Mykola Rudkovsky
 | This article may require copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone, or spelling. (March 2023) |
Mykola Rudkovsky | |
|---|---|
Мико́ла Рудько́вський | |
 Mykola Rudkovsky in 2002 | |
| 4th Minister of Transport and Communication | |
| In office 4 August 2006 – 18 December 2007 | |
| President | Viktor Yushchenko |
| Prime Minister | Viktor Yanukovych |
| Preceded by | Viktor Bondar |
| Succeeded by | Yosyp Vinsky |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 18 December 1967 Staryi Bykiv, Chernihiv Oblast, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union |
| Alma mater | Chernihiv Collegium National University |
| Profession | Politician |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  Soviet Union |
| Branch/service | Soviet Army |
| Years of service | 1986–1988 |
Mykola Mykolayovych Rudkovsky (Template:Lang-uk; born 18 December 1967) is a Ukrainian politician who was the fourth Minister of Transport and Communication from 2006 to 2007.
Biography
Early life and education
Rudkovsky was born on 18 December 1967 in the village of Staryi Bykiv, Ukraine SSR, and was educated at the Chernihiv Collegium National University from January 1985 to January 1986. From January 1986 to January 1988, he served with the Soviet Army, returning as a student at the Chernihiv Collegium National University from May 1988 to February 1990. He then moved to the Moscow State Business School as a trainee from February to September 1990, and studied at the Vienna University of Economics from September 1991 to January 1994.[1][2]
On 24 March 2021 in interview to Ukrainian journalist Dmitry Gordon, Rudkovskyi stated that sometimes in 1988-1989 he failed to graduate from the Chernihiv Pedagogical Institute (University) and with the Soviet Union still in existence left the country to go abroad and enroll into an economical school in Austria. While studying in Austria he somehow met with one of the Razumovsky family members and they easily became friends helping each other with learning languages. Within a half a year staying in Austria Rudkovskyi was earning 3,000 euro while studying at school. After five years Rudkovskyi had his own company earning $100,000, own house and a modern car, but he decided to sell everything and move to Ukraine.[3]
Career
From September 1994 to September 1996, Rudkovsky worked for the President's Administration while actually residing in Kyiv on Kosiora Street. In February 1996, he returned to the new Bykov[clarification needed], where he registered a second time at the previous address and obtained a new passport from the Bobrovytsia Raion Police Department as a citizen of Ukraine. Police officials claim that the presidential consultant was threatened and extorted during the procedure.[2]
Prior to Rudkovsky's ministerial role, he held several positions which include as an assistant consultant to People's Deputy of Ukraine Valentyna Semenyuk-Samsonenko from April 2000 to April 2002; and as the mayor of Chernihiv from April to May 2006. He became the Minister of Transport and Communications from 4 August 2006 to 18 December 2007, and was the First Secretary of the Socialist Party of Ukraine (SPU); the First Secretary of Chernihiv SPU in November 2001; the head of the SPU in October 2013.[1] In the Verkhovna Rada, he was seen at least twice in impersonal voting.[4]
Controversies
On 12 October 2013, Rudkovsky was elected chairman of the SPU. He fled Ukraine in 2014,[5] because police wanted to ask questions about the kidnapping of the ex-head of Naftogazvydobuvanny, Oleh Valeriyovych Seminskyi. (Rudkovsky was the owner of the Naftogazvydobuvanny company together with Nestor Shufrych. Seminsky was kidnapped in 2012 and held hostage until 2015,[6] and Rudkovsky's name was mentioned among the customers.[7])
Rudovsky was detained in Dubai at the beginning of April 2018 for entering the country with a fake Iraqi passport. Due to differences with the autonomous government, he was unable to carry out his plan to exploit oil in Iraqi Kurdistan. He was released on 7 May 2018.[8] He was again taken into custody on 28 September 2018, in Moscow on suspicion of being in a group of people stealing items from the Russian Embassy in Kyiv in 2014.[9]
Investigations
Kyiv traffic accident
When Rudkovskyi ran over a 22-year-old cyclist on 14 August 1996, the prosecutor's office in Kyiv filed a criminal complaint against him in May 1998. The cyclist died at the site. A few days later, the case was abruptly closed. The Kyiv prosecutor's office noted that only a superficial inspection was conducted, the inquiry inspector actually came to a conclusion based on his testimony, and the inspector failed to find out important facts at various stages of the development of the road situation.[2]
Kuchmagate
On 18 January 2001 at the Rudkovsky's and his brother's apartment, officials of the General Prosecutor's Office and the Security Service conducted a search when he was suspected of forgery of tapes of the State Security Administration major Mykola Melnychenko. The search was carried out on the basis of a “report” that Mykola Rudkovsky “organizes the production of fake audio and video recordings with the voices of the President of Ukraine and other officials.”
On February 2 Mykola Rudkovsky filed a claim with the Pechersky District Court of Kyiv regarding the protection of honor, dignity and business reputation. In his statement, he appealed the statement of Prosecutor General Mykhailo Potebenko, published in the media, that Mykola Rudkovsky allegedly had a laboratory adapted for the production of audio fakes.
On February 7 Deputy Prosecutor General Oleksiy Bahanets said that files “with the same names and the same content, but different in size, which may indicate falsification” were seized from Mykola Rdkovsky’s computer during the search. Oleksiy Bahanets also reported that during the search a CD was seized, on which there are recordings of different voices and, in particular, two similar voices of persons featured in the cassette scandal.
Later, this version was neither confirmed nor denied officially.
It is also known that on October 6, 2006, speaking at PACE to European deputies, Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Volodymyr Lytvyn said: “...The international examination, which was carried out officially, as far as I know, established that the tapes were edited from September 18 to October 15 [2000], phrases were compressed there, and the corresponding words were inserted into the corresponding sentences.” Rudkovsky himself always categorically denied his involvement in the editing of the “Melnychenko tapes.”
