Anatolii Stepanovych Hrytsenko
Official biography
Anatoliy Hrytsenko was born on October 25, 1957 in the village of Bohachivka, Zvenyhorod district, Cherkasy region, Ukrainian SSR. Up to and including the eighth grade, he studied at secondary school No. 6 in Vatutino, Zvenyhorod district, and then entered the Kyiv Suvorov Military School, graduating in 1974 with a gold medal, and entered the Kyiv Higher Military Aviation Engineering School. He graduated in 1979 with honors, qualifying as a military electrical engineer.
From June 1979 to November 1981, Hrytsenko served in the military unit No. 19109 in Okhtyrka, Sumy region of the Ukrainian SSR, as the head of the aviation equipment maintenance group of the third aviation squadron. Officer Hrytsenko was subordinated to a group technician, two senior mechanics, and several conscripts.
From December 1981, Hrytsenko studied at the Kyiv Higher Military Aviation Engineering School of the USSR Armed Forces. In October 1984, he defended his thesis and received a PhD in engineering and began serving as a teacher at the military school.
He took the military oath again. From November 1992 to August 1994, Hrytsenko served as the head of the Problem Analysis Department of the Research Center of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. At the same time, from March 1993 to May 1994, he was in the United States: in 1993, he took a course at the Military Institute of Foreign Languages of the US Department of Defense, and in 1994, he took a course at the Operational and Strategic Faculty of the US Air Force Academy. Upon returning home in 1995, Hrytsenko completed an internship at the Academy of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
In January 1996, Hrytsenko became the head of the Department of Military Security and Military Construction at the National Research Center for Defense Technologies and Military Security of Ukraine.
In September 1997, he was appointed Head of the Analytical Service of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) of Ukraine.
In October 1999, Hrytsenko’s boss, Deputy Secretary of the NSDC Oleksandr Razumkov, who had held his post since June 1997, died after a serious and prolonged illness.
After his death, almost all of Razumkov’s team moved from the NSDC to a non-governmental organization he founded, the Ukrainian Center for Economic and Political Studies. In December 1999, Hrytsenko was dismissed with the rank of colonel.
Compromising material
Upon retirement, Hrytsenko was appointed president of the Ukrainian Center for Economic and Political Studies, which a year later was named after Razumkov. In February 2000, Hrytsenko also became a freelance consultant to the Committee on National Security and Defense of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, and in November 2000, he became a member of the Public Council of Experts on Domestic Policy Issues under the President of Ukraine.
The center’s media partner was the Ukrainian weekly Dzerkalo Tyzhnia, headed by Razumkov’s former father-in-law and wife, editor-in-chief Volodymyr Mostovyi, and his first deputy and daughter Yulia Mostova. In October 2002, Hrytsenko left his first wife, Lyudmyla, with whom he had been married for 24 years, and proposed to Mostova. They married in March 2003.
In June 2004, Hrytsenko joined the central election headquarters of presidential candidate Yushchenko and headed the information and analytical direction of his team. It is known that Hrytsenko wrote an election program for his candidate, the future president’s action plan “10 Steps Toward the People.” At the same time, the Ukrainian Center for Economic and Political Studies conducted an exit poll.
Minister of Defense
On February 4, 2005, he was appointed Minister of Defense of Ukraine in Yulia Tymoshenko’s government. According to some reports, during the conflict between the president and the prime minister, on the night of September 7-8, 2005, Hrytsenko participated in a meeting of Yulia Tymoshenko’s inner circle, which discussed the preparation of the impeachment procedure for Yushchenko. It was Hrytsenko who allegedly called US Ambassador John Herbst and asked about the possible reaction of the “international community,” to which he replied that such actions would be regarded as a rebellion and conspiracy. On September 8, 2005, Yushchenko dismissed the entire Tymoshenko government, but at the end of the month offered Hrytsenko to remain at the head of the Defense Ministry. On September 30, 2005, Hrytsenko was the last of the ministers to be confirmed as head of the defense ministry in the government of Yuriy Yekhanurov.
In December 2005, Hrytsenko announced that he was refusing to run for the Verkhovna Rada to become the country’s defense minister and promised that the army would stay out of politics. On August 4, 2006, Hrytsenko was appointed Minister of Defense of Ukraine in the government of Viktor Yanukovych on Yushchenko’s recommendation.
As Minister of Defense, Hrytsenko dealt with the financing and reform of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In 2005, for the first time in recent years, the army was fully funded, and in 2006 its budget increased by 51% to UAH 8.9 billion. Compared to 2004, in 2005, combat training increased by an average of 40-50%. In May 2007, Hrytsenko spoke out in support of the idea of a law introducing compensation instead of military service.
Hrytsenko actively supported the idea of Ukraine joining the North Atlantic Alliance. In November 2005, Hrytsenko announced his intention to finalize the NATO Membership Action Plan by March 2006, but in early 2006, due to the upcoming parliamentary elections, MPs refused to consider laws related to Ukraine’s cooperation with NATO. In August 2006, a clause on the implementation of the NATO Membership Action Plan was included in the text of the Universal of National Unity, but in September 2006, during his trip to Brussels, Yanukovych announced that the plan would be postponed indefinitely. However, Hrytsenko did not abandon the idea of Ukraine joining NATO.
