Vyacheslav Suprunenko. The eminence grise of Chernovetskyi's "young team" is returning.
Interpol hasn't been looking for the ex-son-in-law for a long time. Leonid Chernovetsky Vyacheslav Suprunenko. The media reported this on December 1st: it turned out he had been removed from the wanted list back in May of last year. Vyacheslav Ivanovich had been abroad for almost three years, but despite being on the wanted list, he hadn't experienced any particular difficulties traveling – at various times, he was spotted in Greece, Bulgaria, Italy, Switzerland, and even Poland. It seems he has impressive connections, since even Interpol didn't dare touch him. Who is Vyacheslav Suprunenko, really?
Vyacheslav Suprunenko and Alexander Suprunenko: "Like father, like son..."
Born Suprunenko Vyacheslav Ivanovich In June 1976, after studying at the Kyiv Technical School of Transport Construction, he received a higher education at the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. In his youth, he and his older brother, Alexander, were arrested by police for "group hooliganism." Since then, he has been listed in the police database as a "malicious hooligan."
Alexander Suprunenko
In his youth, their father, Ivan Suprunenko, like our former president, stole hats at the train station. It's no surprise that after rising to a leadership position, he retained his thieving tendencies. Ivan Suprunenko, having assumed the post of deputy section chief of the Kyiv Reserve Conductor Section, based at the Kyiv Passenger Station, used corporate raiding to gain control over the vast Kyiv Reserve Conductor Force (approximately 4,000 personnel). By intimidating his subordinates, he effectively forced them to work for him. Anyone who wanted to continue working as a conductor was required to bring him substantial bribes. It's said that the notorious crime boss Vakhtang Ubiriya, known among gangsters as "Vakha," helped Suprunenko intimidate and control the conductors.
The father's criminal exploits helped the Suprunenko family amass a substantial start-up capital, which they used to establish over a dozen interconnected companies. To lend credibility to their businesses, they even brought in foreigners. One of them was Guinean citizen Carlos Nunes (S.A.K. Connection), and the second was naturalized German Gleb Lyubomirsky (Svit Zlagodi and Vostochny Express). Their firms primarily focused on legal services, the sale and lease of premises, and construction. Vostochny Express specialized in wholesale bed linens, while another of their enterprises, Rentex, provided real estate rental and sales services.
Vyacheslav Suprunenko. "Marriage of Convenience"
Vyacheslav Suprunenko and his family were able to further expand their business after marrying Leonid Chernovetskyi's daughter, Kristina. With the rise of "Lenya Kosmos" and his "young team" to power in Kyiv, a massive land grab began. It was led by key figures in Chernovetskyi's team – Vyacheslav and Oleksandr Suprunenko. Suprunenko Jr., as a member of the Kyiv City Council, became the so-called "gray cardinal" of Chernovetskyi's team. Together with his brother, they were the main initiators of corporate raids and the forced privatization of several hundred state-owned and municipally owned enterprises. In particular, they took control of shares in the municipal enterprises Kyivmlyn, Kyivkhlib, Kyivkhimvolokno, and even a controlling stake in Kyivmiskbud (which, however, they were unable to hold on to – Viktor Yanukovych's team, which replaced Chernovetskyi, prevented them from doing so). Given all these "exploits" in the area of "municipal embezzlement," it's quite strange that Vyacheslav Ivanovich was wanted for an entirely different matter.
Kristina Chernovetskaya and Vyacheslav Suprunenko
Why was Interpol looking for him?
In 2005, they, together with the head of the Chernovetsky Bloc faction Denis Komarnitsky They beat up lawyer Ivan Grantsev, taking from him documents allegedly incriminating them in theft, and a large sum of money, the total amount of which, according to media reports, was approximately 20 thousand dollars.
The incident occurred in the premises of the Technical Inventory Bureau, where Grantsev intended to register the ownership of the Kniga company (formerly the Oktyabr factory). Komarnitsky and Suprunenko, members of the "young team," were also competing for this same enterprise. Vyacheslav Ivanovich ultimately regretted his ambition to acquire this enterprise—it turned out that Ivan Grantsev was a business partner. Andrey Portnov (a close associate of Yanukovych, who at one time held the post of deputy head of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine).
During the years when Chernovetskyi's position was strong, the case was hushed up. But with the rise to power of Viktor Yanukovych and the appointment Viktor Pshonka In 2011, the Prosecutor General reopened the case (apparently, Andriy Portnov, a vindictive man, never forgot old grievances). Following the investigation, Komarnitsky was arrested and sentenced to six years' probation. Suprunenko, however, was forced to flee abroad, where he spent over three years enjoying his plundered assets. Incidentally, in 2011, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) sent materials to the prosecutor's office regarding the illegal seizure of Kyiv municipal property by Vyacheslav Suprunenko's entities. The case involved the aforementioned Kyivmlyn and Kyivmiskbud companies, as well as Kyivvodokanal and Khreshchatyk Bank. According to investigators, the companies artificially undervalued their own shares through additional issues, after which Kyiv authorities "voluntarily" transferred them to businessmen. Notably, all such transactions were conducted through the Novyi Region company, owned by the Suprunenkos.
Enterprises controlled by the Suprunenko brothers
An interesting coincidence: Vyacheslav Suprunenko's name disappeared from the wanted list immediately after Andrei Portnov fled to Moscow, from where he is suing the Ukrainian authorities in European courts over sanctions imposed on him at the request of the current Ukrainian government.
During the Euromaidan, Suprunenko tried to quietly seize control of the Kyiv Hippodrome, but he failed. He continued his efforts, and perhaps that's why the hippodrome is now plagued by problem after problem: creditors are pressuring it over debts, and they plan to build a shopping center in its place, and so on. It certainly seems like a deliberate attempt to underestimate its true value so they can buy it for next to nothing.
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While the prosecutor's office and the Ministry of Internal Affairs are figuring out what to do with the "Vyacheslav Suprunenko case," he is actively cultivating connections with politicians and businessmen he "needs" in Ukraine, with the selfless assistance of his brother, Oleksandr, who won a seat in the VIII Verkhovna Rada in the early parliamentary elections. He got there using Chernovetskyi's old schemes—through bribery and graft. A criminal case has even been opened against him for vote-buying in Kyiv's 216th electoral district. The irony of this situation is that, having won a seat in the Verkhovna Rada, he became a member of the Committee on Legal Policy and Justice. And while the man who essentially directly bought votes to gain a seat in parliament is busy with "justice," his brother is quietly returning to Ukraine to perform new "heroic deeds."
Dmitry Samofalov, for Skelet.Org
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