Reforming state policy in the area of veterans' protection is a long, labour-intensive and even scandalous process. Vitalii Hersak, the initiator of the introduction of the American experience of veteran policy in Ukraine, a volunteer warrior and head of the "Free and Faithful” (Vilny ta Virni) Non-Govenrmental Organisation, recently found himself in the center of a journalistic investigation which he himself considers biased and based on fakes from four years ago.
We present to our readers a detailed analysis of the allegations, facts and possible reasons for this scandal. Who's right and who's wrong in this story is up to you to judge.
Recently, "Hromadske" published a journalistic investigation, which alleges that you ask for money from the Americans for the needs of Ukrainian veterans, while having significant financial resources yourself, obtained illegally during your term of office as head of the Mykolaiv Department of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) in 2019-2020. This is a kind of "quote" and the main point of the investigation. Could you comment on these allegations?
I have already commented on this on my Facebook page. Our non-governmental organisation has also issued a statement to this effect. I'm not asking for a single penny from foreigners. We set ourselves another task: to develop in cooperation with American specialists such a plan of reforms of veteran policy in Ukraine which would take the advanced American developments recognised as one of the best in the world as a basis. If the authors of this pseudo-investigation had made themselves aware of the materials of our conference, they would have seen it for themselves.
As for the charges of unjust enrichment, they are all based on one single NACP minutes dated 2020, in which I made a mistake and misreported my wife's business income. Later, the court reviewed the case, found no intent in my actions, found no corruption component and closed the proceedings due to the absence of the body of crime. Everything else is backstreet gossip unsupported by any facts and documents.
Why are allegations from four years ago starting to surface now?
Prior to that, the charges against me were related to my professional activities as a law enforcement officer. Today, the reason is an active civic position to bring order to the state policy to protect the interests of veterans, including attracting the attention of foreign partners to the existing issues.
Some representatives of the authorities, apparently, do not want to restore order and react painfully when non-governmental organisation do not coordinate their actions with them, especially when foreigners see the inactivity of Ukrainian officials.
Don't you think that journalists of "Hromadske" are just critical of the authorities and believe that it is the current government that patronises you in your current activities?
I don't care what they think they're doing. I know for certain that I am already tired of "messengers" who approach me on various occasions and openly tell me that my activity is right and necessary cause but it must be coordinated and approved "from upstairs". And I don't care at all under what circumstances journalists are fed these fakes and assigned tasks to discredit the undesirables.
You mean coordinating with the leadership of the Office of the President?
Do you seriously think that the Head of the Presidential Office will "sit at the same table" with people like Bezuhlyi or Tretiakov who recently tried to introduce an absolutely stupid bill that would criminalise all unofficial diplomacy and those who engage in it?
I don't think so. Rather, it is an initiative of smaller figures dreaming of becoming big. Let's just say I have theories and assumptions about it that need to be verified. I think we'll come back to this issue later.
Do you know Andrii Boryslavovych Yermak personally?
I've only interacted with him twice in my life. The first time I was interviewed at the Office of the President before being assigned to Mykolaiv. At that time, I also had the only time in my life to communicate with President Volodymyr Zelensky. The second time Yermak presented me for the office at the place of work in Mykolaiv. It's all of our communication.
Tell us in more detail about the period of your work in the Mykolaiv Oblast Department of the Security Service of Ukraine and how the corruption allegations against you began?
Immediately after my appointment as Head of the Mykolaiv Oblast Department of the Security Service of Ukraine, I started working on the crime kingpin called "Multyk", his connections, business and trusted persons in the regional government. At that time, 99% of the executives there were either his proteges or beneficiaries of joint schemes.
I summoned the head of the regional tax police to my office and clearly pointed out the key issues that his men must address. It was about closing down conversion centres, illegal gas stations, gambling parlours, etc. The point was that if they failed to do so, our next conversation would be completely different. Something like this.
This colonel started to say something about his 23 years of experience, local specifics, etc. In short, he pretended that he did not understand the meaning of my message and said that I would get a call back from Kyiv and be told what to do next. I even wondered who was going to call me, since when I was appointed, I had a meeting with the President and he gave me a clear task to clear Mykolaiv Oblast of criminals as soon as possible.
So you had complete carte blanche, immunity and complete autonomy in your choice of remedies?
if only it were true. The nuance is that the SBU leadership did not let me assign any of my deputies, constantly tried to discredit me and hindered my work.
What happened next in the story of the head of the tax police of the oblast?
After talking to the tax man I waited a week, no one ever called me back.
I called him again and put him on notice that I never got the call and that as of today, a new period in his life is starting, which would end very quickly and sadly. Immediately a case was initiated by me and an inspection was sent.