It is interesting that in November 2005, Mykola Rudkovsky announced his readiness to cede his deputy mandate to Major Mykola Melnychenko, who by that time had returned to Ukraine.
Embezzlement and abuse
Rudkovsky was charged in 2007 with misusing his position of authority and embezzling a sizable sum of money. On December 14, 2007 the Security Service of Ukraine summoned Mykola Rudkovsky for questioning in the case of illegal use of public funds in the Ministry of Transport in the amount of 390 thousand hryvnia during an alleged official trip “Kyiv - Paris - Kyiv” on a private charter plane from June 9 to 12, 2007 of the year. The flight, according to investigators, was paid for by the Ministry of Transport. He was specifically accused of using public money to travel abroad.[10]
A criminal case was initiated under Part 5 of Article 191 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine - “misappropriation of funds on an especially large scale”, then reclassified to Article 364 part 2 (abuse of power and abuse of official position). Mykola Rudkovsky was given a written undertaking not to leave; he faced a sentence of up to 12 years in prison. As it became known during the investigation, the three-day tour of the acting Minister of Transport carried out in the company of one of the former “Miss Ukraine-Universe” Oleksandra Nikolayenko.[11]
Judge Oleg Bilotserkivets of the Pechersk Court in Kyiv terminated the case on 26 May 2010, at which time the state declared that it was dropping all charges and the prosecutor was changed.[12][13]
Russian embassy attack
Rudkovsky was arrested in September 2018 after landing in Moscow and charged with the assault on the Russian embassy on 14 June 2014. According to the Russia's prosecutor's office, the former minister carried out this action alongside Right Sector activists. The case was transferred to the Moscow court on 1 November 2019.[14] The Moscow court considered mitigating factors (compensation for material damage in the amount of 2 million rubles and remorse), imposing a sentence of two years in prison and a fine of 5.750 million rubles for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia and 8.289 million rubles in favor of the Sogaz insurance company. The prosecution had requested a sentence of six years in prison. The court also counted the time spent in the pretrial detention facility starting on 28 September 2018, at a daily rate for one and a half days.[15]
Kidnapping case
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) revealed the details of a well-known kidnapping that took place in 2012 on 25 February 2021. Oleh Valeriyovych Seminskyi, the head of the gas extraction firm at the time and, as of 2019, a deputy of the pro-government Servant of the People Party, was abducted at that time.[16] On 3 March, Rudkovsky left for Ukraine, and the following day, he was charged with being the person who had ordered the kidnapping.[17] The inquiry found that Seminsky was held captive for over three years, subjected to relentless torture, and forced to pay the crime's mastermind a bogus debt of $200 million. In March, Mykola Katerynchuk was hired as Rudkovsky's attorney.[18]
Honours
Throughout his career, he has been awarded the following honours;
- Order of Saint Theodosius of Chernihiv (Russian Orthodox Church, 1 December 2010)[19]
References
- ^ a b "Довідка: Рудьковський Микола Миколайович". dovidka.com.ua. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
- ^ a b c "Білі плями в біографії міністра Рудьковського – Всеукраїнський незалежний медійний простір "Сіверщина"". siver.com.ua. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
- ^ Рудьковский: Семинский мне сказал: "Если ты перепишешь на меня акции, я пойду в прокуратуру, дам показания, что ты меня не воровал". gordonua.com. 24 March 2021
- ^ "Рудьковський Микола Миколайович — Біографія, Балотування, Фракції, Політична Агітація | ПолітХаб". www.chesno.org (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 22 March 2023.
- ^ "ЗМІ: Екс-міністра Миколу Рудьковського затримано в Дубаї". nv.ua (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 22 March 2023.
- ^ "Три з половиною роки в підвалі на ланцюгу…". НОВА Тернопільська газета (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 22 March 2023.
- ^ "Екс-міністра Рудьковського затримали в Дубаї, – джерело". LB.ua. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
- ^ "Поліція Дубая відпустила українського екс-міністра Рудьковського, – ЗМІ". 24 Канал (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 22 March 2023.
- ^ Свобода, Радіо (2 October 2018). "У Москві затриманий український екс-міністр Рудьковський – відео". Радіо Свобода (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 22 March 2023.
- ^ "Николай Рудьковский: жесткая посадка". Украинская правда (in Russian). Retrieved 22 March 2023.
- ^ Пятерка украинских политиков, оскандалившихся из-за любовниц. antikor.com.ua.
- ^ "Суддя Білоцерківець закрив справу Рудьковського | Каталог ФАР | CHESNO". far.chesno.org. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
- ^ "Справа Рудьковського: подвійні стандарти в дії". Українська правда (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 22 March 2023.
- ^ "Справу українського ексміністра Рудьковського в Росії передали до суду". 24 Канал (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 22 March 2023.
- ^ "У Росії винесли вирок Рудьковському". РБК-Украина (in Russian). Retrieved 22 March 2023.
- ^ "СБУ розкрила гучне викрадення 2012 року. Причетний екс-міністр транспорту". РБК-Украина (in Russian). Retrieved 22 March 2023.
- ^ "Екс-міністра транспорту Рудьковського вручено підозру у справі про викрадення у 2012 році". РБК-Украина (in Russian). Retrieved 22 March 2023.
- ^ "Стало відомо, хто буде адвокатом Рудьковського у справі про викрадення Семінського". РБК-Украина (in Russian). Retrieved 22 March 2023.
- ^ "КЕСАРЮ КЕСАРЕВЕ, А БОГУ БОЖЕ" (PDF). Chtyvo. 1 December 2010. p. 4.