After the release of a journalistic investigation about the past of the head of the GUNP in the Ternopil region, Sergei Zyubanenko, the editors of Politerno decided to investigate the Crimean period of his life. The journalist's premonition suggested that Sergei Viktorovich was hiding something.
We were interested in two topics - the story of the bribe and the lack of data about the test. And the sense of smell did not disappoint. As it turned out, Sergei Zyubanenko has been hiding for years the fact that his father-in-law works for the occupation authorities of Crimea.
During a briefing on June 27 regarding his appointment as head of the Ternopil police, Sergei Zyubanenko commented on information regarding the business of his mother-in-law and father-in-law in temporarily occupied Crimea:
“Crimea is Ukraine. My wife was born in Crimea, and that’s where we actually met her. My father-in-law and mother-in-law - they live there all their lives. In 2014, my wife’s parents left the peninsula, but returned because of their old grandmothers. This is a painful topic for our family. My wife’s parents have had a business in Crimea since the 90s. And until 2014 everything was fine, everything worked. Now this business does not exist. This is how the circumstances developed.”
So it was about “the business of mother-in-law and father-in-law” and that now “this does not exist.” It’s not clear what “this” is, but very similar confused explanations from Sergei Viktorovich were heard regarding the bribe story.
So, during Sergei Zyubanenko’s tenure in leadership positions in four regions, his wife Elena did not give a single interview. Mr. Sergei told the Lviv media that she was 9 years younger than him, and that her parents were not very happy with such an age difference. Elena was studying at school when a respected policeman from the Poltava region drew attention to her. Sergei Viktorovich came to Kerch after studying at the Lugansk Academy of Internal Affairs, where in 2002 he received a degree in law. In the seaside town, Sergei Zyubanenko managed to work as the head of the Zhukovsky city police department of the 3rd department and even got an apartment in house No. 17 on the street.
In 2003, an unpleasant thing happened to Mr. Sergei - he got into a corruption scandal, although it is not possible to investigate it due to the long history. As Sergei Viktorovich himself told reporters in a very strange interview, he was a witness in the case, allegedly because he was the leader of a captured fellow policeman, although he admitted that the media wrote about him specifically as a detainee.
Journalists started talking about the Crimean family of Sergei Zyubanenko in 2015, when he worked as the head of the Lvov police, and then as the deputy head of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the Lviv region. Then local media reported that his wife Elena Sergeevna Zyubanenko became the owner of an apartment in an elite building on Boykovskaya Street in Lviv on the basis of a gift agreement. A little later, a garage was added to the apartment in the same building. It was the data cited by the Lviv media that the newly appointed chief police officer commented on in Ternopil, recalling the business of his mother-in-law and father-in-law.
According to the respectable family, an elite apartment worth more than 150 thousand dollars was given to Zyubanenko in 2014 by her mother-in-law Marina Petrovna Boychenko. Journalists found out that she is a co-owner of two companies in the Crimea in the city of Kerch: Space-Comp LLC and Vokant LLC. It was not possible to investigate her condition, and therefore the topic was closed.
Plumbing "business"
Maria Petrovna Boychenko owns 34.00% in Vokant LLC and it was this company that interested Politerno. “Tovka” was registered in 2008, and its main activity is stated as “Water supply, sewerage and fire protection works”.
Knowing the name of Elena Zyubanenko’s father, we had no problem finding in Kerch a well-known person in the power circles of this city - Sergei Aleksandrovich Boychenko, who, by a strange coincidence, has been working all his life in the water supply system for the residents of Kerch and the Leninsky district.
In particular, we immediately came across news from July 12, 2021, according to which Sergei Alexandrovich was then appointed head of the Kerch branch of the “state unitary enterprise” “SUE RK “Water of Crimea”, which is a familiar water utility for us and is responsible for providing water population of the peninsula, as well as wastewater disposal and treatment.
It’s probably not worth mentioning how important this area is for Crimea. Now this enterprise is using huge Kremlin funds for several large-scale projects to modernize water supply and sanitation systems. The Board of Directors of the State Unitary Enterprise of the Republic of Kazakhstan “Water of Crimea,” which includes Sergei Boychenko, regularly holds meetings with the main collaborator of Crimea, Sergei Aksenov.
This is what the Crimea.Realii publication wrote in July 2021 about the appointment of Sergei Boychenko to replace Denis Lupu, who was accused of all the troubles of the Kerch water utility and the lack of water for three weeks in one of the apartment buildings in the center of Kerch:
“Sergei Boychenko, who just the day before was the head of the Leninsky branch of the State Unitary Enterprise “Water of Crimea,” was appointed to the farm. They didn’t introduce him to the team, and there was no need: Sergei Alexandrovich already headed the Kerch water utility in the first half of the 2000s, so, in fact, he is an old new director. “He is familiar with the business in principle, he has every reason to extort money from the Ministry of Housing and Public Utilities and Water of Crimea, and he also has experience of cooperation with the authorities.”
