general in August 2007, colonel general in August 2008! This was contrary to all traditions, against the rules, in some ways even illegal, and played against Heletey, who became known as the "general protégé" and "major general."

UBOP banker

In May 2009, Baloha left the Presidential Secretariat, giving up on the depressed Viktor Yushchenko. Everyone immediately began talking about his protégé, Valeriy Heletey, also being a goner. And so it happened just a month and a half later. His dismissal was so overtly politically motivated that no one even bothered to come up with a compelling, even formal, justification for it. Heletey wasn't transferred to another position, wasn't given a position in another agency, wasn't allowed to return to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but simply kicked out. Then again, they didn't even open a case against him, even though they could have!

For two years, Ukrainian media remained silent about Heletey, and ordinary Ukrainians weren't particularly interested in the fate of the country's former top security guard. He quietly resurfaced in 2011 as vice president of Avant-Bank, along with Oleksandr Savchenko and Valeriy Yarema. The former was his colleague at the Kyiv Department of Internal Affairs (now a member of parliament from the Bloc of Petro Poroshenko), and the latter is the son of another colleague, Vitaliy Yarema, a former UBOP officer. He served as deputy prime minister in Yatsenyuk's first government, then as Prosecutor General. Read more about him in the article. Vitaly Yarema, "Honest Cop" and Sergei Dumchev's godfather). Although Heletey was officially listed only as "the bank's security supervisor," his new position sparked numerous rumors, supported by various leaks and leaks of interesting information. Avant was called the Kyiv Organized Crime Control Department's bank, and Heletey, Yarema, and Savchenko were more than just its honorary vice presidents.

This company also somehow included someone who was connected to the same bank. Yuri Ivanyushchenko, better known by the nickname "Yura Yenikievsky." However, the latter was involved in many Ukrainian banks and cash flows in general at the time—after all, power in the country had shifted to the "Donetsk gang," who were actively "smuggling the dough" out of the country. However, that's another story! The current one continued in 2015, when several billion hryvnias arrived in Avant-Bank's accounts from the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Reserve Fund (allocated for the construction of fortifications), where they got stuck for some unknown reason. After which, in early 2016, Avant-Bank went bankrupt, ripping off its trusting depositors as well. And since in the fall of 2015, Avant-Bank's new management officially announced that neither Heletey, Savchenko, nor Yarema had any connection to the bank anymore, there's simply no one left to hold accountable.

Field Marshal Ilovaisky

As we know, money comes with time. Ukrainians could have forgiven Valeriy Heletey his apartments, his three general's ranks in a year, and even his involvement in the Avant-Bank schemes. If they hadn't, they would have simply forgotten about it in a couple of months. However, Ukrainians will not forget, and are unlikely to forgive, two episodes from his turbulent activities in 2014.

Geletey of Ilovaisky

In early April, the acting president-speaker Turchynov was reinstated by decree (read more about him in the article Oleksandr Turchynov: Skeletons in the Closet of Ukraine's "Bloody Pastor"), as the head of the State Security Service, Valeriy Heletey accompanied a contingent of Kyiv politicians led by Arseniy Yatsenyuk to Donetsk, who had arrived to seek a political settlement of the conflict. A peaceful settlement was never reached; the parties refused to listen to each other, but Heletey had State Security Service officers and an entire company of the Bulat special forces at his disposal. In fact, their mere arrival frightened the rebels who had seized the SBU and regional administration buildings, only to flee at the sight of armed fighters in full protective gear.

Later, it was said that all they needed to do was dig in there for a few days and wait for reinforcements, or at least continue to distract the militants. However, after a mysterious phone conversation with an unknown person, Heletey ordered the security forces to immediately leave Donetsk. This allowed the separatists to recapture the administrative buildings and proclaim their "republic," while Girkin's militants advanced toward Slovyansk and Kramatorsk to block the National Guard columns advancing on Donetsk. It remains unknown with whom Heletey spoke then, but the names of Akhmetov, "Yura Yenakievsky," and people serving as liaisons between them and the former Kyiv "UBOP" officers who became shareholders in Avant have been mentioned.

Heletey's hasty departure from Donetsk will likely remain a little-known mystery of Ukrainian history. The same cannot be said for the world-renowned Ilovaisk tragedy, for which Valeriy Heletey bears direct responsibility as Minister of Defense, which he held from July 3 to October 14, 2014. It was precisely because of this tragedy that he long became "famous" as Ukraine's most boastful and unsuccessful military commander, earning him the derisive nickname "Heletey-Ilovaisk" from his enemies.

But was Ilovaisk the only one? Before that, there was the "cauldron" near Izvarino, and after that, the tragedy of the encircled Ukrainian paratroopers at the Luhansk airport. However, the Ministry of Defense under Heletey's leadership focused not on the ATO, but on preparing and holding the military parade in Kyiv for Independence Day. Moreover, this is the most benign version of events, since some also believe that the culprit was not negligence or a desire to curry favor with the commander-in-chief, but paid treason.

Well, perhaps Valeriy Heletey was a decent "Ubop" officer, head of the State Security Service, and vice president of a bank, but he was, to put it mildly, a lousy Minister of Defense. However, he wasn't even reprimanded for the senseless deaths of hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers in the "cauldrons" that disgraced our army: a parliamentary investigation into the causes of the military catastrophe was blocked by pro-presidential factions, and after the snap parliamentary elections, the issue wasn't even raised. Valeriy Heletey got off Ilovaisk with only his resignation and a transfer to his previous position. There, he continued to guard his third president (counting acting president Turchynov), which so far seems to be going well, and to organize lavish weddings for his children.

Sergey Varis, for SKELET-info

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