Artem Milevsky's friend Serhiy Tretyak spoke about the conflict with Oleksandr Aliyev, the Dynamo legend's artificial coma and much more.
- Sergiy, in his story, Aliyev called you a fraudster, saying that you came to Milevskiy's hospital and demanded discharge summaries and invoices. It would be interesting to hear your version of events.
- In fact, Igor Mikhailovich [Surkis] needed this extract. He wanted to see what was done to Artem in the clinic. His daughter, Yana Surkis, asked me to take it from him. By the way, I recorded a video with Yana where she confirms this to refute Aliyev's words.
We also needed the extract to transfer Artem to another rehabilitation clinic, so that they could study his medical history and see what medications he was injected with.
- Did you tell Aliyev about this?
- I didn't talk to Aliyev at the time, I talked to the manager of the clinic. Apparently, she called Aliyev to clarify whether to give me a certificate, and he said no.
- Aliyev said that you leaked the invoices for Milevskiy's treatment on the Internet.
- I did not leak anything.
- But a price list appeared on the Internet, where it was stated that Milevsky's treatment cost 175 thousand hryvnias per week.
- Some fake screenshots are circulating online. Apparently, some journalists decided to make a big deal out of this. I have seen the original document, and the amount is even different.
- Is it more or less than 175 thousand?
- The amount is approximately within these limits. This is a classic figure for treatment in this clinic. But the names are completely different.
- I'll quote Aliyev: "Serhiy personally got a p*ssy on the head for his bad tongue and for lying". When did you meet him and did you have a fight?
- There was no fight at all. Artem and I met him in the French Quarter in the 128 cafe after he was discharged. We wanted to shoot joint content and invite Aliyev to a stream on Twitch. We sat down with him in a normal atmosphere, without violence.
The only moment I wanted to film Artem's meeting with Aliyev, Sanya said: "Why the f*ck are you filming me?!". I put the phone away. Then we met a soldier with a prosthesis in a café, and I filmed this moment, but Aliyev was not saying anything.
- Then why does Aliyev record such stories and speak out against you?
- Perhaps Aliyev is jealous of Milevsky, because they have been friends for many years, and now Artem spends more time with me.
For the first time in my life, I heard that I had offended Aliyev with something from his broadcast. Until then, we had no misunderstandings or conflicts. Moreover, he thanked me for helping Tioma undergo rehabilitation, shook my hand and said thank you. Because no one from Milevsky's entourage could persuade him to go to hospital.
What happened next? Honestly, I don't know. He probably got angry with Artem for his interview with Voloshin, where he said that it was stupid of Sasha to go to the press about his problem. Aliyev did not watch the full interview and misinterpreted it. Perhaps he thought that it was my fault and that I had persuaded Artem to say that. But Artem said everything correctly.
His family, mum, dad, sister, are in Belarus. Imagine how worried they were when they read that their son was in a coma in intensive care. I reassured them and said that everything was under control, Artem was in hospital under the supervision of professional doctors.
Why did Aliyev do this? I didn't take it to the press and didn't promote Artem's problems. As a result, Aliyev did not understand anything and blocked Artem on all social media.
- Have you tried to contact Aliyev to resolve your conflict and make peace?
- I called him several times, even on Forgiveness Sunday. I said: "Sanya, if I offended you in any way, I'm sorry. Unblock Artem and make peace in the end." He said: "God will forgive, and I forgive." We ended the conversation on a normal note. A few days pass, and he starts talking nasty things about me again.
I really want the Kents to reconcile. People want to see them together, there are a lot of fans of Milla and Aliyev. I'm even ready to sacrifice myself for their friendship.
- In what way are you ready to sacrifice yourself?
- If Aliyev doesn't like my communication with Artem, then I will step aside so that they can make up.
- You spend almost all your time with Artem. How did he get to the point where he needed medical help?
- I lived abroad for a long time and returned to Ukraine in April 2023. We periodically wrote each other off and kept in touch. In June, we met and sat in a cafe. At first, I didn't see any problem, Artem carefully hid it and didn't want to admit it.
