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SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergey_Aksyonov
Sergey Aksyonov
Сергей Аксёнов |
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Chairman
of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Crimea
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Incumbent
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Assumed
office
18 March 2014 |
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President
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Vladimir Putin
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Governor
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Himself (since 14 April 2014)
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Preceded by
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Position established
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Incumbent
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Assumed
office
14 April 2014 |
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President
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Preceded by
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Position introduced
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Chairman of the Council of Ministers of
Crimea
Self-appointed |
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In
office
27 February 2014 – 17 March 2014 |
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President
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Not approved
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Preceded by
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post created
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Succeeded by
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Position abolished
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Personal
details
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Born
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Sergey Valeryevich
Aksyonov
26 November 1972 Bălți, Soviet Union (now Moldova) |
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Political
party
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Children
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2
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Religion
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Sergey Valeryevich Aksyonov (Russian: Сергей Валерьевич
Аксёнов, Ukrainian: Сергій
Валерійович Аксьонов,
Romanian: Serghei Valerievici Aksionov; born November 26, 1972) is the Prime
Minister of the Republic of Crimea which is an internationally disputed federal
subject of the Russian Federation located on the Crimean Peninsula.
Biography
Sergey
Aksyonov was born in Bălți in the Moldovan
SSR on 26 November 1972. His father was the leader of a group called the Russian
Community of Northern Moldova in Bălți.
In
1989 he moved to Crimea
and enrolled in a college for military
engineers in Simferopol, however the fall of the Soviet Union occurred before
he could graduate from the academy to become a Soviet
Army officer. He then refused to swear an oath of allegiance to Ukraine,
which he considered 'an unjustly severed appendage of Russia'.
From
1993—1998 he was deputy director of a company named Ellada, a business
related to food products. From October 1998 to March 2001 he was deputy
director of the Asteriks company, and since April 2001 he has been
deputy director of the Eskada company. Aksyonov is also the head of
Crimea's Greco-Roman wrestling organization, Sports
club Hwarang-do. His Ukrainian passport Aksyonov received on August 12, 1997.
Alleged links to organized crime
Sources
have alleged that Aksyonov served in the mid 1990s as a lieutenant, or
overseer, with the nickname "Goblin" in the organized criminal gang
"Salem".
Aksyonov's connection with the criminal world is acknowledged by the former
chief of militsiya in Crimea Hennadiy Moskal (1997-2000). In 1995 some
members of Salem had taken office as local deputies, receiving Legislative
immunity. “Aksyonov used to work side-by-side with another gang
member, Serhiy Voronkov, in the early 1990s. Voronkov is a well-known mafia
boss who was released from prison in 2008 and is still doing business in
Crimea," said Andrei Yanitskiy, a journalist of Livy Bereh newspaper who
investigated Aksyonov. The native of Sevastopol, Yanitskiy alleges that Aksyonov
is still a member of the Salem gang.
According
to Mikhelson, Aksyonov started his criminal career in the gang
"Greki" (Greeks) that was created in Crimea by the Savopulo
brothers, and only later Aksyonov switched to more notorious "Salem".
In 1994 authorities were suspecting him and Aleksey Zhuk in the killing of Oleg
Fenyuk through a contract. Soon, however Greki were liquidated, yet unlike many
others Aksyonov managed to survive. The same Zhuk was killed 10 minutes after
his phone talk with Aksyonov, which raised some suspicion among the former
"partners".
In
January of 1996, Aksyonov was wounded after a Volvo in which he was riding
overturned on the Simferopol-Moscow highway during a shootout. However,
according to official documents the intended target was Samhan Mazahir-oglu
Agaev (nickname "Sani"). Beside Agaev and Aksyonov, in the vehicle
also were Aleksandr Bogomol and Pahrutdin Aliev. The hit was conducted with
automatic weapon by militants of the Greki gang Ruslan and Rusel from Yevpatoria who were driving a black Samara. The hit was contracted by Ivan
Savopulo. Both Ruslan and Rusel were arrested on January 24, 1996, but soon
were released due to lack of evidence.
In
1997 chief of Bakhchysarai patrolling unit Berezhnoi claimed that Aksyonov, with
a former Major of militsiya Vladimir Berenshtein ("Ben"), killed a
chief of Crimea network of heat supply Kuzin and a director of alcoholic
factory. A HUBOZ operative stated that Aksyonov kept
close relations with Sergei Voronkov ("Voronok") and the
"godfather" of Salem Vyacheslav Sheviev (leader of Party of
Economic Revival). Coincidentally, members of the Party of Economic
Revival were involved in establishing of the Azerbaijani separatist
organization Nagorno-Karabakh
Republic.
Around
that time Aksyonov started to buy and stockpile weapons. There is suspicion
that the regional office of General
Prosecutor of Ukraine received $60,000 to discontinue the
investigation into the murder of Volodymyr Tykhonchuk. Aksyonov also received
all the assets of Agaev who was killed in spring of 1997. By 1998 both Salem
and Bashmaki had become the most powerful gangs in Crimea and the President of
Ukraine was forced to send special operations units of militsiya and
Security
Service of Ukraine to restore order in the region.
