Gas "bargainers". Mykhaylo Zaslavskyi

Gas "bargainers". Mykhaylo Zaslavskyi

The foreman from the Kharkiv brotherhood, now a gas baron, is restless due to the glory of Bakai and Satsyuk, who started their "big politics" in Zhytomyr. For this holy deed, Misha Zaslavskyi even established a charitable foundation named after himself in the regional center. To add more prestige, he is trying to buy the title of "honored worker of the oil and gas industry."

Ukraine is the homeland of specialists in gas machinations. Even now, the "big shots" among gas criminals are well-known. However, the affairs of hundreds of "middlemen"—second and third persons in the criminal gas pyramid—largely remain behind the scenes. This is a shame because the everyday activities of these "dark horses" cumulatively build the system that drains billions of hryvnias from the country’s oil and gas complex. Our story is about one such participant in the "invisible gas front." This is Mykhaylo Zaslavskyi. Today, he is the deputy chairman of the board of the large state gas enterprise "Gaz Ukrainy," an applicant for the title of "Honored Gas Worker of Ukraine," and a candidate for the position of mayor of Zhytomyr. Yesterday, he was the ideological inspirer of multiple gas scams and one of the captains of the Kharkiv criminal godfather "Danylo."

Mykhaylo Zaslavskyi appeared on the gas horizon like "a bolt from the blue." In June 2003, he was taken into the subsidiary structure of "Naftogaz," "Gaz Ukrainy," and appointed as the head of the department of economic monitoring and mutual settlements of the company. As it turned out, this was just the beginning. But just two months later, he became the holder of the position of deputy general director of the state enterprise "Gaz-teplo," responsible for settlements with electricity and heat generating enterprises.

To imagine how swift the career of the newfound gas worker was, it is essential to understand that he had not held any managerial positions before this—at least officially. Although the website of Mykhaylo Zaslavskyi’s charitable foundation, created by the gas baron to participate in the mayoral elections in Zhytomyr (read: to lure Zhytomyr voters), mentions a certain LLC "Zdvizh 8008," where Zaslavskyi worked as a director from 2001-2003. It also mentions that this was Mykhaylo Zaslavskyi’s first managerial experience.

This is not entirely true. The firm was created as a classic bureaucratic scheme for "business" under government contracts. According to the "Tender Procurement Bulletin," the office supplied fuel oil for the military in the amount of 1.6 million UAH in two tenders. After these two tenders, the firm successfully "scoffed." And all of Zaslavskyi’s managerial experience boiled down to correctly distributing the stolen money between the pockets of military officials and his own.

Misha in the First Capital

Overall, the topic of Mykhaylo Zaslavskyi’s gas merits, for which he received a high position, remained undisclosed. And the key to it, as it turned out, lies in Misha’s Kharkiv past. According to his biography, until 1997, he was a student; afterward, until 2001, an "independent consultant in economics and finance." Unofficially, since 1993, Mykhaylo Zaslavskyi was listed as an active member of the Danylo-Karatumanov gang (Vitaliy Danylov and Oleh Karatumanov). In the early ’90s, the gang engaged in activities typical of organized crime groups of that time—protection rackets, operating brothels, seizing businesses, and capturing "territories" from competitors. This all involved shootings, skirmishes, and, of course, criminal cases.

Mykhaylo Zaslavskyi did not occupy the top tier in the criminal hierarchy, working under Vadym Vyshnevskyi, an assistant to "Danylo." Zaslavskyi’s "official duties" included the simple craft of "extracting" money from debtors and victims. Later, this skill would come in handy in his "civil" work as a thug. Fortunately for his future "white" career, Zaslavskyi’s OCG, since the mid-’90s, had taken a course toward legalizing its activities. The group’s exit into the world was pushed by police "protection" in the person of Oleh Karatumanov, a nephew of the once-powerful Colonel-General of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Yuriy Dagayev.

Misha Zaslavskyi tried to match the new image by at least formally, mastering legal sciences at the Kharkiv academy from 1993 to 1997.

However, in essence, Zaslavskyi’s "white" phase of activity begins with the relocation of part of the group to Kyiv in 2000, when their main "protector" and patron, Yuriy Dagayev, was appointed in Kyiv as the head of the State Management of Affairs of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine.

At that time, Mykhaylo also moves to Kyiv. Tenders at the company with the strange name "Zdvizh 8008" were simply a warm-up. Far greater profits were promised by the oil and gas complex, where our story’s hero was introduced in 2003, not without the help of connections from his senior patrons.

Experience in "self-cleansing" had little effect on the appearance of the former OCG member. Zaslavskyi still looks like a typical "new Russian": a massive gold chain on display, short haircut, blunt, laconic phrases with ample insertions of profanity. A raspberry-colored jacket is what’s missing, although it’s not in fashion.