But one day we went to a charity match and shared a room. At night, I woke up and saw Artem drinking whiskey alone. That's when I sounded the alarm.
- Aliyev and Seleznyov said that Milevsky was not answering his phone and they could not persuade him to go to the clinic.
- It was true. At that time, Artem did not answer the phone from anyone because he was in a bad state. But if a friend doesn't pick up the phone, wouldn't it be right to go to him and find out if he's okay? Not a single person came to see him!
I started telling Artem: "Let's sneak in and get you checked out." He agreed at first, but then postponed it from day to day. I saw that the situation was critical, and I started calling psychologists and directors of rehabs with one question: how to help my friend?
- How much did Artem drink to get to this point?
- He drank a little, but every day. About 200-300 grams of whiskey or rum for a year and a half.
- How did you eventually manage to break him and get him into rehabilitation?
- It is impossible to break Artem, because he has a delicate soul. I negotiated with him. I managed to get him into rehabilitation by accident. I called the psychologist on duty and asked how I could persuade Artem to go to the clinic. He said: "Seryozha, take the alcohol he drinks, sit down with him and drink to gain his trust. You have to be on the same wavelength."
I took a bottle of whiskey and at lunchtime I said: "Tia, let's get drunk." - "Let's do it." I had a big lunch before, and Artem was drinking on an empty stomach. We sit down and drink! My stomach started to turn, and I can't imagine what was happening to Artem's body.
I call the psychologist again: "What should I do next? I'm getting sick, I can't take it anymore. Prepare an ambulance for Artem". I came back and said to Artem: "Listen, I have a psychologist I know who lives nearby. Let me call him and we'll talk." Tema agreed.
An ambulance arrived with a team of paramedics who stayed outside to wait, and the psychologist came to us. I made up a story about my problems and then went out so they could talk to each other. An hour later, the psychologist called me: "He's not going anywhere, he's fine." I said: "That's not going to work, we're all going to the clinic together." Our friend Ira Ashkenazi, the daughter of the vice president of Dynamo, was also with us.
We returned to the room, and the Champions League match between Real Madrid and Union was on TV. Artem and I are both Real Madrid fans, and the game is not going well at all - 0-0. I couldn't think of anything better than to say: "Tia, let's do this, if Real scores, we're going to go for a drip." - "Go ahead." And in the 90+4th minute, Bellingham scored the saving goal. We were all overjoyed: "Hurray! We're going to the clinic!". Artem immediately asked: "Will they show football there? We still need to watch the second matches." "Yes, they will!" we answered in a chorus.
And with whiskey, music and flashing lights, we went to the clinic in an ambulance.
- Did you have a plan B if Real Madrid hadn't scored?
- There was no backup plan, only a miracle helped, and Bellingham, for which I am grateful.
- How did Artem take the hospital environment?
- I told Artem that I would also go to bed with him. He was like: "Where is the TV, where do we go to bed?". The doctors got together and said: "Calm down, we're going to turn on the football." Ten minutes later, they gave Artem a sleeping pill and he fell asleep, and Ira and I left.
- Did Surkis pay for your treatment from the very beginning?
- No, I paid for the first three days, which is 70 thousand hryvnias. This clinic has a minimum deposit requirement. The next day, I read in the media that Aliyev and Seleznyov had sounded the alarm - Kent was not picking up the phone, and they wanted to help.
I dialled Selya: "Zheka, Artem is fine, he's in rehabilitation. If you want to help your friend, don't blow the whistle in the press. Here are the details of the clinic, help in silence." But no one did anything.
Seleznev told Aliyev about everything. And Sasha, instead of sending money to a small circle of people and not telling anyone about it, called Igor Mikhailovich [Surkis] and asked for help. And you know the rest.
- How did Artem regain consciousness after the sleeping pills?
