Andrii Derkach

Andrii Leonidovych Derkach (Ukrainian: Андрі́й Леоні́дович Де́ркач; born August 19, 1967) is a politician and businessman who is a member of the Ukrainian Parliament since 1998 and an activist of the Russian Orthodox Church. In August 2020, William Evanina, the U.S. counterintelligence chief, identified Derkach as a key participant in the Russian efforts to interfere in the 2020 U.S. presidential election.[1]

For the Ukrainian footballer, see Andriy Derkach (footballer).
Andrii Derkach
Personal details
Born (1967-08-19) August 19, 1967
Dnipropetrovsk, Ukrainian SSR, USSR (now Dnipro, Ukraine)
Political partyIndependent
Other political
affiliations		Party of Regions
OccupationBusinessman
WebsiteDerkach.com.ua

Early life and education

Derkach is the son of Leonid Derkach, former director of the Security Service of Ukraine who was fired in 2001 for his alleged involvement in the murder of journalist Georgiy Gongadze.[2] In 2005, the report of the ad hoc committee of the Ukrainian parliament investigating the murder concluded that Gongadze's murder had been organized by then President Kuchma and his Minister of the Interior and that Leonid Derkach had been involved in the crime.[3]

Derkach attended the Kharkiv Higher Military Command and Engineering College of Missile Forces (now Ivan Kozhedub National Air Force University), graduating in 1989. In 1989 and 1990 he served in the Strategic Missile Force at the technical missile base of the Pervomaysk division of the Strategic Missile Force. In 1993 he graduated with a PhD in Law from the Dzerzhinsky Higher School, renamed Academy of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation in 1995,[4] with a thesis on "Organization and conduct of meetings with secret agents."

Career

He worked as Security Officer at the Office of Security Service of Ukraine in the Dnipropetrovsk region.

1994–1996: Deputy Director of the Control Service of the President of Ukraine.
1996–1997: Advisor to the President of Ukraine on Foreign Economic Affairs.
1997–1998: First Assistant to the Prime Minister of Ukraine.
2006–2007: President of the National Nuclear Energy Generating Company “Energoatom"
2007: Director General of the State Concern "Ukratomprom"
2011–2013: Chief Advisor to the Prime Minister of Ukraine, pro bono.

Derkach has been accused of having been involved in ordering the bloody assault by security forces on peaceful demonstrators in Kyiv on December 11, 2013.[5][6]

Business holdings

Germany's Federal Agency for Civic Education reported in 2007 that Derkach and his father Leonid led the Derkach group, one of the regional cross-industry holding companies formed in Ukraine after the end of the Soviet Union which had close ties to the political elite and tried to influence politics through lobbying, corrupt networks, and illegal appropriations.[2][7] Derkach headed a media company comprising four newspapers, a TV guide, and the website версії.com.[2]

According to Media Ownership Monitor Ukraine, Derkach "de facto owns" television channel TRK Era and Radio Era; officially the owner is his assistant Anton Oleksandrovych Simonenko while Derkach is listed as honorary president of Era-Media and head of the arts council of TRK Еra. Ownership data of the privately held company is not publicly available.[8] Radio Era was one of several radio stations, most prominently among them Petro Poroshenko's Channel 5, that provided around-the-clock reporting from Maidan Square during the Orange Revolution in 2004.[9]

Parliamentary activity

Derkach has been a member of the Ukrainian Parliament from 1998 to the present.[10][11]

2002–2006: Deputy Chairman of the Ukrainian Parliament Committee on Fuel and Energy Complex, Nuclear Policy and Nuclear Safety.

Since 2012: Member of the Budget Committee of Ukrainian Parliament (Committee of the Verkhovna Rada on issues of budget).

2014–2016: Deputy Chairman of the Parliamentary Group "Nation's Will”.

According to Ukrainian anti-corruption watchdog organization Chesno, Derkach voted for the "dictatorship laws", ten laws restricting freedom of speech and assembly, which were signed into law by president Viktor Yanukovych in January 2014; nine of them were repealed by the Ukrainian parliament 12 days later.[12][13]

On November 13, 2015, The Interfactional Parliamentary Association “For the Protection of Violated Rights of Citizens and Against Political Repression “Forbidden to Forbid” was established. Derkach was elected as the Chairman of the Association.

On January 26, 2016, Derkach initiated the creation of an interim commission of inquiry on violations of the constitutional rights of citizens.

As of October 2019, Derkach represents District 159 in the Sumy region in northeastern Ukraine.[12]

Corruption accusations

According to anti-corruption watchdog organization Chesno, Derkach and his associates appropriated protected lands valued at millions of dollars;[14] he also failed to declare his wife's stake in various of his business enterprises, as he was obliged to do under the Ukrainian law to prevent corruption.[15]

On October 9, 2019, Derkach alleged that Joe Biden had been involved in an international money laundering scheme with Ukrainian energy company Burisma Holdings and US-based Rosemont Seneca Partners.[16] He claimed that Burisma's payments to four of its board members–including Biden's son Hunter–which were neither secret nor illegal, were "a sinister plot involving" Ukraine's former president Poroshenko but his claims initially were mostly ignored in Ukraine and abroad.[17] Anders Åslund, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, called Derkach "not credible" and a "professional disinformer."[18]

On December 5, 2019, Derkach met with President Donald Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani in Kyiv to put together a corruption case against Biden's son Hunter, according to Derkach.[19][20] In May 2020, he released a portion of a phone call between Joe Biden and Petro Poroshenko, the former president of the Ukraine.[21]

Other engagements

Since 1997 he has served as the chairman of the Charity Foundation for Ecology and Social Protection "Our Future".

