The head of the migration service, Sergei Saev, created his own “black” business empire

Instead of an office there is a Carpathian restaurant. As it became known, the head of the State Migration Service of Ukraine in the Ivano-Frankivsk region held his “business” meetings

Sergey Saev spends a week in a pub with the eloquent name “Rulka”. According to insider sources, it is in this establishment that subordinate officials report their unearned income and share it with the boss. Therefore, the investigators decided to check this information and went to the Carpathian region, but the meeting with the main GMS officer of the region did not go according to plan and ended... in an attack on journalists.

What is Sergei Saev so diligently hiding from the press and public? What kind of business does he do at the mountain restaurant? But what is known about his family business? Details are in the exclusive investigation of StopCor journalist Igor Dotsenko.

The attack on the StopCor film crew shook up the Ukrainian information space: the unacceptable behavior of the official outraged both fellow journalists and the public. And the editorial office’s hotline and social media began receiving messages from concerned people. In particular, a former employee of the hero of our investigation shared her thoughts.

“I didn’t want to comment because I would have to travel abroad. Saev is a terrible bandit! I worked in the migration office under his leadership, where people are treated like slaves, every district chief brings tribute monthly, he humiliates everyone. I’m afraid to say a lot, because all the heads of services, the police, the SBU, and the city council, all drink together, they’re all friends! ” she wrote.

However, these events have their own background. What exactly made StopKor pay attention to the activities of the Carpathian migrant workers?

“Everyone remembers the excitement when biometric passports were introduced in Ukraine seven years ago. The document gave the right to visa-free crossing of the border with the EU. The visa centers were overcrowded and there were queues everywhere. Representatives of travel agencies took advantage of this and, through established connections with State Migration Service employees, prepared the specified documents. Ivano-Frankivsk region was no exception, where they found a group of people acting as intermediaries between the migration service and ordinary citizens,” says Igor Dotsenko.

As law enforcement officers discovered, the so-called “intermediaries”, for a certain unofficial fee, speeded up the line and stamped foreign passports. We are talking about a criminal conspiracy and the production of counterfeit documents with holographic security elements for their further sale for money.

One of the defendants in this case was a certain Vasily Fitkovsky. He directly supervised the production and sale of fake passports. He also, according to StopCor sources, maintained close friendly relations with the head of the citizenship department Igor Vasilko, who also helped in the production of “fake” documents, not for free.

Could such an established scheme operate without the knowledge of their immediate leadership? And who is at the helm of the Carpathian VHI?

The state migration service in the region is headed by Sergei Saev. The official’s career path is amazing: from a local police inspector to the head of the department of citizenship, immigration and registration of individuals of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine in the Ivano-Frankivsk region, who headed the department for 12 years.

For 12 years now, Saev has been sitting in the chair of the head of the State Migration Service of the Ivano-Frankivsk region. And a few years ago he was elected regional deputy from the Servant of the People party. True, in the media his name often appears in materials about corruption, connections, and enrichment. You can also find a comparison between Saiva and a crime boss.

“Since the nineties, everyone has become accustomed to the fact that in each region there is a local decisive, unofficial supreme judge. But sometimes the same person is known not only in the criminal world, but also occupies a high government position and becomes absolutely omnipotent and unpunished. This happened in Ivano-Frankivsk, where one official has been solving problems for decades for huge sums of money,” says one of the publications of the Carpathian media.

But where can the head of the State Migration Service get “huge money” if, according to the declaration, Sergei Stepanovich’s salary is only 600 thousand hryvnia a year?

StopCor investigators decided to ask this question personally. And we went to the “Rulka” restaurant in the village of Dzvinyach, where, according to sources, Mr. Saev holds informal meetings with colleagues and subordinates every Thursday. Journalists arrived at the hotel and restaurant complex “Paints of the Carpathians” and made an order. And at the same time they checked the receipt. And they discovered an interesting fact: the owner of the establishment is indicated as individual entrepreneur SAEV A.S., that is, the son of the main migration officer.

Subsequently, Sergei Saev himself arrived at the restaurant with a stack of papers in his hands. He was brought by a Tesla car with an estimated cost of 20 thousand dollars, which was not included in the official’s official declaration.

Noticing at the sight of the film crew, Sergei Stepanovich began to hide from StopCor, and then suddenly attacked the media workers and knocked the camera out of the operator’s hands, which stopped working after his blow.

So we had to film further on the phone. And Saev himself ran to the staff room.

“It’s quite strange, really: why did the staff let a stranger into the kitchen? After all, our hero denied that this was his establishment... To record the incident, we called the police. But while they were giving evidence, Saev escaped,” recalls Igor Dotsenko.

What exactly angered the head of the State Migration Service of the Ivano-Frankivsk region and also a deputy of the regional council from the Servant of the People party?

This is how Mr. Saev reacted aggressively to questions from accusers about his luxurious wealth. Which ones exactly? This is just the tip of the iceberg.

Saiva has a daughter, Mrs. Solomiya, and we will tell about her rich and glamorous life in the next episode. After analyzing her social networks, journalists came across an interesting Instagram story about the opening of the Kolokol restaurant, for which they thank the owner of the establishment, a certain Mr. Sergei.

Note that “Kolokol” is an elite restaurant located in the “Kraski Karpat” complex, where the same “Rulka Pub” was located. And the fact that the real owner of the establishment, Sergei Saev, was confirmed to journalists by the administrator in a conversation.

I wonder how a Carpathian official manages to combine work in the VHI, being a deputy, and likely hidden business activities? Details are already in the next series of a large-scale investigation.

It is worth adding on the part of our editors that we sincerely believe that Saev’s story is rather an exception, and the majority of migration service employees do not view their positions as an opportunity for enrichment and arbitrariness. Therefore, StopCor has already sent relevant requests to the Chairman of the State Migration Service, Natalia Naumenko. Based on what the position of the State Migration Service and the Ministry of Internal Affairs will be, it will be possible to understand how ready they are to abandon the outdated Soviet practice of mutual responsibility in favor of European values.