You're reading: Is Yanukovych’s pricey mansion getting even more luxurious?

A construction boom is under way in Ukraine – at least at the multi-million dollar estate at Mezhyhirya, the 140-hectare estate outside of Kyiv where President Viktor Yanukovych resides.

In 2010, for instance, two firms reportedly active solely in developing the estate have imported goods worth nearly $20 million from Germany and Russia.

While Yanukovych claims to only own a building on a 1.8 hectare plot on rented land, a trail of documents and individuals links him to millions of dollars being spent to turn the estate into one of the most luxurious in Ukraine.

It’s hard for most Ukrainians to judge how much life has improved at the closely guarded lake-front estate. The president has still not delivered on his promise to allow journalists in for a glance.

A series of investigative articles by the Ukrainska Pravda website, however, chronicled how companies close to Yanukovych took control of the former state-owned residence.

Yanukovych is one of the few to have access to the estate, which reportedly has its own bowling alley, a big clubhouse, a soon-to-be-built tennis court and nearby hunting ground and shooting gallery.

Although the president is reportedly earning the lowest salary among other world presidents, he leads a lavish lifestyle.

– Oleh Rybachuk, former government official turned civic activist.

It appears that two firms – SPS-Grup and Dom Lesnika – are doing a lot of the work, including supplying building materials and expensive furniture. According to Ukrainska Pravda, the firms are run by people close to Yanukovych.

The Kyiv Post found that both firms share the same office in Brovary, a small town east of Kyiv. The office is located in a building built by a firm close to Andriy Kravets, current head of the State Affairs Department within the presidential administration. According to information obtained by the Kyiv Post, his wife manages the firm involved.

Meanwhile, the co-founder of Dom Lesnika is Ivan Tokhtamysh. He is also director of a hunting and fishing club registered at Mezhyhirya that was founded by Energy Minister Yuriy Boyko, along with several other individuals close to Yanukovych.

They are Former Energy Minister Serhiy Tulub and current head of Ukraine’s state road service Volodymyr Demishkan.

SPS-Grup’s real owner is a company founded by UkrKyivResurs, which also has office space at the Brovary address and which is also a shareholder in Delphin-2001, a luxurious palace built years ago on Crimea’s Black Sea Coast is also registered as belonging to this company.

Many of the companies have business relations with UkrBiznesBank. Dom Lesnika and SPS-Grup, for example, have accounts at this bank.

Judging by the increased import volumes by SPS-Grup and Dom Lesnika, construction at Mezhyhirya appears to have shifted into higher gear after Yanukovych was elected president in February 2010.

These two firms imported goods worth $3.2 million in 2009. But in the first half of 2010, $5.9 million worth of imports was recorded in government figures, compared to $13 million in the second half of last year.

What were they importing? Just as in 2009, they imported luxurious lumber, furniture and stone used for construction of elite buildings.

Germany’s Brunold Innenausbau und Design GmbH is amongst the suppliers. They specialize in exclusive, custom-built furnishings for buildings, company premises and hotels. The other one, Butzbach GmbH Industrietore, is known for development, construction, manufacturing and installation of industrial doors, hangar doors and facade systems.

In July 2010, SPS-Grup imported 11 doors made of softwood worth $175,000, or almost $16,000 each. Last September, they imported a pair of doors worth $37,700. That’s enough to buy a small apartment in many Ukrainian cities.

Suppliers include Russia-based Restamp, which specializes in illumination for big buildings. Late in December 2010, SPS-Grup bought an 8 kilogram chandelier worth around $45,000 from this firm.

Both SPS-Grup and Dom Lesnika did not immediately respond to the Kyiv Post inquiries geared at deciphering who really covered such expenses and for whom.

When a Kyiv Post journalist visited their Brovary offices, the doors were closed and nobody was in sight. But representatives of the other firm that is physically located in the same office – separated only by a door – told the Kyiv Post that SPS-Grup and Dom Lesnika representatives stop by once in a while only to pick up mail.

Yanukovych’s press service was not able to provide answers to obvious questions that pop up in the minds of millions of Ukrainians regarding the possible conflicts of interest and murky nature of transactions underway at the estate where he resides.

And Denys Ivanesko, Yanukovych’s press secretary, said the president is too busy with meetings and visits. He added that a trip to the estate for journalists may not be possible until autumn.

Until then, many questions remain to be answered, and citizens that are struggling to survive amidst tough economic realities and a slow pace of reforms want answers, according to Oleh Rybachuk, a former government official turned civic activist.

“Although the president is reportedly earning the lowest salary among other world presidents, he leads a lavish lifestyle,” Rybachuk said.

“He says he has nothing to do with Mezhyhirya but it is connected to some of his family members,” Rybachuk said adding that such a politician would have no political career in the European Union, to which Yanukovych claims he wants to integrate Ukraine.

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Kyiv Post staff writer Yuriy Onyshkiv can be reached at [email protected]