High-profile arrests in Zakarpattia: details about the Mukachevo alliance of Baloha and Blyuk

High-profile arrests in Zakarpattia: details about the Mukachevo alliance of Baloha and Blyuk

On Tuesday, 25 June, it was reported that the mayor of Mukachevo, Andriy Baloha, and the head of the Mukachevo District Council, Mykhailo Lanyo, known in some circles as ’Bluk’, were detained. They are suspected of a corruption scheme for the sale of a local stadium, as a result of which the community lost more than 70 million UAH. About how former enemies became “dear friends” and took full control of the second largest city in Transcarpathia.

Read about this in the material OBOZ.UA.

Stadium business

The scandalous story with the Avangard stadium has been ongoing since 2023 and is part of a motley and complicated plot, full of political and outright criminal showdowns. However, first things first.

The detention of the son of Viktor Baloha, an MP and one of the most influential people in Zakarpattia, and the mayor of Mukachevo, Andriy Baloha, as well as another "authoritative" politician, the head of the Mukachevo District Council, Mykhailo Lanyo (nicknamed "Blyuk" since the 1990s), was carried out by the SSU and NABU. They suspect the officials of organising a scheme to sell 3 hectares of communal land in the city at "dumping" prices. At the same time, according to local observers, the city sold the land to Universal-M, a company controlled by Laniy, at the suggestion of the mayor.

According to the NABU, the officials agreed to sell the land for nine times less.

"The reason for this was an expert monetary valuation with an understated value of the land plot, for which the owners of the appraiser company were bribed. As a result of such transactions, the land with a market value of UAH 84.6 million was sold for only UAH 9.6 million. Despite such a meagre price, the mayor personally granted the company a 6-month payment extension," the NABU press service said.

Law enforcement officers detained five persons involved in the fraud under the following articles of the Criminal Code:

- Mukachevo Mayor Andriy Baloha (Part 2 of Article 28, Part 2 of Article 364 of the Criminal Code)

- the head of the district council Mykhailo Lanyo (Part 3 of Article 27, Part 2 of Article 28, Part 2 of Article 364 of the Criminal Code);

- the former head of the department of communal property and land relations of the city council (part 2 of Article 28, part 2 of Article 364 and part 2 of Article 368-4 of the CCU);

- two owners of the appraiser company (Article 27(5), Article 28(2), Article 364(2), Article 27(3), Article 358(3), Article 27(3), Article 368-4(4) of the CCU);

- appraiser (Article 27(5), Article 28(2), Article 364(2), Article 358(3) of the CCU).

It should be recalled here that in October 2023, the Mukachevo City Hall was already searched in connection with the sale of the Avangard stadium. However, none of the officials were detained, although the SBU and NABU conducted searches of Andriy Baloha, Mykhailo Lanyo and a number of companies involved in the case.

Shooting, smuggling and... friendship

In this context, it is worth noting that the current ties between the Baloha family (which, in addition to Viktor Baloha Sr. and his brothers Ivan and Pavlo, also includes his cousin, former MP Vasyl Petyovka, and his son, the mayor of Mukachevo) and Lanyo, who, despite his criminal record, was once a member of the Party of Regions, are a big surprise.

The fact is that the confrontation between these groups for control of Transcarpathia had been going on for many years. According to journalists, the key stumbling block was allegedly the distribution of smuggling flows. During the Yushchenko era, Baloha, who headed the Presidential Secretariat, was at the helm. Under Yanukovych, Lanyo, who was in the ruling party at the time, became more powerful.

The parties to the conflict did not shy away from using direct physical force. A striking example of this struggle was the shooting that took place in Zakarpattia in 2015 between Lanyo’s men and members of the Right Sector. The latter were allegedly financed by Baloha.

It was like an action film: a shootout was planned between the Right Sector representatives and Mykhailo Lanyo. Representatives of the Right Sector arrived in four jeeps - 21 people in total. They approached the gate and asked the guard to call Mikhail Lanyo. After an altercation, the guard was shot in the head. One person died as a result of the shooting.

Then the fighting continued on the outskirts of Mukachevo towards Svalyava, on the Kyiv - Chop highway. Another firefight took place there - the fighters of the ’SARS’ were fighting their way through a police checkpoint. There, they shot two police cars.

But this longstanding confrontation between the Mukachevo Montagues and Capulets clearly weakened both sides. And in 2022, the situation changed dramatically: the parties agreed to jointly control the city of Mukachevo, which is home to both groups.

At the same time, an interesting coalition was formed there. Mykhailo Lanyo, a representative of Batkivshchyna, was elected chairman of the Mukachevo District Council. Petyovka heads the party "Native Transcarpathia", which he created, and Andriy Baloha with his party "Team of Andriy Baloha" (previously called "United Centre") runs the city as mayor.

Are the problems just beginning?

Actually, it seems that the story of the stadium sale has become a kind of "cementing" of the relationship. However, the consequences for both teams can be very sad: now the law enforcement agencies are apparently taking them seriously. Baloga Jr. and Lanyo face up to 6 years in prison.

There is another important aspect: the current investigations have already led to the actual removal of both allied groups from financial flows and power, which in the future could cause a serious weakening of both the Balogh family and the Lan’s brigade, which in recent years have tried to behave as quietly as possible and not to "show up" anywhere.