"Tell me who your friend is, and I'll tell you who you are" - for the first time this phrase was heard in this form two and a half thousand years ago by the ancient Greek philosopher and playwright Euripides. Two thousand years later, this phrase was used by the medieval playwright Miguel de Cervantes in his novel Don Quixote.
The hidden meaning of this statement boils down to the fact that you can learn about a specific person, his character, moral qualities and life principles by getting to know his friends and comrades. Today, we will take a detailed look at a group of comrades from the Ukrainian Football Association: who are they, where are they from and why, having such a motley environment, Mr. President of Ukrainian Football Andrii Pavelko clings to these people. Armed with a magnifying glass, a pencil and a notebook, we went to look for "Russian traces" around the head of Ukrainian football and... we found not only Russian ones, but also criminal ones...
Everything that follows in the article is information from open sources, is easily verified and does not require further explanation. So, let's start from the beginning:
Alan Germanovych Pliev, First Vice-President of the UAF (on public grounds)
This is a confidant of Mr. Pavelek, more precisely, Andriy Vasyliovych's consigliere. Previously, they worked in Dnipro. One was the director of a night club, the other was first a bouncer, and then the personal bodyguard of the current president of the UAF.
More compromising information about the adventures of Alan Germanovych in the Dnipro can be found on the Internet, but it is extremely difficult to confirm or deny them. The police do not comment on these rumors, citing the protection of personal data.
Alan Pliev had nothing to do with football then and in fact has nothing to do with it now, but at the same time, at the age of 34, he has a position and a salary of 120,000 hryvnias per month, which most Ukrainians can only dream of. And this is during the period of martial law, before which the salary was much higher.
But the most important thing is that Alan Pliev has a Russian passport and, according to the media, he has been deprived of Ukrainian citizenship and even expelled from the country. Where he is now is a mystery. Such a vice president of the UAF on the "remote".
Vadym Kostyantynovich Kostyuchenko, First Vice-President of the UAF.
Another First Vice President. In football circles, he is called a person with an interesting and very complicated life. In fact, if Pliev solves the personal problems of Andriy Vasyliovych, then Mr. Kostyuchenko "solves" football problems: wayward clubs, disobedient referees, conflicts with fans, etc. Preferably not in public.
He became famous thanks to the scandal in 2017-2018, when journalists found him a fake diploma. More precisely, the matter was as follows: in order to receive a master's degree in international relations from Taras Shevchenko KNU, Kostyuchenko submitted to the admissions committee a non-existent diploma of a graduate of KPI. He received a diploma, and with it he also received a diploma at the National Academy of Public Administration under the President of Ukraine.
History with a diploma is just flowers. In fact, there are several episodes in the biography of Vadym Kostyantynovich that should be dealt with by very competent authorities. Let's start with his political creed: at the beginning of the 2000s, he ran for the Verkhovna Rada on the lists of the SDPU (o), the party that was the forefather of the Party of Regions. Putin's godfather Medvedchuk, Shufrych and Poroshenko started from there. But it flew by. Four years later, another attempt to run for office. This time, the pro-Russian "No Yes" bloc. The top five included Medvedchuk, Shufrych, and Boyko... For the Russian language, against NATO, for the union with Russia, Orthodoxy, and so on. There is also a "fart" Blokhin, but we will talk about him below. Another fiasco... At that time, Mr. Kostyuchenko moved away from public politics and concentrated on non-public politics, and sports helped him in this.
Membership in the "Party of Regions" allowed Kostyuchnek to stand out during the Revolution of Dignity. A number of journalists suspect that the international master coordinated the actions of aunts in Mariinsky Park to disperse Euromaidan activists. Currently, a person with such an interesting biography continues to work for Pavelko and officially receives a salary of 474 thousand hryvnias per month.
3. Maksym Viktorovych Yefimov, Vice-President of the UAF, head of the UAF of the Donetsk region.
Andrii Pavelko is another interesting character in the team. In short, a former member of the Party of Regions, then Andrii Pavelko, a fellow party member of the BPP. Now in the "Trust" party. Often votes in favor of Donetsk oligarchs. According to the "Chesno" movement, the "buckwheat" is a figure in several anti-corruption investigations.