The leadership of the tax police was just preparing to celebrate the Day of the Tax Police in an elite restaurant with an entertainment programme, tributes, guests. The drunken party was already in full swing when the ski-masked raids, searches and document seizures began. This was something no one could have imagined even in a nightmare. This tax policeman with 23 years of experience and 7 more of his closest associates became persons involved in the investigation, lost their state security clearance and automatically became candidates for dismissal.
After that, one of Bakanov's deputies called me and told me that a command had come from upstairs to let this honoured man be.
What was your response to that?
I said I had a clear agreement with the leadership of the state that I was going to shut down all the illegal schemes and restore order. If something has changed in this programme, let the Chairman of the SBU tell me about it personally. Obviously, no one called me back.
Immediately after that, Dmytro Dmitriiev – I think that’s his name, – a journalist from Mykolaiv working for the "Prestupnosti.Net” website, contacted me . I didn't know him before we met and let him into the office. This weirdo began to tell me in all seriousness that in Mykolaiv issues are not dealt with in such a way, that he communicates with the leadership of law enforcement agencies directly, that all law enforcers here consult with him and that it would not work here as I want it to be. Naturally, I told him to get lost.
I thought he was some city lunatic, but it turned out that he was a friend of Multyk through whom the information coverage of everything that happens in the region was going on. The first to start printing some investigations and accusing me of usurping power in the oblast, persecuting the opposition, illuminating the SBU building with the wrong colours, preventing "honest" businesses from operating, etc. was just this website of Mykolaiv. The baton of this friend of Multyk was then picked up by investigative journalists from Kyiv and from that moment this all began
It was also reported in the media that, in 2020, the NACP revealed untrue data in your tax return, opened administrative proceedings on the grounds of inconsistency with official income and sent materials to the NABU.
In this case, everything is like in the anecdote: not won, but lost, not in the lottery, but in cards, not a hundred, but a thousand ...
First, it was all about the innovation – in 2019, the declarations of SBU employees became open for the first time. I misstated the amount of my wife's business income. I wrote that she earned UAH 600 000, but she herself declared in the tax office UAH 796 000, i.e. declared and paid taxes more than I mistakenly indicated. Obviously, the budget had only gained from this, not lost.
Secondly, the court in 2021 officially heard the case, found no corrupt intent in my actions and closed the relevant proceedings.
Third, the prosecutor who represented the NACP in court and requested to impose a fine of UAH 17,000 on me was clearly biased towards making sure that any decision unfavourable for me happen. He acted like a North Korean athlete – it must be either a medal or a concentration camp. He was clearly under undue influence. It was a farfetched story in its entirety.
The journalists' investigation included some kind of certificate listing your illegal business projects and the testimony of a former colleague who talked about an internal investigation against you. Can you comment on that?
This is not a certificate, but some piece of paper prepared by a person who clearly has never worked a day in his or her life in law enforcement. If these are investigation materials, there would be a criminal proceeding with a registration number for each fact. A mining farm that is in an unidentified location and operated by an unidentified person... it sounds like delirious nonsense!
Do you believe that the SBU could not locate a mining farm that consumes electricity like an entire steel mill? Don't be ridiculous!
Such low-quality falsehoods are not even interesting to comment on.
You are also credited with connections to the unlawful business of illegal shrimp fishing, protection racketeering of illegal gas stations, fuel smuggling, stealing railroad POL, pressuring farmers in collaboration with Chechens....
I can't say anything about the last point since I don't understand what it's about at all, but the previous ones have their own backstories.
As for illegal gas stations in 2019, there was a specific task of the President to all regional leaders. Each oblast reported weekly on how many illegal oil depots and gas stations were closed. Very quickly this issue was solved because nobody in their sound mind would mess with these schemes and contractual arrangements. The President warned each appointee about this and kept the matter under his personal supervision.
The shrimp story is also complete nonsense. In 2020, together with the leadership of the Ochakiv Inter-District Department of the SBU, we began to investigate potentially corrupt officials in fish inspections in Mykolayiv and Odesa Oblast. At that time, there were many media publications and specific criminal proceedings. Based on what I remember: Lysenko, a chief specialist of the Black Sea Department of the State Fishery Agency, was caught in the act of bribing, inspectors of the Black Sea fish patrol were detained with the mainour, Kaminskyi, the Head of the Black Sea Department of the State Fishery Agency was detained, and so on. Ask those who are engaged in legal fishing in the Black Sea about it, they will tell you themselves who runs the protection racket and whose business it is. Immediately after the poachers were eradicated, General Naumov, Head of Internal Security Service of the SBU and future state treasonist, sent a group from the central office, which turned everything upside down, trying to dig up some dirt on me and Yaremchuk, Head of the Ochakiv Department. The only violation they managed to find was some document marked as "For Official Use Only", which was lying just on a table of one of the Ochakiv operatives, not in a safe. On this basis, I, as Head of the Department, was demoted to lieutenant colonel, and Yaremchuk, Head of the District Department, was demoted to major. That's the story.
