Viktor Pshonka as Caesar
Ukrainians have already begun to forget that the Donetsk mafia was not only a gangster organization but also a prosecutorial one, and the latter turned out to be far worse. When a person falls victim to criminal activity, they instinctively seek protection and justice from the law. But what happens when the law itself becomes a bludgeon, and prosecutors and police become bandits, seizing businesses and property? In most cases, this pushes people to revolt, which is what happened in early 2014—for which former Prosecutor General Viktor Pshonka bears perhaps the greatest responsibility.
Kramatorsk youth
Viktor Pavlovich Pshonka was born on February 6, 1954, in the village of Sergeyevka in the Slavyansk district of the Stalin (Donetsk) region. His early life remains unknown; his biography only states that he graduated from high school and was drafted into the army in 1973. Why he did so, a year late, at age 19, he never revealed to the public. But what happened next is more intriguing: the handsome young man, demobilized, with no particular plans for his future, followed in the footsteps of his older brother, Nikolai (born 1947). He went to Kramatorsk to seek employment at the machine-building plant where his brother had once worked (by then already a law student at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv).
In Kramatorsk, Viktor Pshonka immediately met and began an affair with a girl named Olga. Her maiden name is still hidden from everyone, as she was said to come from a troubled family with connections in the city Communist Party Committee. Through her Komsomol connections, she secured a job, quite prestigious at the time, at the Kramatorsk Trade Expertise Bureau. Their romance was swift; they married a few months later, and Olga Nikolaevna adopted the surname Pshonka. However, they needed a place for her young husband, and Viktor himself came to their aid, deciding to follow his older brother Nikolay (born 1947) into law school. However, instead of Kyiv, he was sent to Kharkiv to study—to be closer to his new wife.
Olga Pshonka
While he was cramming for law in Kharkiv, his son Artem was born in Kramatorsk in 1976, and his wife rose through the ranks, becoming head of the Trade Expertise Bureau. In 1980, Viktor Pshonka returned to Kramatorsk, working in the city prosecutor's office as an intern and then an investigator, and in 1982, he became deputy city prosecutor. And in 1983, thanks to his wife's relatives, he was appointed head of the administrative bodies department of the Kramatorsk City Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, a position he held for three years. Having gained experience in the party, Viktor Pshonka returned to his native Kramatorsk prosecutor's office, taking the chair of its director. There, he successfully survived perestroika, the collapse of the USSR, and the first years of Ukrainian independence, as well as the rise, flourishing, and mutual destruction of two of Kramatorsk's largest organized crime groups—the "Starogorodskie" and the "Seventeenths," rumored to have had a hand in the local authorities' involvement. After that, only one "roof" remained in the city—the police and the prosecutor's office. It was then that Viktor Pshonka realized the wisdom that it was unnecessary to start your own business if you could simply take over someone else's.
In Donesk
In 1997, Viktor Yanukovych, a protégé of Akhmetov’s increasingly powerful Donetsk group, became the new head of the Donetsk Regional State Administration.KolesnikovaAt that time, the entire regional government was changing, and the "Donetsk guys" sought to install their own people in the vacant positions. However, Gennady Vasilyev continued to reign supreme in the Donetsk prosecutor's office. His influence is evidenced by the fact that the organized crime group of Alik Grek (Bragin), from which the leaders of the "Donetsk guys" later emerged, operated under Vasilyev's protection, and Akhmetov later used his services. The close cooperation of this tandem resulted in the special status of the Donetsk prosecutor's office: it was one of the very few government agencies that never submitted to the new all-powerful masters of the region, who monopolized all power. And this, in turn, influenced the future of Viktor Pshonka: although he is formally considered a "Donetsk guy," in reality, he was never a member of that clan. Pshonka never worked for Akhmetov (although he provided him with various services); he worked exclusively for Yanukovych. And this, in turn, was used to his advantage by Yanukovych himself – as far as his ingenuity allowed him.
But why did Vasilyev invite Pshonka to be his deputy, and why, in 1998, after receiving a mandate as a people's deputy and leaving for Kyiv, did he hand over his position to him? After all, Vasilyev had far more suitable candidates from the prosecutor's office—for example, Rafael and Rinat Kuzmin.Read more about them in the article. Renat Kuzmin: The Family Business of Outlaw Prosecutors), with whom he developed a vigorous activity in Donetsk (Agroprominvest LLC, the Holy Maria Company, the Pokrovsky market, and the seizure of businesses from a number of Donetsk entrepreneurs). It was said that Pshonka owed his promotion to his wife, Olga, who by then headed the Donetsk Chamber of Commerce and Industry and was well acquainted with the entire Donetsk elite: businessmen, officials, security officials, and organized crime leaders. It was said that Olga Nikolaevna, who had become a very strong-willed and influential woman, was highly respected by Rinat Akhmetov himself. And again, the friendship between Pshonka and Yanukovych was facilitated by the friendship between their wives, Olga and Lyudmila, who were often seen together at performances at the Donetsk theater.