There is a very interesting detail in the biography of Maksym Viktorovych. Since 2006, he worked as a director of Energomashspetsstal PJSC. This is a huge factory in Kramatorsk, which produces parts for turbines of any size and purpose. Including nuclear reactors. The main buyer of RosAtom products. Even after 2014, the Kramatorsk giant continued to produce and ship parts abroad. And Maxim Viktorovych is no longer the director, but the president of this giant. It is known that the owner of the plant through Cypriot EMSS Holdings Limited is the Russian company Atomenergomash, which is part of the power engineering division of the state corporation Rosatom. In an interview with EP Yefimov said that he owns a share that does not exceed 25%. In 2019, the scandalous plant UAF for the production of synthetic grass for football fields ended up on the territory of this very plant. Read by composition: Andriy Pavelko gave the plant for the production of artificial grass to the Russians. Where is the plant on which 8 million euros were spent now is a mystery. Perhaps it is already in Russia.
Among other things, Yefimov is the owner of an illegally built helicopter pad in Kyiv, the same one where Viktor Yanukovych wanted to fly.
Sources close to Andriy Pavelek claim that Maksim Viktorovych and Andriy Vasyliovych are friends not only at work, but also in life.
Andrii Anatoliyovych Gordeev, Chairman of Kherson OAF.
A politician from Kherson. He is also a party member of the UAF president. For several years, he combined positions in the Kherson Regional Administration and the Regional Football Federation. During this time, he became involved in minor corruption scandals. There was nothing particularly noteworthy. Until... "Father Handzyuk announced the connection between the organizer of his daughter's murder and the heads of the Kherson Regional Council and Regional State Administration."
He stated this on January 28, 2019 during a meeting of the Temporary Investigative Commission investigating the murder of Kateryna Handziuk and attacks on other activists. Then it became known that the politician closely cooperates with the criminal authorities of the region. And on February 11, the then Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko stated that there was no evidence for the words of Kateryna Handzyuk's father. By the way, Mr. Lutsenko was appointed to the position of Prosecutor General of Ukraine by the same political force as Gordeev.
It is interesting that during the court session on February 17, 2023, Andriy Pavelko praised Gordeev for his strong patriotic stance. He complained that he had not seen his subordinate for almost a year because of the war. While our journalists saw the official in December at the exit from the football house, he allegedly came for soccer balls.
Zasukha Andrii Anatoliyovych, Head of Kyiv OAF.
It is very surprising to see this figure among the members of the UAF executive committee and it is especially surprising that he got there in 2020. The son of regional woman Tetyana Zasukha and Russian official Anatoly Zasukha. In the mid-2000s, he graduated from MGIMO (the Russian Institute of International Relations), then he corresponded with Volodymyr Putin and complained about the bad Ukrainian government that oppresses his family. "putin, enter" or how should it be said?!
And, of course, for such inhuman suffering, Mr. Andrii Zasukha obtained a passport of a citizen of the aggressor state. The Ukrainian mass media have been buzzing about this unpleasant incident for several days now, but what about Pavelko?! And nothing... Drought continues to be a member of the UAF Executive Committee even now. And the followers of the UAF president continue to shout to the right and to the left about the "Russian trail" in the criminal proceedings against Pavelek himself. So maybe they are indicating his surroundings in this way?
Ivchenko Vadym Yevhenovich, People's Deputy of Ukraine.
A very strange figure in the executive committee of the UAF. Born in Russia. He speaks Ukrainian poorly. Deputy of two convocations. Member of the Committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on national security, defense and intelligence issues. Perhaps he got into the UAF due to someone's political quota. It is said that he is connected with Droughts, in particular, he is friends with Andrii. Interested in sports. Actually, he became famous thanks to sports. However, not football, but rather boxing. When the Council begins to consider land laws that he does not like, Mr. Ivchenko starts to fight. First with Yehor Sobolev, and then with "Servant" Mykola Solsky.
Viktor Mykolayovych Kovalenko, Chairman of Kharkiv OAF.
This member of the UAF Executive Committee also deserves considerable attention. From an open biography: a former employee of the KGB. In 1992, he graduated from the Higher School of the Ministry of Security of Russia, now it is the Academy of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation.
Together with well-known separatists, he tried to get into the Verkhovna Rada, so since 2006 he has been a member of the electoral bloc of political parties "FOR THE UNION". I wonder what kind of "union" this is?! Did not overcome the electoral barrier. And finally, according to the "Chesno" movement, Mr. Viktor did not pay alimony for the child. Only through bailiffs.