I can't say anything about the theft of railroad POL. It's the responsibility of the National Police for Transport. What does the SBU and I have to do with it?
But I can tell you something about smuggling oil products in detail....
If I may, let's go from the beginning and in great detail...
I have already told you that before my appointment in Mykolaiv I had a meeting with the President, where I was assigned the task to restore order. This included the smuggling of fuel through the waters of the Black Sea. The President and, at the time, his first aide Yermak proved to be quite well-informed. I don't know who prepared informational materials for them, but it was clearly not Bakanov's people. Otherwise they wouldn't know many interesting facts.
The point is that tankers with 50,000 tons of oil products were constantly entering neutral waters near Mykolaiv, to which the so-called "cabs" or "suckers" were coming from Mykolaiv and Ochakiv daily, taking 100 tons of unaccounted fuel at a time. Then it went to the market, of course, without paying excise taxes, transportation fees, etc. These are multi-millions in illegal earnings that were transferred to Kyiv, as far as I understand.
I promised that I would solve this issue and that there would be no more of them near Mykolaiv. A week after my appointment, they sailed away.
Where did they sail away from Mykolaiv?
Toward Odesa.
Have you been offered money to keep this illegal business running as before?
I was offered USD 1 million once "for mutual understanding" and, if I remember correctly, also USD 200,000 monthly for unimpeded running. As for the last figure, I can be mistaken to some extent, since I gave an answer at once and then listened inattentively.
And what did you tell them?
I replied that if the tanker fails to sail away, I'd just blow it the fuck up.
How did your retirement in 2020 take place?
Due to the lack of normal working communication with the leadership and the inability to conduct an independent personnel policy in my department, I wrote three reports to the Chairman of the SBU with a request to relieve me of my duties. In August, September and October. Frankly, I'm sick of the constant checks, pressure, surveillance, distrust, and streams of lies. On 25 October, I ensured the parliamentary elections and reminded the Chairman of the SBU that he had my report for a month already. It was from the media that I learned about my resignation after which I went to Kyiv.
How many thieves' meetings took place in the region during your leadership of the Mykolaiv Department of the SBU?
During the whole time there was only one meeting when I was on official vacation and was outside of Mykolaiv.
In the already mentioned story of journalists it is said that the reason for your demotion and subsequent dismissal was a meeting with one of the influential representatives of the criminal world, the footage of which became known to the media.
That's another lie. I was demoted in October together with Yaremchuk, Head of the Ochakiv Department, after the wiping out of the fish mafia. I have told you about it above. And the resignation itself took place on the basis of the report I submitted in November. Meeting with AptiIslangireev has nothing to do with it, it took place in September.
Such communication would look suspicious if I worked in accounting or a jewelry factory. But I've spent my whole life working in criminal investigation and homeland security sectors. When Ukrainian sailor Andrii Novichkov was sentenced to death in Iran in early 2019, and when there was nothing that either embassies or international partners could do, it was contacts like these that came in handy....
Tell me about it.
Andrii Novichkov, a Ukrainian seafarer from Odesa, was working on an Iranian vessel when an Iranian crew member committed suicide there. In Islam, suicide is a great sin, so the death of the Iranian was quickly pinned on the Ukrainian. The guy got the death penalty. A year and a half of diplomacy yielded nothing; the sentence was being prepared to be put into execution. After another useless meeting I had an idea how to solve the issue and with the approval of Yehor Bozhko, Head of the Foreign Intelligence Service (SZRU) I took up the matter. Novichkov's only living relative in Ukraine was his grandmother, who went through all the circles of hell trying to save her only grandson. I called her and promised that Andrii would be home soon.
I intended to involve, shall we say, certain connections in the Iranian diaspora. A week later, Andrii already had a cell phone in his detention cell and the ability to communicate with me around the clock. A few more weeks later, he was exchanged, by agreement of the parties, for an Iranian criminal previously convicted in Ukraine.
What the official diplomacy failed to do in a year and a half, the authoritative representatives of the Iranian diaspora with connections in the highest spiritual leadership of their country managed in a couple of months. That's roughly how it works.
They gave you the rank of colonel in the SZRU for this case?
No, I got the colonelcy for getting the tomos. That's a a story of its own. Ask His Beatitude Metropolitan Filaret about all the circumstances of this event. One could shoot a Hollywood movie based thereof. I don't want to talk about it right now.
