Yulia Svetlichnaya: The Story of Kharkiv's Kept Governor. Part 1

Yulia Svetlichnaya

But all these efforts were in vain. Just as the "striking blonde" turned out to be dyed (her natural hair color is dark brown), so the "effective head" of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration has proven herself to be nothing more than a senseless embezzlement of the regional budget, frequent trips to foreign symposiums, and a capriciously pouting lip at endless meetings at the regional administration. In the end, after a fierce struggle for power in the regionOleksiy Kuchera was appointed the new head of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration. Svetlichna's chances of jumping into the deputy secretary's chair at the National Security and Defense Council have diminished significantly, though not disappeared entirely.

Tili-tili dough...

According to her biography, Yulia Svetlichnaya, 35, has never been married, never even had a boyfriend, and has no children or personal life. More precisely, her entire personal life was centered on her relationship with Igor Rainin, which she, of course, remains tight-lipped about. Well, since we haven't been holding a candle to it, we'll call their relationship business-like, and Rainin her "business friend." This, however, doesn't change the fact that Yulia Svetlichnaya's entire 14-year career was built around and thanks to Rainin alone—and Svetlichnaya was essentially kept by him, as they say. Which is becoming commonplace in modern Ukrainian politics.

Yulia Aleksandrovna Svetlichnaya was born on June 6, 1984, in the city of... No, not Kharkiv, as stated in her biographies, but in Vovchansk, a district center in the northern Kharkiv region, just 5 km from the Russian border. It's unknown why Svetlichnaya (or her assistants) introduced this confusion into their life, but it's futile to try to unearth her roots in Kharkiv, where, of course, they don't exist. But they are very deep and strong in her native Vovchansk. Her mother, Valentina Nikolaevna Svetlichnaya, has been the head of the Vovchansk District Labor Archives for many years, and in 2016, she became an advisor to Vitaly Miroshnik, the head of the Vovchansk District State Administration. Miroshnik was appointed under the patronage of Yulia Svetlichnaya and Igor Rainin, who then jointly headed the Kharkiv region.

Vitaly Miroshnik

Find out what her father, Alexander Yuryevich Svetlichny, does in open databases. Skelet.Org So far, it hasn't worked. Yulia Svetlichnaya herself carefully conceals her parents, and indeed all her close relationships, from the public. This, however, hasn't been able to conceal her extremely close relationship with Igor Rainin, to whom she owes everything.

After graduating from high school, Yulia Svetlichnaya's parents sent her to study at the Kharkiv State University of Food and Trade, where she earned a degree in international economics. It was there that she became closely acquainted with the Rainin family, joining their family-owned company, the Educational, Scientific, and Production Center "Occupational Safety" (EDRPOU 22723182), in 2005. This company has long been and continues to be a beneficiary of Kharkiv's Turboatom, as its founder, Lev Rainin, is a longtime friend of Alexey Logvinenko, a person with direct ties to both Turboatom and To Arsen Avakov, and also patronized the young To Boris Lozhkin.

It's worth clarifying here: the staff of the UNPC "Occupational Safety" is very small, you can count them on your fingers, and all of them are insiders—so Yulia Svetlichnaya wasn't hired off the street, but as an acquaintance. Therefore, she met the Rainins long before. And here we can assume two options: either Igor Rainin, then deputy head of the Main Department of Economics at the Kharkiv Regional State Administration, found the young student Yulia at the University of Food and Trade, or he knew her parents (her mother, for example) through his job and only then brought their daughter into his orbit.

In 2006, Igor Rainin decided to bring Svetlichnaya even closer to him and hired her at the Main Economics Department of the Regional State Administration. Initially, she served as an investment policy specialist, but in 2007, Rainin appointed her head of the pricing policy department. A year later, Svetlichnaya became head of the entrepreneurship and market relations department. Even then, according to their acquaintances, she showed herself to be not the blonde from the jokes (and, let us repeat, she is not a blonde), but a very lively and resourceful woman. However, while skillfully handling paperwork and mincing words, Svetlichnaya was too far removed from the real economy and from life in general. She belongs to the category of officials who, standing amidst ruins, can enthusiastically recount Ukraine's successes on its path to Europe. And it is precisely such officials who are always in demand by changing regimes in the country.

