Places in the Second Tier

Places in the second tier

The purging in state-owned companies seems to have been forgotten. The new appointments of monopolies’ leaders only indicate a reallocation of levers of influence in favor of the current authorities.

Changes in the leadership of state-owned companies have only just begun. But they have already touched four key sectors: fuel and energy, defense industry, transportation, and agriculture.

How the holders were divided

The first among the managers of national companies under the Ministry of Energy and Coal Industry was removed: the acting president of Energoatom Nikita Konstantinov. On the same day, 5 March, the government appointed Yuriy Nedashkovskyi as president of Energoatom, who has already led the state company three times: from July 2000 to June 2002, from February 2005 to October 2006, and from June 2008 to August 2012. Yuriy Alexandrovich is a longtime ally of MPs Mykola Martynenko and Davyd Zhvaniya. And Martynenko, it should be reminded, headed Arseniy Yatsenyuk’s campaign headquarters in the presidential election in 2010.

Experts link Martynenko and Zhvaniya to the decisions made in 5 and 6 March appointing Valeriy Yasuk as chairman of the board of Ukrtransgaz and Sergei Kostyuk as chairman of the board of Ukrgazdobycha.

Valeriy Nikolaevich worked in leadership positions in the company Trade House in 1996–1998, which was within Martynenko’s influence. And in 1998–2000 he served as first vice president of Brinkford Con(s) (Ukraine) Limited, which was linked to Zhvaniya. Later in his biography were high positions in Chornomornaftogaz (CHNG) and the Ministry of Energy and Mines, and in 27 May 2013 Valeriy Yasuk was appointed deputy chairman of the board of Naftogaz.

It was under him that for CHNG the infamous Boyko towers were purchased. (Recall, in 2011 the offshore oil and gas towers for the Black Sea shelf cost the Ukrainian budget $400 million each, but in reality were paid to suppliers $220 million. The then energy minister and coal industry Yuri Boiko was implicated in the scam.) Therefore Valeriy Nikolayevich’s appointment caused bewilderment and spawned numerous rumors both in the ruling coalition and among Maidan activists. As a result, Yasuk was temporarily suspended from duties during the check.

“Valeriy Yasuk became a victim of the confrontation within factions of the new authorities, — says Dmitry Marunich, co-chair of the Energy Strategies Foundation. — The head of CHNG did not sign documents for acquiring drilling rigs, but not everyone wants to see a representative of Martynenko’s group in the position of the country’s GTS operator.”

Apparently, considering the previous scandal, after the arrest of Yevhen Bakulin, the new head of Naftogaz Ukraine became 35-year-old Andriy Kobolev. In the oil and gas establishment, this name is unknown, but in current realities it is more of an advantage than a drawback. However, one cannot call the new Naftogaz head an outsider in the industry: he spent almost nine years in the structure, rising from a regular employee of the corporate finance and pricing policy department to a financial consultant to the deputy head of the company’s management.

That experience is enough to understand the basics of the industry, so one should not expect serious mistakes from the newly minted top manager. But, on the other hand, he has zero authority among industry veterans, and therefore in strategic decision-making he will clearly not be autonomous. Perhaps Kobolev’s main informal adviser will be former deputy head of Naftogaz Ihor Didenco, under whom the current company head worked in the state holding.

By the way, Ihor Mykolayovych was considered just a couple of weeks ago the main candidate for the Naftogaz leadership. But, as they say, he refused the post, offering instead a “proven person.” Apparently he remembers well his previous stint at Naftogaz, which ended with three years of imprisonment with a suspended sentence.

So, at the first stage of his tenure, Andriy Kobolev is likely to simply execute Arseniy Yatsenyuk’s will. And how correct the decision to make the head of Naftogaz a “technical chairman” will be seen from his talks with Moscow. “It is possible that Andriy Kobolev’s task will be to prepare Naftogaz for restructuring, and he will become the last head of the company in its current form,” predicts Dmitry Marunich.

Shuffle around weapons

The new authorities have moved to establish operational control over the Ukroboronprom conglomerate. In 7 March, the chief executive of the conglomerate Sergei Gromov was dismissed, who held the position since March 2012 (before that he worked as manager of the Bulgarian company Promet Steel, part of the Metinvest holding of Rinat Akhmetov). Acting CEO duties were temporarily given to the conglomerate’s chief financial officer Valentina Drozd. However, this appointment caused discontent among Batkivshchyna coalition partners and Maidan activists, especially when it became known that the structure continues to supply military goods to Russia.

Already in 14 March, Sergei Averchenko, a People’s Deputy from UDAR, took the helm at Ukroboronprom for the time being. Previously a graduate of the Kursk Higher Military-Political Aviation School (Russia), he led the Chernihiv regional party organization, and during the Maidan activities was one of the commanders of the House of Trade Unions. But Sergei Nikolaevich proved to be too distant from the industry’s specifics, and he was quickly moved to a more understandable post of Head of the State Administration.

Already in 21 March, Yuri Tereshchenko became the head of Ukroboronprom. In different years he held positions in defense state companies up to and including acting deputy head of Ukrspetsexport (July-August 2012). But probably his main achievement considered in the new appointment is that in 2008–2009 he worked as first deputy director of the State Enterprise “Tas ko-export,” involved in weapons contracts. Then a confrontation between President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko touched this sphere as well. As a result, the Cabinet of Ministers through the ministry-controlled company Tas ko-export began redirecting export revenues of Ukroboronprom to itself. (From July 2008 the foreign trade firm received permission to export the entire volume of armaments produced in Ukraine.) Experts say Yuri Tereshenko played a significant role. In this light the question of who prompted the Cabinet to change Ukroboronprom’s leadership for the third time in a month becomes obvious.

Credit to Tereshchenko: the first thing he did in the new post was to stop supplying weapons and military equipment to the Russian Federation (at least that’s how it was officially announced). He also said that henceforth Ukroboronprom will operate exclusively for the Ukrainian army. However, observers believe the official’s provocation and his old connections (including Vladimir Sivkovich, ex-deputy secretary of the NSDC of Ukraine Andriy Klyuev) could cause discontent with such a appointment.

Sky. Plane. Kolomoisky

The first personnel rotations in transport state enterprises touched aviation. In 31 March, Sergei Gomboleyvskiy was appointed director of Boryspil International Airport. Earlier he worked as deputy general director for production and airfield-technological services of the same airport, and before that was executive director of the management company OJSC Airport Odessa.

The press links Gombolevsky, as well as his former boss Alexei Kachanov, with Odessa businessmen Boris Kaufman and Alexander Granovsky. Back in 2011 year the Odessa City Council created on the basis of the local airport LLC, in which 75% was received by a private firm. At the same time the managers of the airport in Odessa were Kachanov and Gomboleyvskiy, and among the investors appeared Kaufman. Later Odessans became interested in the Boryspil airport. But to keep the object under control under the current authorities, they, experts say, had to agree to close cooperation with the main carrier at the airport — Ukraine International Airlines (UIA).

Given that among UIA’s investors since last year are formally Ivories of Ihor Kolomoyskyi’s structures, the appointment of a person from the “old team” as head of Boryspil does not surprise. Moreover, a little earlier the head of the State Aviation Service was appointed Denis Antonyuk, who previously held the post of development of route network and alliances at UIA. Now, according to experts, Ihor Valeriyovych only needs to appoint his own person to Ukrairorukh—and one can continue to build an aviation monopoly without problems. Moreover, the signing of the single air space agreement with the European Union, previously scheduled for March, has been postponed for at least two months.

Author of the article: Irina Andreeva

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