There is such a legend in Mykolaiv that six months after your appointment, Oleksii Vadaturskyi, Hero of Ukraine, one of the country's largest agribusinessmen (died during a rocket attack on Mykolaiv in 2022 in his own house) approached you and shook your hand with words of gratitude for bringing order in the oblast. Is that true?
Yes, it’s true. Oleksii Afanasiiovych said then that it was the first time he came to the office of the SBU chief to thank him for his work.
Nevertheless, your family has expensive real estate and several prestigious cars in Kyiv. Obviously, the salary of a law enforcement officer would not be enough to afford such a property...
You're right, a law enforcement officer's salary isn't enough for that. My wife has been in business for 15-20 years and after selling two successful companies, she purchased real estate in Kyiv. On top of that, there were still a few years to pay off the mortgage that was taken out of the bank. Believe me, if this business involved any wrongdoing or illegal assistance on my part, the whole thing would have been brought out into the open long ago and blatantly exposed.
How many and what kind of cars does your family use?
Wife has a 2020 BMW 6 Series, son has a 2017 BMW 5 Series and a 2023 Mercedes-Benz V-300 van. There's also a 2019 Volkswagen van and a 2017 Toyota Tundra. I personally own a 2006 Hyundai Tucson. If this sounds like the car pool of an underground millionaire, I don't even know what to say then....
At what expense do you acquire all the aid that your non-government organisation regularly donates to meet the needs of the AFU?
Our non-governmental organisation brings together quite a few people. Farmers have the opportunity to donate vegetables. Someone owns a restaurant business and donates food. People whose business is automobile repair and sales make buggies, give pickup trucks, trailers. Some give clothes, some buy drones and thermal imaging cameras. People whose businesses have been affected by the war, who have already lost a lot or realise that they may lose everything if the Russians advance. You don't need additional motivation to help the AFU, they themselves are willing to aid with whatever they have.
You are an active-duty servicemen of the AFU and at the same time run your own volunteer activities, charity tournaments, and conferences. That said, many military personnel can't even go on a well-deserved leave. How is that possible?
99% of our volunteer projects actually take place at my duty station and everything that is collected is then sent to OC South units.
The conference on veteran policy in Kyiv was held only one day and I, as befits, informed all to whom it may concern, and at that time I was on a ten-day vacation. It's not like I went to a nightclub. My command understands that well. Who wouldn't want the best American experience to be taken as a basis for veteran policy in Ukraine?
Now you serve as a company commander in one of the battalions of the 122nd Brigade of the Territorial Defense Forces, and prior to that you were a combatant in one of the brigades of the special operations forces (SSO). How did that happen?
The military unit in which I served from the first days of the war was disbanded. It was one of the first training centres in Ukraine, established by combat generals and the best Ukrainian intelligence officers. In it, SSO fighters were trained by foreign instructors of the highest level and taught to use the most modern Western weaponry. Purely for opportunistic reasons, the centre was disbanded because some disgraced military men were involved in its establishment. I don't want to talk about it in more detail, the time has not yet come.
In the fall of 2022, I was assigned to the Odessa Territorial Defence Forces by order of Zaluzhnyi and ended up here.
What ties you to the legendary General Dmytro "Marcello" Marchenko?
I deeply respect this man and consider him a true Hero of Ukraine. Thanks to him it was possible to repel Mykolaiv, to prevent the orcs to go along the dry road to Odesa and completely cut off Ukraine from the South and the Black Sea. I hope that one day he will receive his well-deserved award – the Order of Hero of Ukraine.
And I also share his life values and admire how he held himself with dignity in a situation where they too were attempting to accuse him of something he didn't do. This is a true warrior and a man with a capital “M”!
To conclude, I can't help but ask: how did your American partners react to the recent journalists’ accusations against you?
Very good question, and I'm happy to answer it.
American partners are well aware of the situation in Ukraine and have had no illusions for a long time. They perceived the recent events as the system's resistance to reform, unwillingness to listen to proper advice and to listen to civil society.
You are now talking only about the video and reports in the Ukrainian media, in which the activities of our non-governmental organisation were presented as begging. But I'll tell you more: besides that, there were also attempts to disperse these materials in the West through social networks, mailings to the addresses of our partners, calls from call centres to the offices of organisations that cooperate with us, etc. A full-fledged and quite expensive black PR campaign is under way, in which Ukrainian journalists were used from the beginning as a tool.
The Americans proved to be "tough nuts" and took it as a challenge. As a result, even more partners will participate in the Washington round of our conference than there were in the Kyiv round.
