Government and business in Ukraine are so intertwined that personnel appointments in government bodies can mean serious changes for some business representatives. Especially when it comes to the position of Prime Minister of Ukraine.
The main contractors for state tenders under Kubrakov are the companies Highway-South and Autostrada “Comments” decided to figure out how and to whom the change of Prime Minister of Ukraine Denis Shmygal can help, conversations about which have been going on for several weeks.
Alexander Kubrakov will take the place of the Prime Minister
At the end of July, political expert Andrei Zolotarev predicted personnel changes in the Cabinet of Ministers, first of all, a change of prime minister, with whom Ukraine will enter the 3rd quarter. And one of the most likely candidates is Alexander Kubrakov, who holds the position of Deputy Prime Minister for Reconstruction.
“Alexander Kubrakov is an exception to the rule that an IT specialist lives in a virtual digital world and is not capable of managing large infrastructure projects. Over the past two years, within the framework of the “Big Construction” presidential program, more than 40% of Ukraine’s main road network has been updated and built, and according to opinion polls, positive changes in Ukraine’s infrastructure by the start of a full-scale war were noted by more than 60% of citizens,” the expert emphasized.
But according to political scientist Vladimir Fesenko, expressed by “Comments”, one should not expect personnel changes in the Cabinet until the end of the war and most likely the current Prime Minister Denis Shmygal will retain his position.
Most likely, a new government will be formed after the next parliamentary elections, unless some force majeure occurs, which will lead to the early resignation of the government.
“Denis Shmygal is a good performer and is completely oriented towards the president, so his position so far looks quite stable. After the elections, a change of government is inevitable and here, in my opinion, the post of prime minister can be taken by Mikhail Fedorov or Alexander Kubrakov, each of whom has their own advantages. Fedorov is more open and has charisma, while Alexander Kubrakov is more closed, but he is a good performer,” says Vladimir Fesenko about the main candidates for Prime Minister.
Of course, for business circles close to future possible new prime ministers of Ukraine, such an appointment could mean large and visible material income, which, according to experts, is most likely for those who focus on Alexander Kubrakov.
Business partners of Alexander Kubrakov - will they become beneficiaries?
Alexander Kubrakov came to politics from business in 2019 as a people’s deputy. But he was able to completely exit the business only in 2021, already being the Minister of Infrastructure, despite strict legislative norms. It cannot be said that Kubrakov was a big businessman. Kubrakov received UAH 10 million for leaving the business. He had shares in several companies that were part of the City for People group of companies - real estate management, which included 47 companies and belonged to Ruslan Kramarenko. The latter has extensive experience in business and public administration: he held the positions of Deputy Minister for Housing and Communal Services of Ukraine and Deputy Head of the Kyiv State City Administration.
However, it cannot be said that Ruslan Kramarenko greatly benefited from the appointment of his business partner Alexander Kubrakov as Minister of Infrastructure, except perhaps the tender for restoration in Nikolaev in 2022 for UAH 14 million.
But the candidate for the post of head of the Cabinet of Ministers also has another business partner - Ilya Solodovsky, together with whom and Ruslan Kramarenko in 2018, Kubrakov established the offshore company “Officium SW Ltd.” in the British Virgin Islands, which he never reported in his declarations. True, the minister himself explained this by saying that the offshore was created for one project, which never started, and therefore the company was not used.
The figure of Ilya Solodovsky is better known as an IT businessman, and at one time a person with that name and surname appeared in the investigation that was conducted around the privatization of the Ukrtelecom company during the presidency of Viktor Yanukovych. Then, allegedly, the ESU company, to which a man named Solodovsky was related, was a participant in a scheme for the resale of a state-owned company to Rinat Akhmetov. But the police version has not been confirmed.
However, Ilya Solodovsky has much more luck in state tenders than Ruslan Kramarenko. Thus, in April 2020, his company Unip Ukraine entered into an agreement with the Kyiv City State Administration to develop a parking payment accounting system in the capital. However, the total amount of state tenders won by the company is small - only 134 million UAH, including tenders from Lvovavtodor already in 2023.
270 billion for two – favorites of “Big Construction” and Alexander Kubrakov
Just the other day, there was news in the information space about the holding of two tenders for the construction of water pipelines to provide water to the residents of Krivoy Rog, Nikopol and Manganets after the explosion of the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric station.
Although the Cabinet of Ministers previously announced the allocation of UAH 1.5 billion for construction, in July, based on the results of tenders, the state budget allocated UAH 10.5 billion:
5 billion 320 million UAH - for the construction of the Ingulets River - Southern Reservoir water pipeline for water supply to Krivoy Rog;
5 billion 300 million UAH - for the construction of the Khortitsa-Tomakovka-Manganets water pipeline for water supply to Marganets.
However, one of the winning companies hastened to declare that the work is being carried out at a record pace and 72 km of trenches for pipes have already been dug out of the required 77 km.
But a much more interesting question is who exactly was the winner of these tenders. They were long-time “favorites” of the authorities, starting with the Great Construction of 2020:
the Ingulets River – Southern Reservoir water supply pipeline for water supply in Krivoy Rog will be built by Avtomagistral-Yug LLC;