Olga Pshonka and Lyudmila Yanukovych
Two publicly disclosed stories eloquently explain why virtually no incriminating material about Viktor Pshonka survived his tenure at the Donetsk Prosecutor's Office (1997-2003). The first is a typical example of the monster into which Gennady Vasilyev and then Viktor Pshonka transformed the Donetsk Prosecutor's Office. In 2001, an incident occurred in a Donetsk café: a drunk prosecutor's office investigator decided to take a pee right next to the bar, and when the café's staff tried to escort him to the restroom, he wreaked havoc. After the café owner, to his own detriment, filed a complaint against the hooligan with the regional prosecutor's office, his life turned into a living nightmare: he was bombarded with inspections, fines, and a series of criminal cases, ultimately wasted and left him disabled. But, you could say, he got off easy!
Igor Alexandrov
Far more tragic was the fate of Slavic journalist Igor Aleksandrov, who headed the regional television company "TOR." Back in 1998-2000, the prosecutor's office had been pursuing a criminal case against him for libel for publications about the regional vodka industry that affected the interests of the prosecutor's office, which protected this business. Deciding to strike back at the prosecutor's office with its own weapon—new media revelations—Aleksandrov produced a series of programs about corruption in the regional leadership, specifically about regional prosecutor Viktor Pshonka and his son, Artem. By then, Artem had grown up and followed in his father's footsteps in every sense of the word: he graduated from law school, became deputy prosecutor of Kramatorsk, and was implicated in numerous corruption scandals. The journalist began receiving open threats; his colleagues later noted that in the days leading up to his death, Aleksandrov had been very depressed. And on July 3, 2001, a couple of days before the next broadcast, the main “hero” of which was supposed to be Artem Pshonka, Alexandrov was killed, beaten with bats on the steps of his own television company.
The investigation into this high-profile murder turned into a farce, which is precisely what made Viktor Pshonka famous throughout Ukraine. The prosecutor's office presented Yuriy Veredyuk, a homeless man dying of tuberculosis, as the only defendant.
Despite the outrage in the press, Pshonka personally demanded that investigators "ignore the insinuations in the press" and pursue the case against this defendant. And the case went to trial, where Veredyuk was found not guilty. This, however, only led to further tragedies: a month later, Veredyuk died suddenly, followed by the deaths of two witnesses to the crime and Andrei Ryabtsev, a Slavyansk police officer involved in the case. The Donetsk Prosecutor's Office refused to open criminal cases in connection with their deaths.
Bread Kyiv
In December 2003, Leonid Kuchma fired Svyatoslav Piskun (Read more about it in the article Svyatoslav Piskun. Scandalous and unsinkable) From the post of Prosecutor General. He would later be reinstated through the courts, but until the Maidan, the Prosecutor General's Office was run for a full year by Gennady Vasilyev, who immediately dragged Viktor Pshonka to Kyiv with him, making him his deputy. Along with the Donetsk prosecutors, their traditional "businesses" also moved to Kyiv. When rumors began circulating in the capital that the "Donetsk people" were extorting businesses from entrepreneurs and demanding a share in lucrative schemes, it was not always clarified that this was not the oligarchic clan of Akhmetov and Kolesnikov, but the prosecutorial duo Vasilyev and Pshonka.
Upon arriving in the capital, Viktor Pshonka's first concern was finding a roof over his head—he secured a government-issued apartment at 45/49 Vladimirskaya Street, which he quickly privatized. In the summer of 2004, Pshonka returned to the real estate business: after first initiating criminal cases against several Kyiv City State Administration officials, he secured a "payoff" from them in the form of eight plots of land on Ovrutskaya, Sretenskaya, Streletskaya, and Turgenevskaya Streets, which were then leased for a pittance to the Yurkovitsa-Zhitlobud Trust for long-term development. According to the most conservative estimates, thanks to Pshonka's "care," the trust saved approximately $6 million!
