What does Tymoshenko do in Defense Ministry: dragon’s teeth, communications or mobilization reservations
Kyrylo Tymoshenko, the curator of the Big Construction project, who was fired from the Office of the President for corruption scandals, has unexpectedly returned to the big game. In the Ministry of Defence. And it happened at a time when significant budget expenditures would be spent on fortifications.
Censor.NET looked into what could be behind such a return and how Tymoshenko ended up where he is today.
Kyrylo Tymoshenko, the former deputy head of the Office of the President, has started working as an adviser to Defence Minister Rustem Umierov. The news was reported by NV late last week.
According to the publication, the former deputy of Andrii Yermak has been working with the minister for several weeks.
He regularly comes to the ministry, in fact, he has been working in the ministry, has meetings with Umierov, has an office there and has introduced his team to the ministry," one of the interlocutors said.
In response to a request from NV, the press service of the Ministry of Defense reported that Tymoshenko has been a staff adviser to the Minister of Defense since March 1, 2024, based on the relevant order on his appointment.
"Kyrylo Tymoshenko's main area of activity is media and communications, coordination of information policy in the Ministry of Defence and subordinate structures of the Ministry of Defence, as well as building a unified information agenda in the Ukrainian Defence Forces for the duration of martial law," the MoD press service added.
The fact that Tymoshenko appeared in the ministry does not look good. After all, the ministry itself decided not to communicate first. In fact, journalists found out by accident. Moreover, some deputy ministers did not confirm this information the day before the news broke.
This suggests that they were in no hurry to share the news.
Tymoshenko is being called to the Defense Ministry as a communications advisor. But what can be remembered from the hero's biography?
Tymoshenko first became famous because his production company GoodMedia made a PR film about Petro Poroshenko's main ally, Ihor Kononenko. That film did more to harm the hero than help him, as it became a source of ridicule.
In August 2019, it was Tymoshenko who leaked a fake letter from the then head of the Presidential Office, Andrii Bohdan, about his dismissal to a number of media outlets.
The story was hushed up as if nothing had happened.
Further, the country knew about Tymoshenko's media successes in the context of the fact that the Kinokit company, associated with his wife, was constantly receiving government contracts.
For example, in January, it became known that Rada TV channel signed a contract worth almost 105 million hryvnias for the production of TV programs for the United News telethon, produced by Kinokit LLC. Last year, the same company received 120 million from the channel.
After this news, Tymoshenko recorded a video in which he denied any connection with the Kinokit company.
"I want to remind you that my wife has the largest and coolest film school in Ukraine. Several thousand students have already graduated from this film school. And the vast majority of them are in the media and film business and work in such agencies. So now they are all connected to me?" - Tymoshenko said.
He also threatened all those who spread such information with a possible meeting in court. He reminded that he had already won a court case against the NAPC.
At the same time, the Glavkom media outlet once published a lengthy article about the ties between Kinokit and Tymoshenko, and it is clearly not about one random person.
"According to open sources, back in 2014, the first owner of Kinokit, Hryhorii Zinchenko, together with Kyrylo Tymoshenko, was involved in the filming of President Petro Poroshenko's inauguration. It was GoodMedia, which specialized in the production of political advertising, that broadcast this official event," the publication noted.
Since 2017, cooperation between Kinokit and GoodMedia has become closer. During the presidency of Volodymyr Zelenskyy, this duo was involved in the organization of the Ukraine 30 forum initiated by the head of state, the author of the article, Vitalii Taranenko, noted.
As you know, Tymoshenko lost his position in the Office of the President after UP journalists published an investigation at the end of 2022 that Yermak's deputy was seen driving a new 2021 Porsche Taycan. The car was provided to him by businessman Vemir Davitian, who is called the government's informal supervisor of the Zaporizhzhia region by the authorities.
The journalists' sources also helped them to find out that Tymoshenko had settled in a nearly 1,200-square-meter estate with private access to a pond, owned by businessman Ihor Nikonov. He is one of the largest real-estate developers in Kyiv. This was interpreted by the media as a potential conflict of interest, as shortly before that, a message appeared on the page of Nikonov's construction company that two residential neighborhoods of KAN Development had joined the state program "eOselia" (eHousing) - a concessional housing mortgage.
But the biggest publicity was caused by another investigation, where journalists from Bihus. info found out that Tymoshenko was using a Chevrolet Tahoe as her official car. The scandal was that the American company General Motors had donated 50 cars to Ukraine for humanitarian purposes and to transport people out of the war zone this spring, but not for transportation of an official within Kyiv. After the story was published, Tymoshenko refused the cars.