In October 2006, after the Prosecutor General’s Office criticized the Defense Ministry for its ineffective fight against corruption and crime in the army, Hrytsenko challenged Prosecutor General Oleksandr Medvedko to a live TV debate. Two Ukrainian TV channels offered their airtime for the debate. The head of the press service of the Prosecutor General’s Office stated that the Prosecutor General’s Office is not a political structure to participate in TV debates. A decision was made to hold a joint board of the Prosecutor General’s Office and the Defense Ministry, which could be attended by journalists. Hrytsenko then called for the Prosecutor General to resign.
In November 2006, the head of the Main Control and Audit Department, Petro Andreev, reported violations in the system of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine related to the construction of housing for the military, economic activity in military camps, and the alienation of land plots. In total, according to Andreev’s department, 6.6 billion hryvnias were misappropriated. Hrytsenko, for his part, denied the allegations. In December 2006, a number of members of the ruling coalition drafted a resolution to dismiss Hrytsenko, but a few days later, the Verkhovna Rada lost interest in the defense minister and did not even consider the bill.
On September 1, 2017, Anatoliy Hrytsenko admitted that the state program for the disposal of ammunition had been disrupted. The halt in this process made it impossible to disband some military units.
“South — Olivia”
“According to the Charter of the state enterprise “Pivden-Olvia”, the purpose of its creation is to implement the state program of social and professional adaptation of military personnel discharged in reserve or retired and members of their families; to fulfill the tasks of the state policy in the field of small business; to generate profit to partially finance the costs associated with retraining, employment and housing of military personnel discharged in reserve or retired through the production of products, performance of works, provision of services and implementation of In accordance with clauses 4.2, 4.10 of Article 4 of the Charter, the property of the state enterprise =“”>“YUZHN-Olvia”” is state property and is assigned to it on the right of economic management, in the exercise of which the enterprise uses and disposes of the said property at its own discretion, performing any actions in relation to it that do not contradict the current legislation of Ukraine and the Charter of the enterprise. In accordance with clause 4.4 of Article 4 of the Charter, alienation of the means of production that are state property and assigned to the enterprise is carried out in agreement with the Property Management Body in accordance with the procedure determined by the current legislation of Ukraine.”
The charter of the state-owned enterprise Pivden-Olivia was approved by Order No. 138 of the Head of the National Coordination Center for the Adaptation of Servicemen Discharged from the Reserves or Retirement and Conversion of Former Military Objects of December 1, 1998, and was the property management body of the enterprise until November 27, 2006.
According to the court registry, Hrytsenko took over the company Pivden-Olivia without any regulatory document. The company is currently going out of business, but it is not known for what purpose the Defense Minister took it away.
Connection with Viacheslav Kredis
Every time someone wants to hit Hrytsenko in the most painful place, they always bring up a character like Vyacheslav Kredisov.
It was he who was appointed as his deputy by Hrytsenko as soon as he became Minister of Defense in 2005. And almost immediately, the minister’s image began to suffer powerful blows as details from his past began to surface. And in his new position as curator of the Defense Ministry’s finances, construction, surplus property, land, and housing issues, Kredisov managed to immediately get involved in scandals.
For example, the media reported that in the late 90s, Kredisov, who was a successful entrepreneur at the time, was imprisoned on charges of racketeering, drug trafficking, arms and illegal alcohol. At the time, Kredisov managed to avoid a long prison sentence, but after leaving the detention center, he found himself much “thinner” in financial terms.
Soon, the defendant went into public activity, trying to insure himself against future attacks by his publicity. But in 2004, he ended up in a pre-trial detention center again, this time on charges of extortion, allegedly for solving issues related to the lease of premises in one of the capital’s universities, which was then run by Kredisov’s father.
He was released from criminal prosecution shortly after Viktor Yushchenko was elected president and the Cabinet under Yulia Tymoshenko was formed. The case against him was dropped after Yushchenko signed a decree appointing Kredisov as Hrytsenko’s deputy.
The reputation of an enterprising businessman accompanied the deputy minister during his tenure. In those years, the Defense Ministry was shaken by powerful scandals. It was about the illegal alienation of land, fraud with property and money. Scandals involving millions of dollars worth of property being diverted from the Defense Ministry surfaced.
Later, Kredisov was scandalously dismissed from his post, but not imprisoned — other, lesser officials were convicted. And this gave rise to difficult questions to the minister.
And in 2012, Anatoliy Hrytsenko, who was running for the Rada on Tymoshenko’s list, and Viacheslav Kredisov exchanged mutual accusations: the former minister called his former deputy a criminal. In retaliation, Kredisov accused his ex-boss of extorting $25,000 from him every month.