Victor Pshonka
During his short first tenure at the Prosecutor General's Office, Viktor Pshonka managed to become "famous" for other scandals. For example, in October 2004, the SBU uncovered a massive fraud carried out by the Ukrsplav plant, which belonged to a Party of Regions member of parliament. To Evgeny Geller – a person very close to Akhmetov. The essence of the scam was that the company, disguised as expensive "current collectors," was exporting cheap aluminum scrap, after which it intended to reclaim VAT, defrauding the state of 150 million hryvnias. The SBU tracked the vessel "Votan" with its cargo of fake "current collectors" and intended to catch them red-handed – the case only required approval from the Prosecutor General's Office. The document landed on Viktor Pshonka's desk, who read it carefully and immediately took off. A few hours later, border guards from the Mariupol detachment blocked the SBU operatives' path and allowed the "Votan" to sail. Pshonka later claimed that all the accusations against him in this case were brazen "slander" and a provocation by political enemies.
When Donetsk natives began leaving Kyiv en masse in December 2004, Viktor Pshonka followed Gennady Vasilyev in resigning. Vasilyev never returned to the Prosecutor General's Office after that, but Pshonka did so twice: in late 2006, he became Deputy Prosecutor General. Alexandra Medvedko (at the personal insistence of Viktor Yanukovych), holding the post until the 2007 elections, and then returning to the chair in June 2010. Finally, on November 4, 2010, by decree of President Yanukovych, Viktor Pshonka was appointed Prosecutor General of Ukraine. Why him and not Vasilyev? Firstly, Vasilyev had acquired a rather negative image in the eyes of voters even before the first Maidan, when numerous revelations about the activities of the "Donetsk gang" emerged. Secondly, Vasilyev was far more closely connected to Akhmetov and Kolesnikov than Pshonka, and Yanukovych wanted a Prosecutor General who could, if necessary, side with him against the Donetsk clan. After all, that was when Yanukovych began creating his own "family."
Shadow Prosecutor's Office
Viktor Pshonka, however, preferred to rely on his real family, fortunately, he had a busy household. In 2002, Olga Nikolaevna Pshonka ceded her position as president of the Donetsk Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) to her trusted confidant, Gennady Chizhikov, formally becoming his deputy. In 2003, she became vice president of the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, effectively running both. To the uninitiated, these are meaningless acronyms, but businessmen are aware of the enormous role they played in the not-so-distant past. Acting as an intermediary between business and the state, the CCI certified force majeure events, issued product certificates—including for export—which enabled VAT refund scams, conducted product inspections and real estate appraisals, handled barcoding and patent licensing, and hosted the International Commercial Arbitration Court. Furthermore, Olga Pshonka planned to transfer to the Chamber of Commerce and Industry the exclusive right to administer exams and issue licenses to public sector employees involved in government procurement—in other words, she would essentially issue these licenses exclusively to her own people! It's probably not surprising that Olga Pshonka has yet to establish any major companies of her own—the Chamber of Commerce and Industry generated sufficient profits for her.
Gennady Chizhikov
That the Chamber of Commerce and Industry ultimately became Pshonka's personal "office" is confirmed by the fact that it is still headed by Gennady Chizhikov, who became president of the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in February 2013 (Olga Mykolaivna chose to become vice president there, too). As it turns out, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry is staffed entirely by Pshonka's people, so there's simply no one left to elect a new president, and it's impossible to appoint one, as it's a non-governmental organization. Meanwhile, Chizhikov, who's trying to rebrand himself as a "European integrationist," has effectively blocked the Chamber of Commerce and Industry's work. Incidentally, a similar situation exists in her husband's former office: the Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine is still teeming with Vasilyev and Pshonka's people, who are blatantly sabotaging the fight against corruption.
By the way, it was not for nothing that the famous raider Alexander Duyuovoy tried to seize the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Read more about it in the article Oleksandr Dubovoy, Turchynov's associate and professional corporate raider). It's difficult to determine whether he gained control of the organization or not. But judging by certain actions by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, management reached an agreement with the raider.