Misha in the Gas Business: Chief on Settlements

Zaslavskyi’s methods of operation haven’t changed much. In particular, he doesn’t let his "pressing skills" rust. Being responsible for mutual settlements with contractors of "Gaz-Teplo" and "Gaz Ukrainy," he often boasted of his ability to quickly clamp the necessary place of a debtor to effectively stimulate the movement of these very settlements in the desired pocket. Aspects of his activity in the state company still conflict deeply with the Criminal Code.

We will tell only about some episodes of the former Kharkiv thug’s work in the companies "Gaz-teplo" and "Gaz Ukrainy."

In November 2004 and January 2005, the state enterprise "Gaz-teplo" signed contracts for the installation of software complexes for automating the accounting of consumed thermal energy and subscriber settlements for it, totaling 980 thousand UAH. The agreement was initiated by Zaslavskyi, and its executor was designated as such an LLC "Mega-Sintez." An act of acceptance-transfer was even signed, although, in reality, no software complexes were installed at the state enterprise. The money for the mythical program went to the accounts of LLC "Mega-Sintez" in a Kharkiv bank with a similar name, "Megabank." It is at this bank, more specifically, at its Kyiv branch, that Mykhaylo Zaslavskyi finds work in the rank of first deputy already in 2005 after his dismissal from "Gaz-teplo" state company.

After spending a year at a friendly bank, in 2006-2007, Mykhaylo Zaslavskyi returns to business at "Gaz Ukrainy," now in the status of the first deputy head. This time, our hero decides not to "fritter away" on small things but to play for larger sums. For example, in 2007, Zaslavskyi, on behalf of the state enterprise, acknowledges the acquisition by an LLC "Medium Emtes" of "Gaz-teplo’s" debt obligations (the office was already successfully buried by the time Zaslavskyi returned to the gas business) to "Luhanskteplokomunenerho" amounting to 32.5 million hryvnias. And not only acknowledges it but also transfers more than half to the accounts of the reseller. The whole problem with this deal was that with the debt of "Gaz-teplo" to "Luhanskteplokomunenerho" of 109 million UAH, "Luhanskteplokomunenerho’s" debt to "Газ-тепло" was 35 million UAH more. And de facto, the operation with the cession of debt was the withdrawal of state company funds in favor of Zaslavskyi’s "Medium Emtes," with the increase of debt for "Luhanskteplokomunenerho." As we can see, this scheme involves a conspiracy between the debtor and the creditor in favor of a third party. By the way, a criminal case was finally initiated following this fraud, but the investigation progresses extremely slowly.

Misha for Mayor?

Cynical schemers are always in action. Therefore, Misha Zaslavskyi calmly outlasts all the turbulent political upheavals and finds a common language with the traders from "ROSUUKRENERGO" as well as with fraudsters like Ihor Didenko—the current deputy chairman of "Naftogaz." At the same time, his area of expertise has virtually not changed; it’s still the same "money topic" of mutual settlements in "Gaz Ukrainy."

Over time, he became a virtuoso in the art of constructing debit-credit debt schemes with local authorities. And, like many of his significant gas predecessors, he decided to convert his skills and "fortune" acquired into politics. The focal point of his efforts became Zhytomyr, where he planned to participate in the mayoral elections. The city, in general, is renowned for giving road into "big politics" to the most notorious gas figures. For example, here Bakai and Satsyuk alternately became majoritarian deputies.

Since autumn, Mykhaylo Zaslavskyi personally travels to the region—to settle debt issues with heat-producing enterprises, while simultaneously turning the local business-political "crowd" in his favor. The deputy director of the state company established a charitable foundation in Zhytomyr. The seriousness of his mayoral ambitions is evidenced by Zaslavskyi’s attempt to change his biography. If previously in all his biographical data, his place of birth was noted as Kharkiv, now it’s the city of Zhytomyr, from where small Misha’s parents supposedly moved to the First Capital.

Evidently, as an element of the electoral image of a "master of charitable deeds," the newly minted resident of Zhytomyr was advised to obtain the title of "honored worker of the gas industry." Mykhaylo Zaslavskyi took this matter seriously. And it doesn’t matter that to obtain this title, the absence of dubious spots in one’s biography and at least ten years of work in the industry are required, not five as his applicant possesses. As we mentioned earlier, in the past two and a half years, Zaslavskyi closely cooperated with the first deputy chairman of the board of "Naftogaz Ukrainy," Ihor Didenko. At Zaslavskyi’s request, the latter knocks on the doors of the presidential administration in search of an opportunity to slip Zaslavskyi’s surname into the president’s award decrees, for which the outgoing Guarantor is known to be generous.

Petro Nemyrov, specially for "ORD"