"A 'Promising' Replacement: Who Needed Ex-Regional Party Member Moskalenko in Kyiv Regional State Administration"

"A 'Promising' Replacement: Who Needed Ex-Regional Party Member Moskalenko in Kyiv Regional State Administration"

Rumors have been circulating around the capital region that former MP Yaroslav Moskalenko has been frequenting the Office of the President, where he is trying to obtain the post of head of the Kyiv Regional State Administration. The media investigated what consequences such a personnel decision might have.

Historical overview: Yaroslav Moskalenko is a former member of the Party of Regions, a deputy of the 7 and 8 convocations of the Verkhovna Rada. His political path began in Vyshhorod district, where in 2006 he started by becoming a deputy of the district council, which he later chaired. In 2010 he headed the Vyshhorod district administration for several months, and later became deputy head of the Kyiv Regional State Administration under Anatoliy Prysyazhnyuk. That same year in the fall Moskalenko became a deputy of the Kyiv regional council from the Party of Regions.

It is rumored that Moskalenko was involved in the scandalous transfer of Mezhyhirya to Yanukovych. Loyalty to the 'family' allowed him to make a rapid and successful political career in the capital region far beyond his own constituency.

In the parliamentary elections of 2012 he ran for the Party of Regions in constituency 96 (Vyshhorod), where he confidently won. One of the brightest moments of his political career was voting wholeheartedly for the 'dictatorial laws' on 16 January 2014 during the height of the Revolution of Dignity.

However, the electorate's short memory and the lack of a strong competitor in the constituency (it was then said that the MP had arranged this with Bankova) allowed Moskalenko to become an MP again in 2014. He ran then as an independent, but his campaign was effectively supported by Poroshenko's party. It was ties with the then-presidential team that not only kept him afloat but also increased his influence. There was even information circulating online that he bought the post of head of the Kyiv Regional State Administration for his protégé Oleksandr Horgan, effectively establishing control over the region.

This became an impetus for companies close to Moskalenko to receive multimillion tenders from the Kyiv Regional State Administration. In particular, at the end of 2018 the company LLC 'Spets Komplet Postach' received a tender for the construction and repair of all the region's roads worth over 800 million UAH. Interestingly, in the summer of 2019 the financial documentation of the Department of Regional Development of KSRA regarding works carried out by three companies, including the mentioned 'Spets Komplet Postach,' was seized by SBU employees and 'accidentally' burned...

To somehow polish his odious political image, Moskalenko actively presents himself as a philanthropist and athlete. Until recently he chaired the Kyiv Regional Football Federation and remains honorary president of FC Dinaz (Vyshhorod). However, schemes were involved here too. The company of the former president of that club, Vasyl Nalyvaiko—LLC 'EuroSportArenaBud'—won a tender to build artificial turf football fields.

It is worth noting that with the arrival of the 'Ze-team' Moskalenko's fortunes sharply declined. First of all, he failed to win in the parliamentary elections. Rumor has it that oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky deliberately put his journalist Olga Vasylevska-Smahliuk up against him, thereby staging a demonstrative punishment of a representative of a hostile financial-industrial group. It should be noted that Kolomoisky has a long-standing confrontation with the FPG 'Kontinium,' which includes Moskalenko.

Now Vasylevska-Smahliuk is purposefully working against Moskalenko's people in the 96 constituency. In particular, she immediately began filing complaints with various agencies against the head of Borodianka United Territorial Community Oleksandr Sakharuk, who is said to be Moskalenko's man. The same fate befell officials of Vyshhorod and Ivankiv districts, while the political opportunist from Bucha, Anatoliy Fedoruk, quickly managed to find an approach to the deputy and effectively 'abandoned' his previous patron.

It is worth recalling that Kolomoisky controls many single-mandate MPs from Kyiv region who openly lobby his interests in the Verkhovna Rada. This includes, in particular, former employees of '1+1' Oleksandr Dubinskyi and Olga Vasylevska-Smahliuk, as well as developer Oleh Dunda, who together submitted about 5 thousand amendments to a draft law that prevents banks from being returned to their former owners. The oligarch, who apparently has not given up hope of regaining PrivatBank, opposes its adoption in every possible way. By submitting more than 16 thousand amendments, Kolomoisky clearly intends to block the vote on this law, since considering the amendments will take months. The downside is that this internal diversion within the 'Servant of the People' faction is slowing negotiations with the IMF on providing billion-dollar loans.

But here we should return to Moskalenko and Yermak, who recently met. As is known, the latter recently headed the Office of the President but has already demonstrated his political ambitions, including attempting to gain control over Kyiv region. Evidence of this may be that the curators for local elections from 'Servant of the People' will be Oleksandr Dubinskyi and Artem Kultenko—a close associate of Yermak and his ally and MP from SN Andriy Kholodov.

Several influence groups are preserved within the Office of the President, and their interests partially overlap. Even before Yermak's arrival, most directions were divided, so he urgently needs to deprive competitors of levers of influence. If we consider Kyiv region, then besides former head of the OP Andriy Bohdan and Ihor Kolomoisky, the first deputy head of the OP, Serhiy Trofimov, also had considerable influence in the capital region.

Trofimov previously worked as executive producer of the Kvartal 95 studio and was responsible for film production. It is worth adding that he is well acquainted with the capital's suburbs, because at one time the 'Kvartal' people advertised the residential complex 'Yevropeyka' of the scandalous developer 'BD Holding.' This company is owned by Trofimov's close friend Volodymyr Rodin, who is a frequent guest at the Office of the President and, although he holds no official position, often advises Trofimov on the capital region (and not only, because according to our publication, Rodin recently has influence in both Ukroboronprom and Ukrspetsexport).

It was Trofimov who previously handled communications with the regions and personnel appointments, but with Yermak's arrival the situation began to change. After Oleksiy Chernyshov moved to the Cabinet, acting head of the Kyiv Regional State Administration became Vasyl Volodin. He took the post at a very difficult time, as he is personally responsible for countering the spread of coronavirus in the region.

But after the end of quarantine the authorities will have to make a decision: appoint Volodin as the full head of the Kyiv Regional State Administration, or look for a replacement. The latter option is very likely. And Moskalenko's appearance on Bankova cannot be accidental, and reliable sources confirm his negotiations with Yermak about the possibility of heading the capital region. Thus, the ex-Regional Party member, who maintains contact with local elites, could become a serious instrument in current OP head Yermak's struggle against the Kolomoisky and Trofimov groups in Kyiv region. But Moskalenko is unlikely to step into the 'Horgan position' for free...

ORD