In 2009, Svetlichnaya enrolled in the National Academy of Public Administration under the President of Ukraine, which is considered a sort of "advanced training course" for local government officials (previously known as the Higher Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine). Her arrival was well-timed, because in 2010, after the change of power in the country and then at the Kharkiv Regional State Administration (where Avakov was replaced by Dobkin), Igor Rainin himself lost his position and served until 2014 as deputy director of Sintoflex LLC (EDRPOU 36815660).

Here's what's interesting: according to Svetlichnaya's biography, she enrolled in the National Academy of Public Administration for a postgraduate program—a four-year program costing approximately $1000 per year. After Rainin was fired from the Kharkiv Regional State Administration, Svetlichnaya could no longer afford to pay for her education with public funds. But the question is: why did Svetlichnaya study for only three years instead of four, and why didn't she defend her dissertation—as is usually done after postgraduate study? Apparently, something happened in 2012 that forced Svetlichnaya to leave the academy and return to Kharkiv, where she was unable to regain her job at the Regional State Administration and was once again employed by one of the Rainin brothers' firms: Dornit LLC (EDRPOU 37191069). "Dornit", like "Sintoflex", was founded by Andrey Kryuchkov and Stanislav Skripai, both companies were registered at 2 Cementnaya Street. According to sources Skelet.Org, these companies are part of the orbit of the Rainin family business, and Kryuchkov and Skripai are the founders and directors of several other enterprises associated with the Rainin family.

But then the second Maidan erupted, and power changed in Ukraine, bringing in the Rainins' old friends and patrons. On February 27, 2014, Arsen Avakov became head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (a post he still holds), and on June 10, Poroshenko appointed Borys Lozhkin as head of his Administration. Accordingly, Igor Rainin was promoted to deputy head of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration in April 2014, and then to deputy head of the Presidential Administration in November. He then repeated this cycle, this time with a promotion: from February 3, 2015, to August 29, 2016, he served as governor of the Kharkiv Oblast, and was then appointed head of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine.

Yulia Svetlichnaya's career immediately revived. In April 2014, Rainin brought her back to the Regional State Administration, appointing her Director of the Department for Enhanced Regional Competitiveness. The precise nature of this department's work remains unknown: according to sources, it siphoned off budget funds and grants for pointless theoretical projects, most of which remained on paper.

Then, leaving for Kyiv to work in the Presidential Administration in November 2014, Rainin handed over his position as deputy head of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration to Svetlichnaya, and in 2015, he helped her lead the BPP faction in the regional council. In August 2016, leaving for Kyiv for a second time, Rainin left his loyal friend in charge of the Kharkiv governorship.

When Rainin and Svetlichnaya began appearing hand in hand in public in 2014, Kharkiv residents first suspected that their relationship was more than just business. Then details of their biographies emerged, revealing that Yulia Svetlichnaya and Igor Rainin had been together since at least 2005. Then, in the summer of 2015, the "terrorist" hacker group CyberBerkut hacked Rainin's emails. and published a number of his letters. Including correspondence with Avakov (with a hint of corruption), and several letters from Svetlichnaya, which talk about renting hotels and apartments for them “for the night”.

Rainin and Svetlichnaya's reaction to these publications was harsh: they called them "Kremlin fakes," recalling that CyberBerkut had been declared "Russian information terrorists" in Ukraine. The website 057.ua, which was the first to republish the scandalous scans, was first raided by the SBU, then subjected to a DDoS attack. Svetlichnaya proved more vindictive, and during her governorship, 057.ua fell into disgrace, repeatedly raided by the tax authorities and the National Police. This despite the fact that Kharkiv residents perceived the regional leaders' "office romance" with, let's say, understanding—though not without some wisecracks. For example, in February 2016, someone sent out "valentines" with images of Rainin and Svetlichnaya.

However, Kharkiv feminists were much harsher in their assessments of the governor's "moral image." In 2018 they called Svetlichnaya was ordered to resign, accusing her of "...wearing Igor Rainin's hat all her life, starting with her first job—the Occupational Safety and Health Research and Production Center. She discredits the very idea of ​​the possibility of self-realization for an independent and strong woman who achieves results through her hard work and intellectual abilities, not her body."

Sergey Varis, for Skelet.Org

CONTINUED: Yulia Svetlichnaya: The story of a former Kharkiv governor and kept woman. Part 2