Victor Nusenkis: The False Greek Oligarch at the Head of an Orthodox Thieves' Corporation. Part 1
Christ's apostles would be quite astonished at how today's Ukrainian oligarchs manage not only to squeeze into the Kingdom of Heaven through the eye of a needle, but also to open offices and offshore companies there. For a quarter of a century now, Viktor Nusenkis has managed to cross himself before icons and donate to churches with one hand, while robbing the state and squeezing the last vestiges of his employees with the other. However, he didn't even build churches and chapels to atone for his numerous sins...
Lying "righteous man" Victor Nusenkis
One of the Ten Commandments, equally sacred to Christians and Jews, states: Thou shalt not bear false witness! Dante reserved the eighth circle for liars in his Inferno, the most terrible, worse only than the fate of Judas Iscariot. And it's unlikely that such an educated and deeply religious man as Viktor Leonidovich Nusenkis doesn't know this. Nevertheless, he knowingly and publicly lies every time he calls himself an "Orthodox Greek." No, there's no doubt about his fanatical devotion to the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC). However, Nusenkis is not Greek.
He was born on March 3, 1954, in Stalino (now Donetsk), to Leonid Isaakovich Nusenkis and his wife, Bella Markovna. Initially, the parents wanted to name their son Aaron, but the persecution of "Zionists" (in the late 40s) was still fresh in their memories, so they decided to play it safe. They gave their son the "neutral" name Viktor, which, combined with the ancient northern Russian surname Nusenkis (of Novgorod-Scandinavian origin), was intended to completely conceal his "unreliable" origins. However, appearance cannot be hidden behind a surname, and so, even in school, little Vitya Nusenkis began calling himself an Azov Greek—though he looked nothing like one.
But, according to Skelet.OrgHis classmates picked on him not for his background (there were all sorts of people at the international school in Donetsk), but for his character. Always attached to his parents, who were overprotective of their only son, the weak-willed boy only threw punches after a fight, and then only mentally. And then the boy grew into a young man with a host of complexes, which he still hasn't overcome, even at the age of his "silver beard." Acquaintances describe Viktor Nusenkis as an odious individual with a very lively mind, overly enthusiastic about his ideas (and exploding when challenged), always believing himself to be right and fond of lecturing others, dismissive of his employees (bordering on misanthropy), fearful of attacks, and appearing everywhere only surrounded by numerous security guards.
Viktor Nusenkis lied about his origins for the second time at the age of 23, when he graduated from the Donetsk Polytechnic Institute and got a job as a mine surveyor at the Batov Mine in Makeyevka. When filling out the application, he again identified himself as Greek—out of habit, out of reflex. Paying no attention to this, he threw himself into the work and, within a few years, had risen to the rank of head of the tunneling section, earning a red flag and a certificate of honor at a socialist competition. And then his last name, which no one recognized as Russian, came to the attention of Mykola Surgay, the First Deputy Minister of Coal Industry of the Ukrainian SSR and an ethnic Greek. After reading the application form, Surgay was delighted and decided to meet his fellow Greek.
Nikolay Surgay
Nusenkis didn't disappoint the deputy minister by admitting he was only calling himself Greek for cover. On the contrary, having grasped the potential, he told Surgay a tall tale about his supposed Greek origins. Noticing the deputy minister's respect for Orthodox culture, he even claimed to be a baptized believer. He was right in his calculations: soon after a heartfelt conversation with the minister, Nusenkis was appointed chief engineer and began to be treated as a favorite of the higher-ups. In 1985, Viktor Nusenkis became the youngest mine director in the USSR, heading the Zhdanovskaya mine (in the city of Zhdanovka). The appointment proved timely: a year later, the "perestroika" reshuffle of personnel began in the USSR, with young specialists being appointed to leadership positions, and Nusenkis fit seamlessly into this wave—although, as we reiterate, he had received his position before perestroika.
However, there is another version of his career rise: as Mykhailo Volynets, leader of the independent miners' union, claimed, Nusenkis married either the biological daughter or niece of Vasily Mironov, then First Secretary of the Donetsk City Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine (died 1988). However, their family ties were never publicized and were later completely forgotten. It's possible that this second version isn't a "miner's tale," and therefore the young Viktor Nusenkis had the support of both his father-in-law and the deputy minister.
Memorial plaque to Vasily Mironov
Director-businessman
The new director of Zhdanovskaya looked more than "democratic" for the time: instead of a formal suit, Nusenkis favored jeans and sneakers. The media later reported that the workers wanted to chip in for a three-ruble suit for the "poor" director, as if they didn't realize his outfit was the height of fashion and cost as much as three suits. The miners had high hopes for the young manager, and at first he seemed to live up to them, although no one noticed that by giving a ruble to his workers, Nusenkis was putting ten rubles in his own pocket.
The new director's thoughts were occupied not with refurbishing the mine or increasing production, but with commercial projects. With the support of Nikolai Surgai, who served as Minister of Coal Industry from 1985 to 1987, Nusenkis immediately secured three important approvals: the removal of the mine from the jurisdiction of the Artemugol directorate, permission to independently market coal, and his appointment to the parallel position of chairman of the Zhdanovka executive committee. It's worth noting that after his resignation in 87, Surgai was demoted to general director of Donetskgosuleprom, effectively becoming Nusenkis's immediate supervisor and continuing to patronize him—and, according to rumors, to participate in his commercial projects.
These projects began operating in 1987. First, Zhdanovskaya began selling coal abroad (to the "brotherly" countries of the socialist camp), and imported it back through barter.
Gennady Vasiliev
Scarce goods, including export-spec VAZ cars. Some of these cars were sold to the miners, who were overjoyed and could have carried their director in their arms if he'd let them touch them. Others, through barter, ended up in the hands of "right people," including regional officials and the prosecutor's office. It was then that Nusenkis first met his future business partner. Gennady Vasiliev.
Secondly, that same year, Nusenkis and his unnamed partners created the joint venture "Gornyak," which, according to media reports, was engaged in harvesting Siberian timber for mines in the Donetsk region, bringing in 100 rubles a month in profit! However, joint (Soviet-foreign) ventures were then created for export-import operations, meaning that the primary activity of "Gornyak" was not transporting fasteners from Tyumen to Zhdanovka. It's possible that this joint venture was actually used to export coal and import consumer goods.
However, Nusenkis, along with Efim Zvyagilsky Along with several other Donetsk mine directors, under the cover of Nikolai Surgai, they carried out another scam on a national scale. First, they secured increased state subsidies for Donetsk coal (they staged the miners' strikes of 1989 for the same purpose), and then, through a system of cooperatives and joint ventures, they began purchasing and importing cheap coal from Kuzbass—which they then registered as mined in Donetsk mines, receiving budgetary funds for. It was reported that Zasyadko director Zvyagilsky was particularly keen on this, ensuring his mine record "production" and enormous state subsidies. This scheme operated until the mid-90s, generating colossal profits for the "coal mafia," and was then revived in the 21st century—with the direct involvement of Viktor Nusenkis.
Sergey Varis, for Skelet.Org
CONTINUED: Victor Nusenkis: The False Greek Oligarch at the Head of an Orthodox Thieves' Corporation. Part 2
Subscribe to our channels in Telegram, Facebook, Twitter, VC — Only new faces from the section CRYPT!