Vitaly Kropachev: What's the coal "overseer" of the presidential "family" hiding? PART 1
This man is one of those responsible for forcing Ukrainians to pay exorbitant electricity rates and suffer rolling blackouts. He, of course, feigns patriotism, insisting that Akhmetov and Putin are to blame for everything, and that one cannot trade with aggressors and terrorists. Meanwhile, Vitaly Kropachev has been building a coal syndicate similar to Akhmetov's DTEK for several years, albeit with even more brazen fraudulent schemes. But this isn't what forces Kropachev to look back warily from time to time and carefully hide his past from everyone. It included things far worse than diluting coal with waste rock...
Vitaly Kropachev. Once Upon a Time in Torez
Vitaly Valerievich Kropachev was born on October 4, 1973, in Torez. This single fact limits his public biography, so the development and life of the man known until 2014 as the "Master of Torez" remain hidden and inaccessible to Ukrainians. His fellow countrymen could certainly tell many interesting stories about him, but Torez is currently under separatist control and under a complete information blockade. Nevertheless, the vastness of the Ukrainian land means that many interesting rumors and facts circulate. Some more have been preserved on older, still accessible internet resources.
So, having hidden his former life from the public, Vitaly Kropachev began a new one in the summer of 2014, declaring himself a Ukrainian patriot of Donbas, for which he allegedly suffered. Indeed, the media constantly writes about him, claiming that Kropachev was one of the few Donbas businessmen with a "pro-Ukrainian stance," and that for this, separatists ransacked his offices and then seized his business. Well, regarding the office ransacking, that's a fact, the absolute truth. He was also stripped of his directorship at the Torez Hard Alloy Plant, which Kropachev effectively managed as his personal property, pocketing the profits.
The fate of his two coal-transporting enterprises, Snezhnoyepogruztrans and Torezpogruztrans, is in question: they were essentially intermediaries operating leased vehicles and owning only their offices and established systems. In other words, from a financial standpoint, there was nothing to take away, and this business wasn't so much taken from him as simply ruined—now the transportation is handled by other companies, run by other people. However, this business brought Kropachev a stable and enormous income, and from this perspective, he truly lost a lot. However, after joining the Poroshenko family's coal business, he created new systems, compensating for his losses.
But Kropachev is strangely silent about his other losses: for example, the pit mines (or, as they say in Torez, "holes"), from which he made large profits for years, including by delivering their coal to Akhmetov's enterprises. Or the real estate in Torez, which began the scandal that led Kropachev to his "pro-Ukrainian positions."
Ruslan Abalmaz-Onishchenko until 2014
But first, let's go back to 2004, when the media reported a shocking incident: Torez police officer Vadim Storozhenko appealed to the prime minister for help and protection from the local mafia, which had carried out a massacre of his family. In his published letter, Storozhenko named those who controlled and ruled Torez, terrifying its residents: crime bosses "Cherkes" (Vitaly Cherkasov) and "Kornei" (Alexander Kornienko), OBOP chief Semikopytny, assistant prosecutor Chuprina, criminal businessman Vladimir Markov and his personal "Malyuta Skuratov," who enthusiastically tortured people, and Ruslan Abalmaz, a former Interior Ministry employee who served seven years in prison for racketeering. A few years later, Abalmaz would also update his biography, taking his wife's surname and becoming Ruslan Onishchenko. Yes, that's it!
So, in the 2000s, several organized crime groups were involved in the Torez "kopankas," including a group that included Vladimir Markov (owner of the private enterprise "Markov"). He was a "criminal businessman" who sold mined coal and invested the profits. Among his assistants, two individuals stand out. The first was Ruslan Abalmaz, who drove from "hole" to "hole" in his huge SUV, "maintaining order." His duties included intimidating the families of deceased miners—ensuring they would keep quiet and keep quiet. Skelet.Org reported that three workers suffocated in one of the "kopankas." Abalmaz ordered their bodies removed, dumped in the woods, and then work resumed immediately. The second was Markov's commercial assistant, the young and enterprising Vitaly Kropachev, who was involved, among other things, in the distribution of mined coal. It was from these "kopankas" that his logistics business grew.
