After Tkachenko — a personnel purge, business with Kvartal people and rumors about a new family: how Yaroslav Pakholchuk consolidated power at 1+1

After Oleksandr Tkachenko stepped back from the operational management of 1+1 media, a quiet but very telling restructuring began within the group.

The key figure in the new arrangement became Yaroslav Pakholchuk.

In 19 December 2019 he was appointed chair of the board and CEO of 1+1 media. Tkachenko himself remained honorary president of the group, effectively stepping away from day-to-day management.

Shortly afterward, personnel changes began at the top of the company.

The old team began to leave 1+1

One of the first to go was Svitlana Paveletska — director of corporate communications and a board member.

Her departure took place in January 2020, that is, less than a month after Pakholchuk was appointed CEO.

It is particularly telling that Paveletska herself publicly spoke about structural changes after the arrival of the new CEO and acknowledged that she and Pakholchuk had differences on a number of issues.

After her departure, the corporate communications direction was reorganized and placed directly under the new leadership.

The process did not end there.

In December 2020, 1+1 media was left by Anna Tkachenko, who had worked at the group for about ten years and headed the 1+1 Digital and innovation direction.

Officially her exit was presented as her own decision to terminate cooperation.

However, after her departure the responsibilities of head of 1+1 Digital were temporarily taken on personally by CEO Yaroslav Pakholchuk.

So the chronology looked quite telling:

December 2019 — Pakholchuk gains operational authority;

January 2020 — Paveletska leaves the company;

December 2020 — Anna Tkachenko departs;

some management functions become concentrated directly around the new CEO.

Calling this a proven personnel “purge” without internal documents would be incorrect.

But it is also hard to ignore the sequence of events.

A new leader arrived — the old team began to change.

And Pakholchuk not only remained, but significantly strengthened his position.

Not just a hired manager

Pakholchuk has long ceased to be merely a top manager of a single media group.

According to public registries, he owns stakes in companies where his partners are people directly connected with Kvartal 95.

In particular, in Vision Kvartal TV LLC Pakholchuk holds a 24% stake.

Other co-owners include Serhiy Shefir, Timur Mindich and Ruslan Osadchiy.

Separately, Pakholchuk holds 25% in Kvartal TV LLC, where his business partners also include Shefir and Mindich.

So this is no longer about abstract acquaintances or “connections.”

These are concrete corporate stakes.

Atlas, Sydorenko and the October Palace

Another line runs through the festival business.

Pakholchuk has publicly appeared as a co-owner of Atlas Weekend.

One of the key figures in that business is Dmytro Sydorenko.

And it is his name that appears in a piece about the company Kombinat Plus, which received management of the Kyiv October Palace.

Thus, a rather interesting business construction takes shape:

1+1 media — Pakholchuk — Atlas — Sydorenko — Kombinat Plus — October Palace.

At the same time, there is another line:

Pakholchuk — Vision Kvartal TV — Shefir — Mindich.

And another:

Pakholchuk — Kvartal TV — Shefir — Mindich.

Each such link can be explained by ordinary business relations on its own.

But when they form a single system around a person who simultaneously heads one of the country's largest media groups, entirely natural questions arise about the scale of their real influence.

From financier to center of influence

Pakholchuk’s career in 1+1 was rapid.

He worked as finance and executive director, was responsible for pay TV, served on the group’s governing bodies, and after Tkachenko’s departure received the highest operational position.

After that, part of the old management gradually left the company.

Paveletska — gone.

Anna Tkachenko — gone.

Pakholchuk himself — remained.

And at the same time his own business interests extended far beyond 1+1.

Festivals.

Media business.

Partnerships with Kvartal people.

Corporate stakes.

Connections with entrepreneurs whose companies acquire high-profile assets.

So the question is no longer only whether Pakholchuk proved to be a successful manager.

The question is: where does the work of a hired executive in 1+1 end and his own network of business interests and influence begin?

Rumors about a wife, Olga and a child

A separate strand of information about Pakholchuk concerns his personal life.

According to unofficial claims circulating in private conversations and non-public circles, Pakholchuk allegedly separated from his wife Natalia and began a relationship with a woman named Olga.

By the same account, Olga allegedly previously worked at 1+1, and the relationship supposedly began as an office romance.

In these same rumor circles Anna Tkachenko also figures: by an unconfirmed version, it was she who allegedly introduced or brought Pakholchuk and Olga closer. In private retellings this story is sometimes compared to how, it is alleged, Anna Tkachenko was once introduced to Oleksandr Tkachenko.

By that same account, Olga allegedly has already given birth to a child by Pakholchuk.

In earlier society publications Yaroslav Pakholchuk did indeed appear with his wife Natalia.

But there are no public documents about a divorce, confirmed statements from Pakholchuk himself, his wife, the woman named Olga, or other reliable sources that would confirm a new relationship, its alleged origin as an office romance, Anna Tkachenko’s role in the introduction, or the birth of a child, available in the public domain.

Therefore claims that he “left his wife, went to his mistress who has already borne him a child,” as well as assertions of an office romance or Anna Tkachenko’s mediation, cannot be presented today as established facts.

After Tkachenko’s departure he received the main operational seat at 1+1.

Part of the old management leaves the group.

Management functions concentrate around the new CEO.

At the same time Pakholchuk remains co-owner of businesses with Shefir and Mindich and has partnership ties with people from Atlas, whose companies appear in stories around major capital assets.

So the main question for Yaroslav Pakholchuk is not the gossip about his private life.

The main question is how far his system of corporate, media and business influence extends after Oleksandr Tkachenko’s departure, and whether the change of the old team at 1+1 was simply a reform or an actual reformatting of the group around a new center of power.