Andrii Derkach

Andrii Leonidovych Derkach (Ukrainian: Андрі́й Леоні́дович Де́ркач; born 19 August 1967) is a politician and businessman, as well as a suspected agent of the Russian Federation.[1] He is a member of the Ukrainian Parliament. In August 2020, U.S. counterintelligence chief William Evanina identified Derkach as a key participant in Russian efforts to harm Joe Biden's candidacy in the 2020 U.S. presidential election.[2]

For the Ukrainian footballer, see Andriy Derkach (footballer).

Andrii Derkach
Андрі́й Леоні́дович Де́ркач
Personal details
Born (1967-08-19) 19 August 1967
Dnipropetrovsk, Ukrainian SSR, USSR (now Dnipro, Ukraine)
NationalityUkrainian
Political partyIndependent
Other political
affiliations		Party of Regions
ChildrenTetyana Terekhova
FatherLeonid Derkach
OccupationBusinessman, politician
WebsiteDerkach.com.ua

Early life and education

Derkach was born on 19 August 1967 in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukrainian SSR, the son of KGB officer Leonid Derkach, who headed the Security Service of Ukraine intelligence agency in the late 1990s. Derkach was fired in 2001 for his alleged involvement in the murder of journalist Georgiy Gongadze.[3] In 2005, the report of an ad hoc committee formed via the Ukrainian parliament, primarily responsible for investigating the murder, concluded that Gongadze's murder had been organized; the primary conspirators remained identified as then-President Kuchma and his Minister of the Interior, in addition to Leonid Derkach, who, according to the committee, had been involved in the crime.[4]

Derkach attended the Kharkiv Higher Military Command Engineering School, graduating in 1989. In 1989 and 1990, he served in the Strategic Missile Force at the technical missile base of the Pervomaysk division; this division was under the command of the Strategic Missile Force. In 1993, he graduated with a Ph.D. in Law from the Dzerzhinsky Higher School of the KGB, (later renamed the FSB Academy);[5][6] his thesis primarily concerned the "Organization and conduct of meetings with secret agents".

Career

Derkach worked as Security Officer at the Office of Security Service of Ukraine in the Dnipropetrovsk region. As a member of the Ukrainian government, he has served in a variety of capacities.

From 1994 to 1996, he served as Deputy Director of the Control Service of the President of Ukraine. From 1996 to 1997 he was Advisor to the President of Ukraine on Foreign Economic Affairs. In 1997 and 1998 he was First Assistant to the Prime Minister of Ukraine. Derkach served as President of the national nuclear generating company Energoatom from 2006 to 2007. He served as Director General of the State Concern "Ukratomprom" in 2007. From 2011 to 2013, he was served pro bono as Chief Advisor to the Prime Minister of Ukraine. Despite no longer having an official role, Derkach remains involved in the management of Energoatom, making strategic decisions alongside Oleg Boyarintsev and Herman Galushchenko.[7]

Derkach was implicated in the government's orchestration of the Euromaidan assault by security forces on peaceful demonstrators in Kyiv on 11 December 2013.[8][9]

Business holdings and interests

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 following the collapse of the Soviet Union. The Derkach Group had close ties to the political elite and attempted to influence politics through lobbying, corrupt networks, and illegal appropriations.[3][10] Derkach also headed a media company consisting of four newspapers, a TV guide, and the website версії.com.[3]

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.[11] 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.[12]

According to anti-corruption watchdog organization Chesno, Derkach and his associates illegally appropriated 42 hectares of protected lands valued at tens of millions of dollars.[13][14] Derkach 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]

Derkach often lobbies for Oleg Deripaska's Russia company Rusal (formerly Russkiy alyuminiy) and has ties to Anatoly Chubais and Chubais' monopolistic electricity supplier, RAO UES.[3]

Parliamentary activity
Derkach in 2013

Derkach has been a member of the Ukrainian Parliament from 1998 to the present.[16][17]

From 2002 to 2006, he served as Deputy Chairman of the Ukrainian Parliament Committee on Fuel and Energy Complex, Nuclear Policy and Nuclear Safety.

Since 2012 he has been a member of the Budget Committee of the Ukrainian Parliament (Committee of the Verkhovna Rada on issues of budget).

From 2014 to 2016, he was 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.[1][18]

As of October 2019, Derkach represents District 159 in the Sumy region in northeastern Ukraine.[1]

Interference in United States 2020 elections
Main article: Russian interference in the 2020 United States elections
Cover: Report of the Select Committee on Intelligence United States Senate on Russian Active Measures Campaigns and Interference in the 2016 U. S. Election, Volume 5 - Counterintelligence Threats and Vulnerabilities

Money laundering allegations

On 9 October 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.[19][20] 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.[21] Anders Åslund, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, called Derkach "not credible" and a "professional disinformer."[22]

Meeting with Giuliani

On 5 December 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.[23][24] In May 2020, he released a portion of a phone call between Joe Biden and Petro Poroshenko, the former president of the Ukraine.[25]

U.S. sanctions

On 10 September 2020, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Derkach "for attempting to influence the U.S. electoral process," while also alleging that Derkach "ha[d] been an active Russian agent for over a decade, maintaining close connections with the Russian Intelligence Services."[26][27] The sanctions include freezing all of Derkach's property interests subject to U.S. jurisdiction and prohibiting U.S. persons from engaging in transactions with him and with entities of which Derkach owns 50 percent or more.[6] The Treasury Department applied sanctions against Derkach associates on January 11, 2021, with Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin saying in a statement, "Russian disinformation campaigns targeting American citizens are a threat to our democracy. The United States will continue to aggressively defend the integrity of our election systems and processes."[28]

Other engagements

Since 1997, Derkach 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 to 2013 he was a member of the Inter-Council Presence of the Russian Orthodox Church.[29][30]

Personal life

Derkach is married to Terekhova Oksana Volodymyrivna, with whom he has three daughters and two sons. His daughter Tetyana Terekhova is a television presenter. Derkach is a member of the Russian Orthodox Church.