- The next day at 3pm he woke up. Artem had no idea where he was or what was happening to him. The doctor injected him with another dose of sleeping pills and called me and Ira Ashkenazy, because we were the guarantors and the contract was in my name. The doctor said: "Artem's situation is critical, his body is very severely intoxicated from alcohol, it could be fatal, he urgently needs to be put into an artificial coma." We had to make the decision ourselves, and we gave the go-ahead.
- How long did Artem stay in a coma?
- Quite a long time - six days. After that, Artem was already in an adequate condition, we talked every day, he made video calls with his family.
- Who, apart from you and Ira Ashkenazi, visited Artem in the clinic?
- Aliyev visited at least three times a week. Selya visited Artem in another rehab. Masha Yefrosinina and Denis Oliynyk also came. Yarmolenko was supposed to come, but Artem was diagnosed with covid, and Andriy had an important game and did not take any risks. But Yarmolenko constantly called and asked how Artem was doing.
Yana Surkis called me: "I want to come and see Tia and give him some news". I met her and took her to the clinic.
- What news did she tell you?
- Yana told me what Igor Mikhailovich had said. He offered Artem a job at Dynamo Kyiv after his treatment. Artem smiled, it was a very important moment for him.
- What position was he offered?
- No specifics yet. But I can say for sure: Artem will work at Dynamo, it's just a matter of time.
- And what does he want to do at Dynamo?
- A striker scout. Artem will look for new Milevskys and develop them, making them the best scorers in Dynamo and the UPL. I am sure he will succeed.
- How does Artem feel now, does he have a craving for alcohol anymore?
- No, he doesn't. Now Artem has a completely different life, which has been filled with meaning. He works out in the gym every day, plays football, helps orphanages and the Armed Forces, but doesn't advertise this much. Artem also develops nvich and telegram channels. Now we have advertising sponsors who offer contracts.
- Are twitch, telegram channels and Mili's clothing brand your joint projects?
- These are our joint projects. The twitch channel was created by accident. We were playing eFootball on PS and it hit me: "Why waste time? Let's create a twitch channel and stream there." As you can see, people liked it.
Then we launched a telegram channel, where we have already received a blue tick. I would like to note that Artem is the first footballer in Ukraine to have a Telegram channel with a blue tick.
Mila also has a private Telegram channel where he personally responds to messages from subscribers. We made a paid subscription of $5 a month just to filter it. As it turned out, there are 90 real fans of Artem. That's the number of people who have subscribed so far.
- What is Milevsky's main source of income now?
- He earns money from advertising contracts. On twitch, all donations go to charity. As for the TIMI 10 branded clothing, the income there is small because we did not make a high margin. We launched the merch release in test mode, and it was quite successful. Now we are preparing to launch a collection of tracksuits and T-shirts.
- You said that all your projects are joint. How do you divide the income?
- There is no income yet, so there is nothing to share. If there is, we will share it, it's not a problem. Right now, we're just spending. Even when we meet with the subscribers of our private telegram channel, we have to pay for the rental of the field at the Bannikov Stadium. Sometimes we watch football in bars and pay the bill for everyone, go bowling. It all costs money.
Plus, we have a very large team: eight admins on the telegram channel and four moderators on the twitch. They also need to be paid.
- What is their salary?
- A moderator on Twitch earns $700 a month, which is three streams a week. Telegram admins get less - $450.
- What's happening with the Mile YouTube channel now? Do the rights to it belong to Artem or Pankov?
- The channel was and still is owned by Artem, and we have all the logins and passwords.
- Do you have any plans to resume its operations?
- We do, but everything happens in its own time. We've done a lot in a short period of time, and we can't do everything at once. Our next step is a video on the Mile YouTube channel.
- Now you are present in all of Artem's videos, but before that, it was Pankov. What happened with them?
- Honestly, I didn't delve into their friendship and I don't know what happened there. I'm not interested in it. If I knew, I would tell you. Artem and I have had a personal relationship all our lives, without companies and parties.
- I saw on Instagram that you recently travelled with Milevsky and Selezniov to Donbass. Tell us about it.
