Contract killings, pressure on business and budget mismanagement - The story of Ivan Fedorov
Have the “dashing 90s” returned to Zaporozhye? After the appointment of the former mayor of Melitopol, Ivan Fedorov, as head of the regional state administration, local entrepreneurs complain about pressure and threats from the authorities, as well as the opacity of tenders. In addition, a wave of high-profile crimes swept through the city, the most notorious of which was the murder of the director of the legal support department of the Zaporozhye City Council, Maxim Denshchik. And all this is literally 45 km from the front line.
What is really happening in Zaporozhye and what does the team of the new head of the OVA Fedorov have to do with it?
On February 2, 2024, by decree of the President of Ukraine, Ivan Fedorov was appointed chairman of the Zaporozhye OVA. During his “governorship” in Zaporozhye, the activities of the regional council were suspended, and changes were made. O. Zaporozhye mayor and announced future reforms. However, a number of striking events also occurred. One of these was the murder of a city hall official, Maxim Denshchik, who, on the eve of his death, published a message on Facebook about death threats from Fedorov’s people.
On the morning of June 11, Batman was killed near the house with four shots. The customer has not yet been found. At the same time, the ex-deputy head of the Zaporozhye regional state administration, Zlata Nekrasova, does not exclude the involvement of Fedorov and his team in the crime.
“I think it’s one hundred percent connected. Because, well, with the security that we now have in the city, to do something like this... it should have either been agreed upon, or this person would have been caught immediately,” she notes.
With Fedorov’s arrival at the helm of the OVA, a wave of personnel purges swept through the city, and entrepreneurs began to openly declare attempts at raiding and racketeering.
Fedorov himself explains personnel rotations in government offices as follows.
“I am sure that all residents of the city of Zaporozhye expect changes. And all bodies located in the city must ensure these changes. One of the criteria for these reforms, of course, will be personnel changes,” he said.
It sounds convincing. Later, according to Nekrasova, the new head of the OVA liquidated the regional council and began a “coup” in the Zaporozhye mayor’s office. And everything happened in a rather dubious way.
“He threatened the deputies so that they would not sign and gather for a session so that the entire leadership of the apparatus would pass to him. There are deputies who signed the letter for the assembly of the session; they directly worked at utility companies. And he called them in and threatened them with dismissal. Therefore, under his pressure, this particular session was not held,” says Nekrasova.
Already on March 21, people's deputies of the Verkhovna Rada supported the transfer of powers of the Zaporozhye Regional Council to the Zaporozhye OV for the period of martial law.
Zlata Nekrasova mentions how the “transfer of powers” took place.
“He wrote a letter to the Office of the President saying that the session had not been meeting for a long time, the deputies were sabotaging it, and through the Verkhovna Rada they had already voted for this decision. The regional council was dissolved and all powers were transferred to it. This was his first action. Take away complete control of the regional council, all powers, so that it is not collegial, but exclusively under his signature,” she notes.
In addition, a month later, a new secretary of the Zaporozhye city council, Regina Kharchenko, was elected by secret ballot.
“The algorithm of actions was the same as in the regional council. Regina Kharchenko was appointed illegally. If we analyze from the legal side how this session was assembled, all their actions can be considered completely illegal. They know about this,” notes Nekrasova.
A few months later, a high-profile murder occurred in the city.
“I want to officially declare the pressure on me from the chairman of ZOVA Ivan Fedorov! The latter “for good reason” suggested that I resign from my position several times of my own free will. I refused because I believe that I am fulfilling my duties honestly and conscientiously! As of today, Ivan directly and through various people (both in the city council and outside it) threatens me with reprisals from law enforcement agencies,” Maxim Denshchik, director of the legal support department of the Zaporozhye city council, made this message on social networks on the eve of his death.
And already on June 11, Denshchik was cynically shot near his house. The official died in the hospital. At the same time, according to some local media, immediately after the high-profile murder of Denshchik, an “interception plan” was not introduced in Zaporozhye. However, later they found suspects - all of them allegedly turned out to be representatives of criminal circles in Melitopol. By a strange coincidence, the current head of the OVA Fedorov is also a native of this temporarily occupied city.
Ivan Fedorov himself decided to ignore the obvious reproaches of the press. When asked by one of the publications, he answered: “Why should I comment on rumors?” It also raises certain doubts that, according to media information, after the murder in the city, all mobile checkpoints and patrols staffed by TCC and police officers stopped working for a day.
However, the story did not end there. Recently, a friend of the deceased wrote a statement to the police, saying that on August 11 he received a phone call threatening to kill him.
We are talking about Alexander Kharchenko. To threats and further dismissal, he was the first deputy director of the Zaporizhrynok utility company.
