Vladimir Buryak
Zaporizhzhia has had a new mayor, Vladimir Viktorovych Buryak, for just under six months. Who would have doubted that an industrial city would "elect" an exemplary plant engineer from the Zaporizhstal Steel Works as its leader? But did the people even vote?
It's no secret that Volodymyr Buryak is closely connected to Rinat Akhmetov, who moved the main remaining assets of the SCM Group to Zaporizhzhia and controls the city's main factories. The new mayor's income is 2,2 million hryvnias per year.
A candidate from nowhere
Let's start with the fact that during the 2015 election campaign, billboards featuring a certain Volodymyr Buryak (his last name was fertile ground for bloggers) were so numerous in Zaporizhzhia that it was disconcerting. Literally overnight, the city was transformed: Buryak was visible everywhere, not to mention the articles in the Industrial Zaporizhzhia newspaper, free for pensioners, and the bulletins on all local television channels about this man's good deeds. One question hung in the air: who is Mr. Buryak?
And now it's time to introduce ourselves: Volodymyr Buryak is a self-nominated candidate for the position of mayor of Zaporizhzhia and, concurrently, the director of engineering (the modern equivalent of a regular engineer) at the Zaporizhstal plant. Until 2015, Volodymyr Viktorovich was not involved in politics and kept a distance from the media.
His public biography is rather sparse. Skelet.Org knows that the current mayor was born in 1965 in the Dnipropetrovsk region. He graduated from the Dniprodzerzhinsk Industrial Institute (1982-1987) with a degree in metal forming. After graduating, he found work as a metallurgical engineer at Zaporizhstal. Three years later, he became a senior mill foreman, and seven years later, he was promoted to deputy production director and head of the production department. Incidentally, this entire industrial career was built under Vitaly Satsky, the long-standing chairman of the board and CEO of Zaporizhstal. In 2012, Buryak "rose" to the position of engineering director. This happened when Rinat Akhmetov acquired the plant, or rather, when Viktor Yanukovych "gifted" the industrial giant to the oligarch. And then two men came to the fore: Rostislav Shurma, the plant's general director and former Donetsk Regional Council member from the Party of Regions, and Volodymyr Buryak (note, he wasn't fired like the old man Satsky). On the other hand, shouldn't Rinat Leonidovich himself be overseeing the plant workers' work? So, these two deputies introduced a strict system of fines (failure to meet quotas resulted in a fine; being late from lunch resulted in a fine; anything dissatisfied resulted in dismissal). Furthermore, in the very first year of their "rule," about 30% of Zaporizhstal's employees were fired.
Buryak in the hospital
2015 has quietly approached, and with it the elections. Of course, Akhmetov, who is directly linked to the Opposition Bloc party, needs to strengthen his position in such an important region as Zaporizhzhia and compete with Ihor Kolomoisky. This can only be achieved by coming to power. Putting Shurma at the helm of the city would have been risky and dangerous, especially since his reputation, to put it mildly, is not very good. So the choice falls on Volodymyr Buryak. He is being portrayed as a "social candidate for mayor" and the corresponding slogan, "The strength of Zaporizhzhia is the people." Incidentally, Viktor Yanukovych ran for office with a similar slogan, "Ukraine for the people," in 2011. So, everything new is well-forgotten old.
fresh beets
Incidentally, Buryak has been keen to disavow his affiliation with this political force, positioning himself as an "independent candidate." But de facto, everyone understands that he represents the interests of the Opposition Bloc. If we assume that the Opposition Bloc is a joint-stock company, then the supervisory board is represented by Rinat Akhmetov, the owner of Zaporizhstal. Therefore, talking about Volodymyr Buryak's "independence" is, at the very least, ridiculous.
Buryak's campaign spent 12,626,000 hryvnias on the election. Of that, 3,750,000 hryvnias came from the mayor's own pocket. Another 8,876,000 hryvnias came from philanthropists. And we think we know who these philanthropists are.
Vladimir Buryak is bribing voters.
Volodymyr Buryak won the first and second rounds of the local elections. In the final round, he garnered 58,48% of the vote.
Criminal proceedings
Volodymyr Buryak had barely had time to enjoy his position as mayor when two criminal cases were opened against him. In the first, he is suspected of violating Article 172 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. Law enforcement agencies believe he illegally fired Valeriy Bezlepkin, director of the Zaporizhzhia City Council's Department of Housing and Public Utilities. The City Council denied these accusations, claiming Bezlepkin was fired in accordance with all regulations, but the fact remains.
Incidentally, the story of Valeriy Bezlepkin has been going on for a long time. In 2014, the official took over the Department of Housing and Public Utilities after the "empire" of city "overseer" Yevgeny Anisimov collapsed ( read more about Yevgeny Anisimov in the article "Yevgeny Anisimov: Zaporizhzhia's Criminal "Overseer" Returns "). Bezlepkin was immediately linked to the new "regional overseer," Andriy Alesha. But the official immediately disavowed all ties to Alesha and denounced all Zaporizhzhia politicians as corrupt. After this, a standoff ensued, which Bezlepkin endured—he managed to stay on sick leave for almost a year. However, according to Skelet.Org, he succumbed to the new leadership.
If the case goes to court and Buryak is found guilty, he faces up to two years of correctional labor and a ban from holding the mayoral office for up to three years.
In the second case, Buryak is a defendant, along with many officials of the Zaporizhstal steel mill. The Prosecutor General's Office claims the company failed to pay its share of the development of Zaporizhzhia's engineering, transport, and social infrastructure. As a result, the city budget lost 15 million hryvnias. However, in this case, Buryak also claims he did not sign any documents regarding Zaporizhstal's shareholding in the city's infrastructure development.
Millions in income
Volodymyr Buryak doesn't hide his income. Like an honest official, he declared his earnings for 2014. When it became publicly available, Zaporizhzhia residents were shocked. It turned out that the chief engineer at Zaporizhstal earned 2,287,154 hryvnias that year. Almost all of this was salary. If you do the math, it turns out Volodymyr Viktorovich earns 190,000 hryvnias per month. That's 40 times more than the average factory worker.
Family members – wife, daughter, son-in-law – earned 88,9 thousand hryvnias.
Buryak owns four plots of land and two apartments. His family members also own two apartments.
As for cars, the mayor owns a 2011 Toyita Land Cruiser, a 1978 LUAZ, a Brig B350 boat and two trailers.
The Buryak family owns a 2013 Toyota Avensis and a 2006 Audi AG.
As a result
Now Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine's main industrial city, is under the thumb of the Opposition Bloc and Rinat Akhmetov, who dreams of turning it into a second Donetsk. Time will tell whether Volodymyr Buryak will support the oligarch or truly prove his unaligned position with any party.
It's also interesting how Mr. Akhmetov came to an agreement with the Armenian mafia of Zaporizhzhia, represented by Artashes Sargsyan (a friend of Armen Sargsyan, "Armen Gorlovsky," and Yuriy Ivanyushchenko, "Yura Yenakievsky" ) and their enforcer, the owner of the Khortytsia brand, Yevhen Chernyak, about whom you can read more in the article "Yevhen Chernyak: The Vodka King of All Ukraine."
Arina Dmitrieva, for Skelet.Org
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