Arthur Likholit
Now let's fast forward to 2011, when one of the earliest, still-extant, media reports of Vitaly Kropachev appeared. Late in the evening of October 16th of that year, a drunken idiot swerved in a VAZ-21-099 in Torez, nearly hitting Kropachev's wife and child who were strolling there. The enraged father of the family showed up two minutes later (thankfully, a BMW X6 is fast) and, along with two security guards, began kicking and punching the foolish driver. Three minutes later, a police squad arrived at the scene, along with Artur Likholit, head of the Torez City Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. They simply laughed as they watched Kropachev beat someone (even if he was a traffic violator). Only when Kropachev tired did they bundle the poor fellow into a van and take him to the station, where he probably got even more punishment.
Likholit personally rushed to the scene, abandoning his evening nap, because he was a friend and business partner of Kropachev. They had become close thanks to Markov, who was friends with Igor Zagorodniy, the head of the Economic Crimes Department, who later headed the Torez Regional Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs from 2007 to 2009 and made Likholit his deputy. Even then, Likholit and Kropachev had a close relationship and some shady dealings.
Incidentally, shortly before the drunk driver incident, Likholit had "made his mark" in the scandalous case of Torez City Court Chairman Alexander Pushnov, who, while drunk, fatally struck and killed student Alina Likhtanskaya in his SUV. Naturally, no one attacked the judge; on the contrary, the entire Torez mafia rushed to his defense. Likholit quickly arranged for a stooge driver—a certain Vasily Gladunyak—to pretend to be behind the wheel of the judge's SUV.
By 2011, Vitaly Kropachev himself was no longer just Markov's "shadow," but his business partner, a regional council member, and then head of the city branch of the Party of Regions. In addition to the coal business, Kropachev also took over the Torez Hard-Welding Alloy Plant: the state-owned enterprise had first gone bankrupt, then been taken over by a management company, and Kropachev became the plant's director. Whether this was Kropachev's personal business or the corporate business of himself, Markov, Likholit, and other members of the Torez mafia remains unknown. However, Skelet.Org sources claimed that by 2014, Kropachev had been appointed by the mafia as Torez's "overseer," tasked with handling all matters. And he handled one of those matters incorrectly.
Vitaly Kropachev: What's the coal "overseer" of the presidential "family" hiding? PART 1
This was the story of the small architectural forms (SAFs) that had sprung up around the city bus station. This land was then transferred from the Ministry of Transport to municipal ownership, and the City Council transferred it to Skif-Service LLC, owned by businessman Alexander Kostryukov, who launched a land war with cafe and shop owners. This war escalated in 2012, when Boris Kolesnikov promised to build an ice rink in Torez. A suitable site for the construction was owned by Skif-Service LLC, but Vitaly Kropachev wanted a share, offering Kostryukov a deal: he would cede to him the rights (partially or fully) to the site for the arena, in exchange for Kropachev and the "city fathers" allowing Kostryukov to evict the small architectural forms from the station square. And so began a great confrontation, accompanied by arson, fence-building, protests, fence-tearing, and raids by "titushki" (bullying thugs) from among boxing athletes. Meanwhile, Kropachev publicly stated his position: "The small architectural forms were illegally established, the court sided with Kostryukov, and the city authorities had nothing to do with it."
These protests reached their peak in February-March 2014, when the Torez entrepreneurs who organized them were inspired by Kyiv's Euromaidan, which frightened the Torez mafia. Vitaly Kropachev tried to make calls to "not destabilize," "maintain stability," "prevent it," and so on. But few listened to him, as the all-powerful Party of Regions had lost its grip on power, and the "Donetsk" clan was crumbling before their eyes. A time of great change was approaching.
Sergey Varis, for Skelet.Org
CONTINUED: Vitaly Kropachev: What is the coal "overseer" of the presidential "family" hiding? PART 2
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