- This trip radically changed our outlook on life. Zheka suggested that we go to the front together, as it was not the first time he had been there, so we agreed. We arrived at 5am in Dnipro, Selya met us, we had a warm chat, and the next day we went to the frontline. We were 65 kilometres from Donetsk.
Before we left, we asked Zheka: "Is it safe there?". He replied: "Yes, of course. Everything will be fine". But when we were already there, we realised that there are landings every 300 metres, and the risk of dying is very high. A shell, a cassette or a drone can arrive at any moment, but the locals are used to it and live their normal lives. Grandmothers ride their bicycles, men fetch water from wells and no longer pay attention to the sounds of gunfire.
After seeing what we saw, Artem and I began to appreciate the life and freedom that the Armed Forces provide us with, and we are very grateful to them for that.
- Did you manage to talk to the military?
- Yes, we had a warm conversation with the 79th separate air assault brigade. We brought them a few drones to try out, and if they like them, we will organise a training camp. It's just that so far, we haven't raised enough donations on Twitch to help the military. We have enough for children, but not enough for drones.
We also went to the shooting range, and Selya showed off his shooting skills.
- And how did he do?
- Excellent! He's a good shot. Zheka shot with a machine gun, an assault rifle, and a pistol. He's a powerhouse. A real fighter.
- Did they let you and Artem shoot?
- No, we played football with the military and shot the ball at the goal. Mili's team played against Seli's team, and we won. It turns out that Zheka is a better shot with a gun, and Artem is a better goal kicker.
- What was the largest amount of donations collected at the twitch during the evening?
- About 80 thousand hryvnias. We were raffling off an exclusive t-shirt signed by Artem. People were eager to donate and wanted to take part in the competition.
- Ira Morozyuk is often your guest at the twitch. What other guest stars can we expect?
- We will definitely invite Zheka Seleznev when he is in Kyiv. We will invite Yarmolenko when Andriy has time.
- How is Artem doing on the personal front, does he have a girlfriend?
- Everything is great with him, he has a lot of beautiful fans, but he is not in a hurry to choose one yet. He has other goals and priorities now. Artem is more involved in the development of the media business than in his personal life.
- How did you meet Milevsky?
- We met Artem in 2013 at the Arena nightclub. We had a group of mutual friends and were sitting at neighbouring tables. That's how we hit it off. He and I are very similar - like Yin and Yang. I paid restaurant bills for all my friends, and Artem did the same. Plus, we have similar interests - he loves the high life, and I love the high life.
We always had a great time together, travelled a lot, bought expensive cars, visited expensive places, and dressed well. I only didn't beat the Ferrari(laughs).
- Which famous people did Milevsky pay for in restaurants?
- There are many stories. Almost all of Artem's friends had duplicate bank cards. They would go out to clubs and Artem would go home at two in the morning because he had to go to Dynamo training in the morning, and his friends would go out with this card and pay for every table. The biggest bill of the evening? About 15 thousand dollars.
I also know a funny story. Once, while on holiday, Artem met Liverpool defender Jon Arne Riise, a Norwegian, in a nightclub in Rome. The latter saw him and was stunned: "Milevsky, is that you?!" - "Yes, I am." - "Oh my god." Anyway, they were buzzing in the club until the morning.
- What do you do, where do you get the money for your beautiful life?
- I am one of the shareholders of a bookmaker in Spain.
- The police came to search the house where you and Milevsky live. Can you tell us about it?
- It had to do with the former owner of this house, who left for Spain three years ago. I didn't know what he was doing, I only read about it in the ruling that the police showed us. As it turned out, he was involved in a story with drugs, weapons and pornography. The police searched the whole house, but, thank God, they didn't find anything.
- Do you rent this house or does it belong to you?
- This is the house of our friends. I let them stay in my house in Spain, and they let us stay in their house in Ukraine.
- I want to ask you about the video of a drunken Artem next to you playing a ball for your subscribers. Why did you post it? From a moral point of view, it didn't seem like a very nice thing to do, to show your friend in that state.
- This video was a turning point for Artem's rehabilitation. At that moment, I received a lot of criticism. But a week after this video, we were already in the clinic. It had a positive effect.