Meanwhile, her son Artem Pshonka, who became a People's Deputy of Ukraine in 2007 (and again in 2012) (from the Party of Regions), also moved to Kyiv and mastered all the intricacies of his father's "shadow business." He headed the so-called "shadow prosecutor's office," housed in a building at 35 Olesya Honchar Street (the property belongs to Igor Surkis's daughter). According to unofficial reports, the "shadow prosecutor's office" acted as a corruption center within the Prosecutor General's Office, where Viktor Pshonka placed his son to "maintain order" and receive visitors. The "clients" who frequented it fell into two categories. Some were in prosecutorial uniform and brought in money: kickbacks, contributions to the "common fund," payments for purchasing positions, and bribes for the removal of those whose posts they were counting on. The fees were substantial: from $50 for a position as an investigator in the district prosecutor's office to $2 million for a regional prosecutor's position. Other visitors, dressed in expensive haute couture suits, paid to solve their own legal problems or to create them for their competitors. Witnesses also claimed that the headquarters for corporate raids carried out through the prosecutor's office was located there. There is information that gambling cases, protected by the prosecutor's office, were also resolved there, and in this particular business, Artem Pshonka had a partnership with Gennady Kernes (Read more about it in the article Gennady Kernes: Dark pages of the Kharkiv mayor's past). Rumor has it that the office of the "shadow prosecutor general" was storing huge sums of cash and gold, and during the Euromaidan, they were hastily carried out through the basements.
Note: Only those with the money to do so could "solve things through Pshonka." Even those serving time for murder were bailed out of prison through Pshonka Jr.
Artem Pshonka
However, Artem Pshonka wasn't solely involved in the gaming business. In addition to owning a jewelry factory in Kramatorsk, Pshonka Jr. had close ties to GazUkraina-2009, a company his mother, Olga Pshonka, may also be involved with. This virtually unknown company, registered in Simferopol, unexpectedly won a tender worth approximately 3 billion hryvnias in 2011-2012—with the help of the Pshonka family.
Treasures of Pshonka
Meanwhile, the Pshonka family's official fortune was quite modest—certainly by the standards of Kyiv officials and MPs. In 2012, Viktor Pshonka declared 1,149 million hryvnias in income, of which 488 hryvnias came from his Prosecutor General's salary, and the rest from royalties, interest on deposits, and income from stock sales. He owned two plots of land (71 and 8,2 hectares), half an apartment, a garage, and a 101-square-meter country house. Moreover, Viktor Pshonka had a huge utility debt, for which he never paid, and his son, Artem, lived in his father's former apartment at 49 Volodymyrska Street, which he sold immediately after the Euromaidan.
The full extent of the Pshonka family's true fortune was revealed to the world only on February 22, 2014, when a crowd of "automaidan" and "self-defense" protesters picketing the Prosecutor General's house, upon learning of his escape, stormed the mansion and... were simply stunned by the abundance of gilding, crystal, and other glittering, yet rather tasteless luxury, which Pshonka far surpassed even in the presidential residence of Mezhyhirya. Most striking of all, they were struck by a portrait of the house's owner, depicting him as a Roman emperor, and a portrait of his wife as a queen à la Catherine the Great. This evoked certain thoughts about what was going on in the mind of the ousted Prosecutor General.
Another sign of a lack of taste, coupled with enormous wealth, was the multitude of collections and stolen items: coins, armor, antique books, icons, souvenirs, dishes, watches, and weapons. It looked more like a warehouse of all sorts of valuables that a crow had pilfered from its nest. Perhaps this inspired someone to create a "museum of corruption" in Pshonka's house, or perhaps the idea was pushed for the sole purpose of calling for "revolutionary consciousness" and leaving everything of value in place, to protect it from plunder or seizure. And so it was: the agitated crowd left, and some masked "self-defense activists" took over guarding the house. But after a while, the house was looted, its valuables taken (including vintage wine from the cellar), and for some unknown reason, mirrors smashed and ducks swimming peacefully in the pond killed. The perpetrators remain unknown. Some time later, men with crowbars came to Pshonka's house and tore the expensive trim and marble tiles from the walls, even pulling out the electrical outlets. Well, it seems the "liberated people" were no better than the previous "regime" when it came to appropriating other people's property.
The video also mentions Klimenko, about whom you can read more in the article. Alexander Klimenko. He flew away, but he really wants to return.
As for Viktor Pshonka, his escape from Ukraine through a border post became an internet sensation. He didn't seem particularly upset by the loss of his home and collections: it came and went! Viktor Pshonka was much more troubled by his inclusion on the West's sanctions list, which automatically blocked his personal accounts in Western banks. This upset Viktor Pshonka so much that in May 2014, he filed a lawsuit against the European Union, demanding the lifting of the sanctions and the return of his money—in the lawsuit, he and his son, Artem, were already listed as Russian citizens. The lawsuit was dismissed, but this didn't make the Pshonkas impoverished Putin stooges. After all, Olga Nikolaevna Pshonka managed to avoid the sanctions, even prudently divorcing her husband that same year to legally have nothing to do with him. One can only guess about the capital of this woman, the only one in the Pshonka family who truly understood economics!
Sergey Varis, for SKELET-info
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