Viktor Ivanovich Mezheyko, Head of Zaporizhzhia OAF.
Another odious member of the Party of Regions in the team of the pro-European president of the UAF Andriy Pavelek. Mr. Mezheyko is known primarily for the fact that from May 30, 2013 to December 2015, he was the chairman of the Zaporizhia Regional Council. During this time, he managed to get suspected, then still by the police, in the case of receiving "kickbacks". The case was investigated for a long time, but it never reached the court.
A similar fate befell the case in which Mezheyko was suspected of organizing the Anti-Maidan during the events of the Revolution of Dignity.
Shcherbey Myroslav Vasyliovych, First Deputy Chairman of the Zakarpattia OAF.
This is probably the person whom Andriy Vasyliovych Pavelko constantly mentions. A man from the entourage of Putin's godfather Viktor Medvechuk. Shcherbey was in the parties of the SDPU(o), the Party of Regions, until recently he was a consistent OPZZhist. All his life he worked as an emergency worker in Zakarpattia region. He went from an ordinary firefighter to the head of the State Emergency Service in Zakarpattia Oblast. Has several houses. Collection of expensive cars. Hotel in Transcarpathia. In short, a man with powerful connections.
Anatoly Dmytrovych Konkov, Advisor to the President of the UAF on issues of strategic football development
This is a story about the "phoenix" of Ukrainian football. Funny and sad at the same time. Anatoly Dmytrovych was a talented football player. The legend of Shakhtar Donetsk and Dynamo Kyiv. After finishing his career as a football player, he worked in various Eastern Ukrainian clubs. He became a functionary. After the so-called "Donetsk" came to power, he was engaged in the football federation and already on September 2, 2012, he was elected the President of the Football Federation of Ukraine. He stayed on the post for two years and did not stand out for anything.
After the victory of the Revolution of Dignity, contenders appear for his position. Among them is the young and promising Andrii Pavelko. So a discrediting campaign begins against the 66-year-old ex-football player (we will not take responsibility for whether Konkov was really involved in corruption, there are still no court decisions), he is accused of embezzling $3 million and is forced to resign.
As a matter of fact, it was Andriy Vasyliovych's followers who spread this information on news sites. They say that at the next congress, Pavelko - then already a people's deputy and the head of the budget committee - personally threatened "Kony" (as Konkov was called) with the police and the SBU. In the end, the "Horse" agreed and retired. Later, they forgot about the matter and took Anatoly Dmytrovych back to work at the Football Federation. The position after the president's chair is not so weighty, but the salary is competitive - 95 thousand hryvnias per month.
Oleg Blokhin, co-chairman of the Council of Strategic Development of Professional Football.
The man is a legend! No joke. Talented football player, football coach and ... member of the Communist Party of Ukraine, member of the bloc of political parties "Opposition bloc "No way!" (remember the commercial with Medvechuk, Boyk, other separatists and Blokhin?! He also says to Boyk in Russian: "Yura, don't worry, we will win, I'm a fart"...
Then Blokhin in a way supported Antimaidan. Calling the participants of the Revolution of Dignity a "problem". Now he continues to work in Pavelko's team and, according to journalistic investigations, receives a salary of over 120,000 hryvnias per month.
Well, how about without the team of "wedding generals" of the three first vice-presidents of the UAF
12-13-14. Anatoly Demyanenko, Oleg Protasov, Oleksii Mykhailychenko.
Undoubtedly, these figures made a huge contribution to Ukrainian football in their time. But now Andriy Pavelko, a figure in corruption cases, is relying on their authority in the association. For example, through Oleg Protasov's FB page, a letter allegedly from FIFA and UEFA with an attempt to put pressure on Ukrainian judges and law enforcement agencies is thrown into the information field. Currently, the police and the attorney general's office doubt its authenticity. In turn, Anatoliy Demyanenko and Oleksiy Mykhailychenko managed to disgrace themselves in the Pechersk Court. They came to take the suspect Andriy Pavelek on bail.
Therefore, the legends have corresponding salaries: Protasov and Mykhailychenko receive 330,000 hryvnias per month, Anatoly Demyanenko - 225,000 hryvnias per month.
Andriy Vasyliovych, have you already seen the Russian footprint in the activities of the Ukrainian Football Federation? And the influence of the Russians on the decision-making of the association? Well, at least the people of the traitor Medvechuk have seen? Maybe it's time for you?! Time to move towards the Russian warship.
