You're reading: No invitation needed: Journalist scales Mezhyhirya fence to get peak at president’s palace

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych received an unwelcomed guest on Aug. 24's Independence Day. Tetyana Chornovol, a journalist running for parliament in the Oct. 28 election, sneaked into his luxurious Mezhyhirya residence outside of Kyiv, climbing over afence. 

Chornovol was detained
by the security guards after wandering around what was thought to be a top
protected residence for more than an hour, taking pictures.

Pictures that
Chornovol managed to send before her cell phone was confiscated by the police
show a newly built golf course with lakes and fountains and a house on water,
made of redwood, gold and marble. 

Tetyana Chornovol
(news.nikcity.com)

Chornovol is not
a first journalist who has wanted to take a closer look of the luxurious president’s
residence. Last year journalists from Segodnya daily newspaper flew over the
residence in a helicopter, capturing an impressive castle-like house and the
140 surrounding hectares of land. Aside from parks, lakes, yachts, tennis and
golf courts, the residence also has a large zoo with exotic animals.   

Yanukovych has
been under harsh criticism over the Mezhyhirya
residence as journalist investigations show it was obtained in a series of
suspicious deals involving set up foreign companies.  

In 2007, Mezhyhirya, a former state owned residence was put up for sale
with no competitive bidding, required in such cases. It was snapped up by the
Donetsk-based company Medinvest Trade, which quickly sold it to another
company, Tantalit.

Due to the nation’s moratorium on land sales,
Tantalit rented the estate’s property from the Vyshhorod district
administration. According to Ukrayinska Pravda, citing the rental agreement,
the rental fee of 192 hectares of land was Hr 626,645 per year – or just Hr 4
per acre – extremely low for land near Kyiv.

Yanukovych has confirmed that he bought the
house but did not reveal the price he paid.

“First I rented that house, then the rental price started to rise
rapidly and I decided to buy the house. The price was very serious; I even had
to sell my flats in Donetsk and Kyiv. I do not own the land though. There is
another owner who is currently investing in the mansion’s development,”
Yanukovych said in 2010.

But, according to documents cited by Ukrayinska Pravda,
Yanukovych might have a lot to do with landowners. One of founders of Tantalit
is Pavlo Lytovchenko, who worked for Yanukovych for years. Another founder is a
mysterious Austrian company, with the only employee being its director Reinhard
Proksch.

Another company, headed by Prokshch is registered in London and owns Dim
Lisnyka, the firm which owns Yanukovych’s favorite hunting place, a forest next
to the small village of Suholuchya near Kyiv.

Chornovol who is
an investigative journalist and is currently running for Parliament in her native
Lviv Oblast, said sneaking into the residence was political action.

“I wanted to
show that fences are nothing. No fence can protect the enemy of Ukraine from
outraged people, from their peaceful demonstrations, if a lot of people come. If
one person could do it, nothing will stop a flood of people,” she said.

Some of Chornovol’s
colleagues are critical of her action, accusing her of attempting to boost her
popularity ahead of the Oct. 28 elections by invading the president’s privacy.

The police did
not open a case against Chornovol, but she fears they might after
elections.   

“I understand that if I lose the elections and will be left with no
status to protect me they might spin it on full scale,” says Chorhovol.

The house on water is made of redwood, gold and marble. (Tetyana Chornovol)

 

The inside of the house on water of redwood, gold and marble. (Ukrainska Pravda)

The golf court. (Tetyana Chornovol)

Kyiv Post staff writer Svitlana Tuchynska can
be reached at [email protected]