Since 2003 he has been the President of the International Festival of Orthodox cinema "Pokrov".

In 2009, he was elected Delegate of the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church of the laity of the Diocese of Konotop.

From 2010–2013 he was a member of the Inter-Council Presence of the Russian Orthodox Church.[22][23]

Family

Derkach is married to Terekhova Oksana Volodymyrivna, PhD in Pedagogy, Associate Professor of the Department of Cultural Studies of the Kiev National University of Culture and Arts. They have three daughters and two sons.

Honors and recognition
  • Member of the Order of Merit of the III degree
  • Member of the Order of the Supreme Church St. Vladimir, Reverend Nestor the Chronicler, Saints Anthony and Theodosius, St. Demetrius of Rostov, St. Theodosius of Chernigov
  • Commander of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic[24]

See also

Bibliography

Author of the book Glukhov - hetman's capital (2000), co-author of monographs: "Infinitely lasting present: Ukraine: four years of the road" (1995), "Ukraine-Russia: test of friendship" (1997)

References
  1. Andrew Desiderio and Kyle Cheney, Democrats’ noisy strategy to stop Russian election interference, Politico, August 8, 2020
  2. Schneider, Eberhard (2010). "Ukraine - gespalten zwischen Ost und West (Ukraine - divided between East and West)". Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung (German Federal Agency for Civic Education). Retrieved December 5, 2019. (Translation of relevant paragraphs at Talk.)
  3. "Case of Gongadze v. Ukraine". HUDOC - European Court of Human Rights. February 8, 2005. Retrieved December 13, 2019.
  4. Blake, Aaron (December 5, 2019). "The murder story involving the 'Ukrainian Putin,' who just met with Rudy Giuliani". The Washington Post). Retrieved December 5, 2019.
  5. Oleksiyenko, Oles (December 13, 2013). "Between Stability and the Instinct of Survival". TheUkrainian Week. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
  6. Torba, Valentyn (November 26, 2015). "The Euromaidan crackdown: perpetrators and beneficiaries". Day.Kyiv.ua. Retrieved December 5, 2019.
  7. Avioutskii, Viatcheslav (February 20, 2007). "The Consolidation of Ukrainian Business Clans". Revue internationale d'intelligence économique via cairn.info. Retrieved December 5, 2019.
  8. "Andriy Derkach". Media Ownership Monitor. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
  9. McFaul, Michael (2007). "Ukraine Imports Democracy: External Influences on the Orange Revolution". International Security. 32 (2): 45–83. doi:10.1162/isec.2007.32.2.45. JSTOR 30133875. Pg. 62
  10. Tkachyk, Nikolay. "NABU-LEAKS: who from the US stands behind the Ukrainian MP Andriy Derkach". International Apostroph. Retrieved December 13, 2019.
  11. "Офіційний портал Верховної Ради України". Rada.gov.ua. Retrieved 23 January 2018.
  12. "Derkach Andrii Leonidovich - Description of the politician". Retrieved December 7, 2019.
  13. "Complete list of members of parliament who voted for dictatorship laws". uk:UAINFO. January 19, 2014. Retrieved December 17, 2019.
  14. "Land fraud". Retrieved December 7, 2019.
  15. "Derkach did not mention his wife's corporate rights in the declaration". Retrieved December 7, 2019.
  16. "Burisma paid Joe Biden $900,000 for lobbying – Ukrainian MP". Interfax-Ukraine. Retrieved 2019-10-10.
  17. Shuster, Simon (November 19, 2019). "Trump's Call For Investigations Finds New Support Among Russian Allies in Ukraine". Time). Retrieved December 6, 2019.
  18. Collins, Ben; Zadrosny, Brandy (November 20, 2019). "As Sondland testified, a misleading Ukraine story spread among conservatives on social media". NBC News). Retrieved December 5, 2019.
  19. Stern, David L.; Dixon, Robyn (December 5, 2019). "Ukraine lawmaker seeking Biden probe meets with Giuliani in Kyiv". The Washington Post). Retrieved December 5, 2019.
  20. RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service (December 5, 2019). "Ukrainian Lawmaker Says He Met Trump Lawyer Giuliani On Corruption". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Retrieved December 9, 2019.
  21. https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/ukrainian-lawmaker-releases-leaked-phone-calls-of-biden-and-poroshenko/2020/05/19/cc1e6030-9a26-11ea-b60c-3be060a4f8e1_story.html
  22. Состав Межсоборного присутствия Русской Православной Церкви / Официальные документы / Патриархия.ru
  23. Как изменился состав Межсоборного присутствия Русской Православной Церкви? | Православие и мир
  24. "Derkach Sig. Andrej Leonidovich". Presidencia della Repubblica. October 28, 1998. Retrieved December 7, 2019.
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