In
2010, Aksyonov sued Mikhail
Bakharev, vice speaker of the Crimean parliament, for making
statements of this kind. Although the court of the original jurisdiction ruled
for Aksyonov and demanded that Bakharev publish a retraction, the decision was
overturned by an appellate court which determined that there was no evidence to
disprove the allegations. Andriy
Senchenko, a Crimean member of Verkhovna Rada from Batkivshchyna party alleged that Aksyonov
was involved in these activities together with Supreme Council Chairman, Vladimir
Konstantinov. Senchenko alleges that “there were reports that he
participated in the contract killing of (Volodymyr) Tykhonchuk [in 2004], then
head of Crimean State Securities Commission, and before that in the killing of
head of State Property Fund (Oleksiy) Golovizin [in 1997].” Aksyonov was
investigated by the police in both murders, but has never been prosecuted.
Senchenko believes Aksyonov managed to evade criminal responsibility due to his
connections on the peninsula.
During
an armed occupation of
the Crimean parliament by Russian forces under his command, Aksyonov
was voted into office following a vote of no
confidence in the new Ukrainian government. Already having well
documented links to organized crime, since March 5, 2014 he has been wanted by
the Ukrainian Security Service after being charged under Part 1 of Article 109
of the Criminal Code of Ukraine ("Actions aimed at the violent overthrow,
change of constitutional order, or the seizure of state power").
Political career
As
a resident of Moldova,
on 10 January 2003 Aksyonov was granted the Russian citizenship.
His
political career in Crimea started in 2008. In that year he became a member of
"Russian Community of Crimea" ("Русская община Крыма") and
a member of public organisation "Civic Asset of Crimea"
("Гражданский актив Крыма").
In
2008-2009, Aksyonov borrowed almost $5 million from Mykola Kirilchuk, a former
Crimean minister of industry, to develop the Russian Unity party, Kirilchuk states.
Kirilchuk has since fled Crimea and has been trying to get his money back
though the court system since. Since 2009 he has been a member of the board in
Гражданский актив Крыма, co-president of Coordinating Council «За русское
единство в Крыму!» ("For Russian Unity in Crimea!"), leader of
All-Crimean public political movement Russian Unity ("Русское единство").
Since
2010 he was a deputy of the Supreme Council of Crimea, elected as a
member of Russian Unity, which had 4% of votes (warranting 3 seats of total 100
in Crimean parliament) during elections into Supreme Council of Crimea.
During
a talk show (of the TV channel ATR) on 3 March 2012 Aksyonov stated about a possible
accession of Crimea to Russia: "I think the time for this process has
already passed. Today we live in Ukraine. I have an Ukrainian passport,
Ukrainian citizenship, so all problems should be discussed only in friendly
relations between our countries".
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Signing of the Treaty on the adoption of the
Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol to Russia. Left to right: S. Aksyonov, V.
Konstantinov, V. Putin and A. Chalyi.
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Prime minister of Crimea
Main
article: 2014 Crimean crisis
Following
the Ukrainian revolution, on February 27 an
emergency session was held in the Crimean legislature while it was occupied by
armed Crimea’s self-defense forces. After sealing the doors and confiscating
all mobile phones, the MPs who had been invited by Aksyonov to enter the
building, passed the motion in the presence of the gunmen armed with Kalashnikov's
and rocket launchers. The result was that 55 of 64 votes elected Aksyonov Prime
Minister. Various media accounts have disputed whether he was able to gather a
quorum of 50 of his peers before the session convened that day, and some
Crimean legislators who were registered as present have said they did not come
near the building. Others denied being in the city, and that duplicate voting
cards stolen from parliament's safe were used in their name. Opposition
deputies have avoided speaking out publicly out of fear of reprisal, and due to
threats received. Crimean Prime Minister Anatolii
Mohyliov was barred from attending the session.
Under
the Ukrainian constitution, the prime minister of Crimea is appointed by the
autonomous republic's parliament following consultations with the president of
Ukraine. The director of the information analysis department of the
legislature's secretariat, Olha Sulnikova, has stated that an agreement exists
with ousted president Viktor Yanukovych. The interim president of
Ukraine, Oleksandr Turchynov decreed the appointment of
Aksyonov as the head of the government of Crimea to be unconstitutional.
On
March 5, 2014, the Shevchenko district court of Kiev issued a warrant for
Aksyonov and Vladimir Konstantinov's arrest,
and the Security Service of Ukraine was charged
to bring them to court.
Due
to the Crimean crisis he was put on the Canadian, the
EU and the US sanction lists, 17 March 2014. His assets in these countries were
frozen, and Aksyonov was banned from entering these countries.
In
the 2014 Crimean parliamentary
election Aksyonov ran as a candidate for United
Russia; because, according to himself, "The Popular Front" had
delegated him to the United Russia party list.
Domestic policy
Aksyonov
has promised that Ukrainian would cease to be an official language if Crimea
joined Russia. “We use two languages on a daily basis – Russian and Crimean
Tatar,” Aksyonov said. “It’s certain that the republic [of Crimea] will have
two languages.” Aksyonov's main goals for the immediate future of Crimea is to
"use the funds, allocated for construction of infrastructures, for
healthcare, energy and so on." Aksyonov has also pushed for the Kerch Strait Bridge to be completed by 2018.
Tatar minority
Sergey
Aksyonov has led efforts to stamp out dissent among ethnic Crimean
Tatars over the annexation, saying “All activities
aimed at non-recognition of Crimea’s joining to Russia and non-recognition of
the leadership of the country will face prosecution under the law and we will
take a very tough stance on this.”
Homosexuals
Aksyonov says homosexuals "have
no chance" in Crimea, and that "we in Crimea do not need such
people." He also promised that if gays tried to hold public gatherings,
"our police and self-defense forces will react immediately and in three
minutes will explain to them what kind of sexual orientation they should stick
to."
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