“There was such a Maxim Denshchik, my friend. He and I went to work together at the city council and became advisors to the mayor. Then Maxim became the director of the legal department, and I became the first deputy of the Zaporizhrynok enterprise. Then, when the new government came, Ivan Fedorov came, and they began to change all the heads of the administration. They started calling Maxim. They called me on the phone and said directly: the team of the new governor is calling you. If you don't quit on Monday, the same thing will happen to you as to your friend. And no matter who you turn to for help, no one will help. There was a phone call on Sunday, and on Monday I quit,” says Kharchenko.
Business representatives also felt negative changes. They complain about lawlessness and indirectly talk about racketeering.
“They’re just destroying business. What is called a raider takeover for budget money. On June 21, European Avenue, on which the regional administration and the city administration are located, was excavated in the city center. We are located on the same street. The trench has been dug for two and a half months now. along the perimeter of the business. This week, without warning, the water was turned off under an agreement that is already more than 10 years old,” notes private entrepreneur from Zaporozhye Tatyana Tsvilykh.
Off-record Tatyana made it clear to journalists that they were afraid to name names, she only hinted at Fedorov.
“So we decided to look into the past, when Ivan Sergeevich was still the mayor of Melitopol. Were there any questions from business to the authorities?” comments Maria Vinnichenko.
In this context, the attention of StopCor was attracted by the name of the criminal authority Arthur Gorobets (“Cloud”), who has long-standing connections with Fedorov. While still mayor of Melitopol, Fedorov, according to insider information, demanded that local farmers pay him “tribute.” To those who did not agree, Fedorov allegedly sent “Cloud”, which smoked the crops and destroyed agricultural equipment.
“What’s interesting is that the media has a lot of information about the detention of the “driver” and the killer as part of the pre-trial investigation into the murder of Maxim Denshchik. According to UNIAN, both come from a separate criminal group “Melitopol”, the leader of which is... the criminal authority Artur Gorobets “Tucha”. We hope that this crime will be solved and we will find out the truth,” the journalist notes.
It is difficult to ignore the Zaporozhye tenders, because in almost every procurement people complain about artificial requirements that limit the circle of participants.
StopCor analyzed tenders for road repairs, where companies that offered higher prices won. If the Antimonopoly Committee had not managed to save some of the tenders (appeals are still pending), the total amount of purchases would have been more than UAH 18 million, of which UAH 1.7 million was an overpayment.
But this applies not only to tenders.
For example, colleagues from Our Money talked about how companies that previously carried out work in Melitopol and Dnieper are now hiding prices for the construction of school shelters totaling 433 million hryvnia. We are talking, in particular, about Melicity LLC and Positive Company.
“All the tenders that were built with European funds and state funds - all of them. Everything was built by Melitopol companies. They had a monopoly there. Everyone knows this - both law enforcement agencies and people. And he constantly talked about it: look how quickly we are building. I was also surprised why he uses them to visit facilities in the Zaporozhye region. How is he not afraid?” comments Zlata Nekrasova.
In response to a request from StopCor, the department responsible for road repairs, among a bunch of references to legal norms, reported the following:
“The Department, as a manager of budget funds, strictly complies with the requirements of the Budget Code and other legislation, in particular in the field of public procurement. When carrying out procurement, artificial requirements are not created that limit the range of participants, and tender documentation does not contain discriminatory requirements.”
We will continue to monitor events in the Zaporozhye region and cover them. To be continued.
Let us recall that in early July, law enforcement officers identified suspects in the murder of Zaporozhye City Council official Maxim Denshchik. One of them was detained. The head of the Zaporozhye OVA Fedorov did not in any way comment on the reproaches voiced by the press and members of the public against him, but after the murder of Denshchik he stated that he allegedly took the case under “special control.”
LET'S RECALL THE LATEST CHARGES OF IVAN FYODOROV AFTER COMING TO POWER:
- Ivan Fedorov closes Zaporozhye markets with the hands of “fecal director” Roman Belogub
- The head of the OBA, Ivan Fedorov, instructed Gennady Timchenko to “cut” the budget for the restoration of Zaporozhye
- The probable mastermind of the murder of Maxim Denshchik, the head of the OVA Fedorov, is impeding the work of law enforcement officers
- Fedorov and Kharchenko are closing schools in Zaporozhye in order to waste the budget on “culture” and “underground construction” (DOCUMENTS)
This is a small part of the information that is available on the Internet. We are just starting the full cycle of materials. We thank the STOPCOR team for their support!
If you have information about the illegal actions of Ivan Fedorov or his henchmen, please contact our editorial office at: [email protected]
