The media showed the life of the head of the Dnepropetrovsk OVA Sergei Lysak: friendship with authorities, support for sanctioned business

On February 7, 2023, by decree of the President of Ukraine Lisak, Sergei Petrovich was appointed chairman of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration.

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Before that, from July 19, 2022, he headed the Department of Internal Affairs in the Dnipropetrovsk region, and from May 2020 to July 2022, he worked as the head of the Department of State Administration in the Zhytomyr region. He remains an officer of the personnel reserve of the Security Service of Ukraine and, along with fulfilling the duties of the governor, actually continues to lead the SBU in the region.

With the appointment of S. Lysak to the post, it was expected that he, as an active intelligence officer, would quickly restore order in the region, stop the activities of organized criminal groups, establish a constructive dialogue with business and be able to protect it from extortions from bribe-takers and criminals. However, the appointed governor placed other emphasis in his work. Instead of fighting crime, he provided her with a reliable “roof” and immunity. It is known that the majority of fraudulent call centers organized by criminals are concentrated in Dnipro. The largest organized crime group in this “business” is “Nines”, one of the leaders of which is Igor Khromov, nicknamed “Frog”. It’s hard to imagine that the former head of the USBU, and now governor S. Lysak, is not familiar with the crime situation in his region. However, this does not prevent him from periodically appearing in public in the company of “Frogs”

The regularity of meetings between Lisak and Khromov leaves no doubt that the governor is familiar with his friend’s business and, possibly, supports him.

It is interesting that, as governor, S. Lysak not only makes friends with criminal authorities, but also supports individuals against whom the President has imposed sanctions. Thus, on December 23, 2023, by Decree of the President of Ukraine No. 850/2023, personal economic sanctions were applied to the well-known Dnepropetrovsk businessman Ermolaev due to the fact that he was associated with enterprises operating in Crimea and Berdyansk, and therefore paid taxes to the Russian budget. According to Ukrainian Forbes, in 2020 Ermolaev’s fortune was estimated at $220 million, and he was among the top 100 richest people in Ukraine. Ermolaev’s right hand is his son-in-law Igor Tsyrkin, a deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of the 7th convocation from the Party of Regions. It is he who, after the imposition of sanctions, continues to take care of the family business. However, S. Lysak has his own opinion, different from the position of the National Security and Defense Council and the President. That is why he strongly supports the business of the sanctioned rich man, personally visiting his enterprises and advertising his products.

In his public activities, S. Lysak tries to pretend to be an ascetic military general who cares only about state interests, while he himself is as poor as a church mouse. Perhaps this is why in his declaration for 2022, S. Lysak noted that he does not have his own vehicles. In fact, he regularly uses the following cars:

Toyota, state number OO 0090 TT

Mercedes, state number AE 0090 TT

Volvo, state number AE 0800 TT

These cars are registered to the godfather of S. Lysak - Gasparyan Avetik Vanushovich (pictured on the right).

On S. Lysak’s public Facebook page there is a significant number of publications about his participation in various outdoor events. At the same time, on the balance sheet of the Dnepropetrovsk Regional State Administration there are no vehicles intended to serve the head or his deputies, agreements on the provision of transport services were not concluded with third-party companies, and according to the annual declaration of S. Lysak, there are no vehicles in his ownership or use. In this regard, on January 11, 2024, journalists contacted the regional administration with a request for information about what kind of vehicles S. Lysak used during his work visits and on what legal basis he used these vehicles.

As expected, the administration had nothing to answer the question asked, and therefore wrote that the requested information was not available at the government agency. Perhaps S. Lysak’s lawyers rejoiced at how cunningly they managed to get out of it. However, in fact, the administration signed that there is no official transport there and they do not know what S. Lysak drives on official business.

No less interesting is who drives S. Lysak in these “nobody’s” cars. This was reported on January 8, 2024 by the “Insider UA” telegram channel. It turned out that the Governor General is hiring Georgiy Skorohvatov, a junior lieutenant of the Central Territorial Administration of the National Guard of Ukraine, to work as a personal driver on a permanent basis. Citizen Skorohvatov G.A. is S. Lysak’s confidant and after the latter’s appointment in February 2023 to the position of chairman of the regional state administration, he was first registered as an adviser and then employed at the Dnepropetrovsk regional utility company “SPETSAVTOBAZA”.

Subsequently, G. Skorokhvatov, at the direction of Lysak S.P. was called up for fictitious military service in the National Guard of Ukraine, while actually remaining the personal driver of the head of the regional state administration. After this information was made public, S. Lysak immediately hid his driver, and a week later he sent him to guard the regional council building. However, since such an important person is unusual in driving a car himself, S. Lysak began to involve his adviser Andrei Afanasyev as a driver, who, they say, also carries out other delicate assignments of the chief.

It should be noted that, in addition to government affairs, S. Lysak is actively involved in teaching. So, according to the declaration, in 2022 he received 27,483 UAH from the State University “ZHYTOMYR POLYTECHNIK”, and he earned this money by working inspiredly on Saturdays and Sundays, in his free time from government affairs. At least, this is how his activities are formalized according to the official response signed by the rector of the university:

It’s hard to believe that such a respected person advises Zhytomyr students every Saturday and Sunday, although maybe it’s through this activity that he’s trying to officially make money, at least on a bad car, so he can show it in his declaration. We hope that law enforcement agencies will be interested in this publication and find the opportunity to investigate who exactly S. Lysak advised and about what as a teacher. It is worth noting that the governor of the Dnepropetrovsk region himself is not very afraid of the attention of anti-corruption authorities, explaining this by personal friendly ties with the former head of NABU, and now Deputy Chairman of NAPC Artem Sytnik.

Perhaps such confidence in one’s own impunity is not unfounded, since the facts stated above were officially sent to the NACP during January 2024, but no decisions were made to bring S. Lisak to justice (message via the NACP portal 3). Not least of all, S. Lysak also relies on his godfather - the Chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine Vasily Malyuk. It is to him that he owes his rapid career growth. In communication with friends, S. Lysak admits that he is extremely bored with his work as a governor and hopes, thanks to the patronage of his godfather, to be transferred to the position of Deputy Chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine or Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs. We really hope that this publication will attract the attention of the public, and the President will eventually relieve S. Lysak from a position that is burdensome for him, and the Dnepropetrovsk region will finally receive a leader who will deal with the region, and not with his own interests.