Those scandals in the Defense Ministry also remain a painful memory for Hrytsenko, on whose behalf the fraudsters acted. Although it was later found out that Hrytsenko did not know that any dubious contracts were being signed on his behalf, the residue remained…
NABU Council
The next scandal around Hrytsenko’s name broke out after the Revolution of Dignity, when the new government began to create the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine. Anatoliy Hrytsenko’s son Oleksiy, who was one of the leaders of Automaidan and claimed to be the head of the NABU Public Council, was caught up in the scandal.
This is what actually happened. But later it turned out that Hrytsenko had concealed the fact that he was a member of the Kyiv City Council. And the law explicitly prohibited people with representative mandates from participating in the NABU Council. In addition to Hrytsenko, the Council also included such odious characters as Vitaliy Shabunin, who ran for office in 2014 on the list of the Civic Position party, and Dmytro Sherembey, who had previously been convicted of several property crimes.
When it came to light that the head of the Council had illegally become the head of this body, the head of the Council was quietly replaced. But the scandal still became public knowledge.
PIC on the defense sector
At the meetings of the PIC on defense embezzlement, Anatoliy Hrytsenko and the time when he was Minister of Defense (2005-2007) were repeatedly discussed. Petro Poroshenko Bloc MP Ivan Vynnyk, who is also the secretary of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security and Defense and the head of the PIC, directly accused Hrytsenko of embezzlement in the Armed Forces. However, no ironclad evidence was ever found. However, the same Vynnyk noted that documents from the time of Yekhanurov, the prime minister and Hrytsenko’s defense minister, were mostly destroyed. However, a negative image of Hrytsenko was created in the media.
Criminal cases
In May 2014, the General Prosecutor’s Office of Ukraine stated that the actions of former defense ministers (including Hrytsenko) had brought the Armed Forces of Ukraine into a state of inadequate combat readiness, and criminal proceedings were opened.
On December 7, 2017, the Main Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee of Russia opened a criminal case against Anatoliy Grytsenko on the grounds of a crime under Part 2 of Article 205.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (public calls for terrorist activities). Hrytsenko himself called the case opened in Russia cynical and disgusting. On April 12, 2019, the Investigative Committee of Russia put Anatoliy Hrytsenko on the international wanted list, and the Basmanny Court of Moscow arrested him in absentia.
Real estate and car fleet
Anatoliy Hrytsenko has an estate in the elite village of Koncha Zaspa worth at least UAH 10 million. Hrytsenko also owns 4 apartments in the center of the capital. This property is registered in the name of Yulia Mostovaya (Hrytsenko’s wife). This is stated in the journalists’ investigation.
In their opinion, this discovery makes the politician’s honesty questionable and reinforces the accusations of corruption that have been frequently made against the former Defense Minister recently.
During the investigation, the mansion of the head of the Civic Position was discovered on the banks of the Dnipro River in the “Velyka Damba” (an expensive part of Koncha Zaspa). “Damba” is also the location of the estates of such important people as Rinat Akhmetov, Vadym Novynskyi, Serhiy Lovochkin, etc.
A fragment of Anatoliy Hrytsenko’s land has access to the Dnipro Bay and borders a pine forest. The fence from his estate stretches to the water of the Dnipro, and thus the politician, who is characterized as honest, does not pay attention to the Law of Ukraine, which prohibits the construction of fences at a distance of less than 50 meters from the water.
Hrytsenko has an estate of about 347.8 square meters and a territory of at least 50 acres. The politician has a personal basketball court, an open-air gazebo and a lake with a decorative bridge, and even a playhouse for his daughter Anna.
The politician himself does not deny that he has a plot of land on the “dam,” but he simply calls his mansion an ordinary “dacha.” This statement is not the first time politicians have invented ridiculous and primitive excuses for their wealth, journalists say. All these estates are worth millions of dollars, but in the 2017 income declaration, the amount of money received does not exceed UAH 160 thousand.
And in previous years, the income did not exceed UAH 300 thousand per year. I wonder where the dacha in Koncha Zaspa came from?
If we look at Anatoliy Hrytsenko’s declaration, we can see that the candidate’s choice is quite atypical. Unlike many politicians, he chose not Mercedes, BMW or Range Rover, but a 2013 Volvo XC90 crossover purchased for 486 thousand hryvnias. Hrytsenko also owns a 2006 Yamaha VX700 jet ski. By the way, earlier Yamaha and Volvo were featured in a story on Novy Channel. The politician’s wife, journalist Yulia Mostova, owns a 2016 Toyota RAV4 crossover worth UAH 674 thousand.
According to political expert Taras Chornovil, all these sweet “songs” about honesty that Anatoliy Hrytsenko proves to people are just an attempt to deflect suspicion from himself. As he said in an interview: “Well, where does the money come from, he was the Minister of Defense, during this time, at the lowest prices. often at the price of scrap metal, the largest part of the Ukrainian army was sold off.”
Summary
Anatoliy Semenovych Hrytsenko is an intelligent man and has knowledge in military affairs, but the question is, in what direction does he direct this knowledge? We should not ignore the words of Taras Chornovil, a man who understands psychology, because it is in his words that the truth about the “honest” Minister of Defense with an elite dacha in Koncha Zaspa and several apartments lies.