- So you posted it and showed it to Artem: "Look, who do you look like?"
- No, that was not our goal. We really shot this video for a good cause, and all the money went to charity. But it didn't turn out the way people wanted. It was only later, when I watched the video, that I realised I had to sound the alarm and save Artem.
- So why did you post it if it shows that Artem was drunk?
- Did you see me in that video? I was just like Artem, if not worse, and at that moment I did not understand my actions.
- Do you drink now?
- No, of course not. Artem and I don't have alcohol at home, only teas, water, lemonade.
- Artem used to say that he doesn't cook at home and only eats in cafes. In one of your videos, I saw Milia eating borsch at home. Who cooked it?
- My beloved mum cooks it and passes it on to us, for which she is very grateful. Borsch, bacon, potatoes, onions - all from the village. Natural products!
- Can you and Artem cook anything?
- We can boil dumplings or spaghetti, grill meat. But we don't cook soups or borscht.
- I remember a situation when Artem asked Dasha Astafieva for soup in a cafe. Can you tell us about this story?
- I wasn't in Ukraine at the time, but I can say that Dasha just went ballistic on Artem. No one asked for any soup. In an interview with Voloshin, Tia said that he forgave her and offered to meet her, but she didn't react - she was silent.
- Who is Milevsky friends with now, besides you? What is his social circle like?
- I can say for sure that he is on great terms with Yarmolenko and Dario Srna. He has a good friend Anton, who often came to the clinic, helped him and supported him. It's just that Anton is not a public person and does not advertise himself. Ira Ashkenazi is Artem's best friend. She is a korefan, so that people don't misunderstand that they are in a relationship. The same goes for Ira Morozyuk, she is our friend.
- Ira Morozyuk is free now, have you thought about hooking up with her?
- Ira deserves a better guy, especially since I have a girlfriend(laughs).
- And how did Artem and Srna get together, since Dario works for Shakhtar, Dynamo's principal rival?
- This is not a football field where everyone is an enemy. I don't know the details, but they have a great relationship - they communicate well, sometimes they even meet. Artem is also friends with Rakytskyi.
- Is it true that Milevsky has squandered all his wealth and now he has nothing?
- It's not true. Artem bought property in Belarus and is now successfully renting it out. He also helps his parents, who are not worried about their pensions. He has a financial cushion.
- How much money do you and Artem need for one day, and how much do you spend per day?
- We have almost no expenses because my mother sends us all the food from the village. We don't drink alcohol, we don't go to restaurants, unless we are invited somewhere in barter. We spend only on the salaries of our employees.
- And what about utility bills, the house is big, two-storey?
- The utility bill is 1,500 hryvnias a month. We have a well and the water is free.
- And the gas? Try heating such an area...
- We have electric underfloor heating and I don't switch it on on the second floor. Plus security, garbage collection. It comes to about three thousand. I was lucky that the house is new and economical. In spring and summer, I have to hire a gardener, which is another 12,000 hryvnias, and cleaning the pool is five thousand.
- Why do you and Artem live together and not separately?
- I left my girlfriend for him when he got out of the clinic. Artem needs support, he can't be alone because there is a risk of relapse. I decided to stay by his side and take care of his business.
- So you broke up with your girlfriend for Artem?
- Yes, I did.
- To finish our conversation, can you tell us a funny story about Artem?
- There is a story about his famous backpack. I have an apartment on Staronavodnytska Street, and Artem used to come to visit me there often. He was always with a black and white old backpack. I wondered what he was carrying there and asked him about it. Artem replied that the backpack contained documents, a charger, and a power bank.
You don't need a backpack for that many things, so I gave him a small but stylish Bottega Veneta bag for 1,500 euros. However, the next time he came to me again, he came to me with that damn backpack.
As it turned out later, Artem used to bring a full bottle of whiskey in this backpack and leave me in the morning with an empty bottle. The bottle simply did not fit in the bag I gave him. I burned it when I heard the empty bottle clinking. That's the story, both funny and sad.
Andriy Piskun