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[31]

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)

See also

References
  1. "Derkach Andrii Leonidovich - Description of the politician". Chesno. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
  2. Desiderio, Andrew; Cheney, Kyle (8 August 2020). "Democrats' noisy strategy to stop Russian election interference". Politico.
  3. 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 5 December 2019. (Translation of relevant paragraphs at Talk.)
  4. "Case of Gongadze v. Ukraine". HUDOC - European Court of Human Rights. 8 February 2005. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  5. Blake, Aaron (5 December 2019). "The murder story involving the 'Ukrainian Putin,' who just met with Rudy Giuliani". The Washington Post. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  6. Sonne, Paul; Dawsey, Josh; Demirjian, Karoun (11 September 2020). "U.S. sanctions Ukrainian lawmaker tied to Giuliani as 'active Russian agent'". The Washington Post. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  7. Saunders, John (22 July 2020). "Russian intelligence accused of sabotaging Ukraine's Energoatom". London Loves Business.
  8. Oleksiyenko, Oles (13 December 2013). "Between Stability and the Instinct of Survival". TheUkrainian Week. Retrieved 6 December 2019.
  9. Torba, Valentyn (26 November 2015). "The Euromaidan crackdown: perpetrators and beneficiaries". Day.Kyiv.ua. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  10. Avioutskii, Viatcheslav (20 February 2007). "The Consolidation of Ukrainian Business Clans". Revue internationale d'intelligence économique via cairn.info. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  11. "Andriy Derkach". Media Ownership Monitor. Retrieved 6 December 2019.
  12. McFaul, Michael (2007). "Ukraine Imports Democracy: External Influences on the Orange Revolution". International Security. 32 (2): 62. doi:10.1162/isec.2007.32.2.45. JSTOR 30133875.
  13. "Land fraud". Chesno. Retrieved 7 December 2019.
  14. Курбатов, Олександр (30 May 2019). "«Межигір'я3»:людинардепаДеркачабезкоштовноотримали42газаповідноїземлінадесяткимільйонівдоларів" (PDF) (in Ukrainian). Bihus.
  15. "Derkach did not mention his wife's corporate rights in the declaration". Chesno. Retrieved 7 December 2019.
  16. Tkachyk, Nikolay. "NABU-LEAKS: who from the US stands behind the Ukrainian MP Andriy Derkach". International Apostroph. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  17. "Офіційний портал Верховної Ради України". Rada.gov.ua. Retrieved 23 January 2018.
  18. "Complete list of members of parliament who voted for dictatorship laws". uk:UAINFO. 19 January 2014. Retrieved 17 December 2019.
  19. "Burisma paid Joe Biden $900,000 for lobbying – Ukrainian MP". Interfax-Ukraine. 9 October 2019. Retrieved 10 October 2019.
  20. "MP Andriy Derkach: 'NABU Leaks' is the key for salvaging Ukraine-U.S. relations". Interfax-Ukraine. 11 October 2019.
  21. Shuster, Simon (19 November 2019). "Trump's Call For Investigations Finds New Support Among Russian Allies in Ukraine". Time). Retrieved 6 December 2019.
  22. Collins, Ben; Zadrosny, Brandy (20 November 2019). "As Sondland testified, a misleading Ukraine story spread among conservatives on social media". NBC News. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  23. Stern, David L.; Dixon, Robyn (5 December 2019). "Ukraine lawmaker seeking Biden probe meets with Giuliani in Kyiv". The Washington Post). Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  24. RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service (5 December 2019). "Ukrainian Lawmaker Says He Met Trump Lawyer Giuliani On Corruption". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Retrieved 9 December 2019.
  25. Sonne, Paul; Helderman, Rosalind S. (19 May 2020). "Ukrainian lawmaker releases leaked phone calls of Biden and Poroshenko". Washington Post.
  26. "Treasury Sanctions Russia-Linked Election Interference Actors". United States Department of the Treasury. 10 September 2020. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  27. Cohen, Zachary; Atwood, Kylie; Cohen, Marshall (10 September 2020). "Vowing crackdown on Russian meddling, US sanctions Ukrainian lawmaker who worked with Giuliani to smear Biden". CNN. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  28. Forgey, Quint. "Treasury Department announces sanctions tied to Giuliani's Biden attacks". POLITICO.
  29. "Состав Межсоборного присутствия Русской Православной Церкви (от 27.07.09) / Официальные документы / Патриархия.ru". Патриархия.ru.
  30. "Как изменился состав Межсоборного присутствия Русской Православной Церкви?". www.pravmir.ru.
  31. "Derkach Sig. Andrej Leonidovich". Presidencia della Repubblica. 28 October 1998. Retrieved 7 December 2019.
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