As of today, the Kerch water utility is headed by another official, and Sergei Boychenko is again listed on the main website of “Water of Crimea” as the director of the Leninsky branch of this enterprise.
It should be noted that Sergei Aleksandrovich was convicted in 2011 of receiving unlawful benefits in the position of deputy head of the Kerch water utility. It was because of this fact that he was included in the database of corrupt officials.
Sergei Boychenko was detained for receiving a 3,000 UAH bribe to reduce penalties for unauthorized connection to water supply networks. From the case materials, we learned that Mr. Sergei did not surrender his boss, took all the blame upon himself, and therefore was quietly transferred from Kerch to the position of head of the Lenin branch, which covers almost the entire eastern-northern part of Crimea.
After the above-mentioned Lupu was fired by Aksenov during an online meeting, the management of “Water of Crimea” was forced to remember the bribe-taker Boychenko.
The Boychenko couple cleared out almost all information about their family relationships so that Ukrainian journalists would not discover Sergei Zyubanenko’s connection with a servant of the occupiers. Readers can see how true this term is by looking at photographs from various “Waters of Crimea” events. The company's employees are regular participants in various parades in support of the aggressor country.
Marina and Sergei Boychenko have different residential addresses in Kerch (they have enough apartments), and in the favorite network of the Russian average person, Odnoklassniki, in Sergei Alexandrovich’s profile there is no mention of his wife and children, except for his daughter-in-law.
And yet, Kerch is not such a small city that Marina Petrovna’s partners in the plumbing business accidentally turned out to be good friends of the head of the water utility, Sergei Boychenko. Among Sergei Alexandrovich’s friends, we found almost all of Marina Boychenko’s partners in Space-Comp LLC and Vokant LLC.
We consider the most interesting of Marina Petrovna’s companions to be the co-founder of Space-Comp LLC, Eduard Vladimirovich Shatalov and his daughter Irina. We found this person among the friends of Sergei Boychenko.
Interestingly, in addition to business, Shatalov is actively involved in politics. In particular, he is listed as a co-founder of the regional branch of the party “A Just Russia - for Truth in the Republic of Crimea.” Previously, Shatalov ran in the 1st electoral district from the Rodina party in the elections of deputies of the Kerch City Council of the “first convocation”, for which he was included in the “Peacemaker” database. He is also related to the Kerch sea trade port; he introduces himself as the head of the Azov-trans agency company.
Let's finish our story with a strange but interesting fact. We don’t know how to relate to this information; at first glance, it does not fit into the above-mentioned context. In our opinion, it is about something abnormal, about a certain deviation or phobia. The fact is that during the time the Zyubanenko spouses lived in Lviv, the local water utility collected from them the debt for the provision of services twice through the court - once in February 2021, 2,729 UAH. 91 kopecks and in April of this year 3,141 UAH. 26 kopecks. Once again, strange, but true. Whether this is somehow connected with certain phobias regarding the field of activity of Mrs. Elena’s father is not known.
Politerno asked Sergei Zyubanenko for comment regarding the information presented. Mr. Sergei said that his father-in-law “has not headed” the water utility in Crimea for a long time. He didn’t answer our objections, he just asked if we had information that he was in contact with his father-in-law. Of course, such a question is strange, because Sergei Zyubanenko himself confidently notes that our information is outdated.
For almost a day, Sergei Viktorovich, a hyperactive Facebook user, did not respond to our message until we wrote in a comment under the police chief’s latest message. The fact that Sergei Boychenko “litigated” our interest in his profile on Odnoklassniki is beyond doubt, because this network provides the ability to track guests and he immediately checked the account of the editor-in-chief of Politerno.
Instead of output
So, as we see, Sergei Zyubanaenko’s father-in-law and mother-in-law left in 2014 (if they did), and then returned to Kerch, not because of their old grandmothers, as he explained to the gullible Ternopil media workers. Experienced water utility worker Sergei Boychenko has a much more important mission there - to help the occupation authorities “resolve” water supply problems, because since 2014, thanks to the “liberators,” Crimeans have been living on the brink of an environmental disaster.
As the aforementioned “Krym.Realii” wrote, the so-called “authorities” have to choose who to put in leadership positions: either “precocious applicants with a United Russia party card” like Denis Lupu, or from the cadres of “predecessors”, also with convictions for bribery. Today they give you a position in the Leninsky or Kerch Vodokanal, tomorrow, look, they will already offer you a chair somewhere in the main office, or in the “Ministry of Housing and Communal Services”. For the system that the Kremlin is implanting in occupied Crimea, footage with a criminal trail like Sergei Boychenko is priceless.
According to our information, an internal official check should be carried out regarding the family ties of law enforcement agency leaders with Russian officials or collaborators. Whether it was carried out in the case of Sergei Zyubanenko is unknown. If it was carried out, then what exactly the colonel indicated is an open question. By the way, before his appointment to the Ternopil region, Sergei Viktorovich held the position of head of the internal security department of the Volyn police.