On January 24 last year, Tymoshenko was fired from the Office of the President. However, at the time, the main reason was his conflict with another part of the Office's leadership.
After the stories were published, Tymoshenko was placed under NAPC monitoring. In addition to the above-mentioned episodes, the NAPC's inspection found that the official had used his powers in his interests and violated the restrictions on receiving gifts by a person holding a particularly responsible position set out in the Law on Prevention of Corruption.
Thus, while holding the position of deputy head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, he signed a letter to the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine (SBGS) requesting permission for his subordinate to travel abroad, allegedly for an official business trip. However, the NACP found that the real purpose of the subordinate's travel abroad was a private interest - to obtain visas for Tymoshenko and his son.
"Thus, the ex-official, using his official position and to satisfy his personal needs, received permission for his subordinates to cross the state border. Such actions are classified under Part 1, 2 of Art. 172-7 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (Violation of requirements for the prevention and settlement of conflicts of interest)," the NACP said.
"In addition, Tymoshenko stayed at the Emili Resort hotel complex three times during 2022 for free, 2 of which were with his wife and son. In his explanations, he confirmed that he had indeed used the services of the hotel, but could not provide proof of payment for accommodation worth more than UAH 45,000," the statement said.
After Tymoshenko failed to come to the NACP in August 2023 to provide explanations, the materials were sent to court.
Last autumn, the Pecherskyi court found Tymoshenko not guilty. As evidence, his wife then paid for the rent of the car and the apartments.
However, the NACP called the court's arguments for finding Tymoshenko not guilty insufficient and unconvincing, and the decision unmotivated.
The problem is that the NACP did not have the opportunity to prove its case in court.
According to the NACP, under the current legislation, the NACP is authorized to draw up protocols on administrative offenses, but it cannot be a party during the proceedings and cannot provide arguments to the court to defend its position.
"The arguments of the Pecherskyi court did not convince the society that the former deputy head of the Office of the President of Ukraine is really innocent, and if the NACP had the opportunity to present its arguments, the National Agency would have effectively used it," the agency said.
However, after the court's decision, Tymoshenko announced his "loud return".
It seems to have happened.
The appearance of the former deputy head of the Office of the President in the Ministry of Defense launched a wave of jokes that Kinokit would now make money from Army TV. However, it should be recognized that the budget expenditures for information support of the Defense Ministry are significantly modest - 42 million.
Construction is another matter. After all, no one has forgotten that Tymoshenko was once the curator of the "big construction" in the Office.
After the budget was adopted, Ukrinform, with reference to the Defense Ministry, reported that 36 billion hryvnias, or 3.1%, were allocated for operating costs and infrastructure restoration.
Last week, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said that since the beginning of this year, the government has allocated UAH 20 billion from the state budget reserve fund for fortifications and construction of defensive borders. According to him, the work is being carried out in close coordination with the Ministry of Defence.
"An important element is the fortification of defense borders. The government has allocated more than UAH 20 billion this year for the Ministry of Defense to build up the defense borders. The relevant headquarters operates daily, where we also coordinate with regional state administrations, the General Staff and the Ministry of Defense to ensure that this is done efficiently, quickly, reliably, and that our Defense Forces have secure defense lines and rear," the Prime Minister said.
According to Shmyhal, the Ministry of Defense received UAH 3 billion for these purposes, and a number of RMAs (Regional Military Administrations) received more than UAH 16 billion.
But there are other funds - for example, the Defense Ministry has 1.5 billion for road maintenance and almost a billion for the construction of military facilities.
However, the biggest intrigue is how and from whom Tymoshenko appeared in the ministry. It's one thing if it was Umierov's decision, but it's another if it came from above.
On the one hand, the publication's sources say that Tymoshenko has not been seen in the Office of the President for the past year, and the head of the OP has never been too favorable to him. Therefore, the version of the "supervisor from the OP" does not seem so reliable.
On the other hand, the ministry itself hints that the decision came from outside.
"Perhaps he is there simply to avoid mobilization. Or he was asked to keep an eye on Umierov, so to speak, to be an observer in the department," said one of the interlocutors in the government.
At the same time, as for the construction of fortifications, the interlocutors say that the work will be at a loss, not a profit, so the largest players will not sign direct contracts but will help with subcontracts. Meanwhile, the marker for the "topic" will be the appearance of Yurii Holyk in the ministry, not Tymoshenko.
Tetiana Nikolaienko, Censor.NET
