20 February, 21:15
Among the few officials from Zelensky's "first wave" team who remain in office is the Deputy Minister of Justice for Executive Service, Andrey Gaichenko. He has held this position since 2019, despite personnel reshuffles and scandals surrounding the ministry. At the same time, during his tenure at the Ministry of Justice, his family’s financial situation has significantly improved.
Gaichenko joined the ministry through the patronage of former Prime Minister Alexey Goncharuk, with whom he studied at the Interregional Academy of Personnel Management. Before that, he worked at the law firm "Integrites," which provided consultancy services to the Ministry of Justice at significant budgetary expenses. In one of his interviews, Gaichenko stated that his motivation was not financial compensation but a desire to bring order to the Ministry of Justice, which would later serve as a "springboard" for his career in the private sector.
Improvement of Family’s Financial Status
Comparing Gaichenko’s declarations over recent years, it is evident that while his personal financial situation has remained unchanged, his relatives’ wealth has noticeably increased. In 2019, he declared $160,000 and €20,000 in cash, along with small bank deposits. His salary at the Ministry of Justice was 229,000 UAH per year, whereas by 2023, it had risen to 1.2 million UAH.
Gaichenko does not own any real estate, but his declaration includes properties registered under his father, Vitaly Andreevich Gaichenko, a professor at the National University of Life and Environmental Sciences. His father owns four apartments in Kyiv and a house in the Kyiv region. In 2022, during the full-scale invasion, he purchased a parking space in an elite district of the capital.
Gaichenko’s mother, Lyudmila Tsindrovskaya, owns a house and five land plots in the Gatne community. The question arises: could his parents, one a professor and the other a museum employee, afford such real estate?
Ties to Occupied Crimea
Gaichenko's declaration includes his civil partner, Natalya Milgrom, who previously worked at the state enterprise "National Information Systems." In 2020, she purchased a Kia Sportage, and their son, according to documents, has the right to use an apartment in Poland and two apartments in Ukraine.
However, the most intriguing fact is that Natalya Milgrom’s father, Yuri Isakovich Milgrom, has been conducting business in occupied Crimea since 2015 under Russian law. He is listed as the director of "Irbis LLC," a company engaged in real estate leasing, which raises concerns about the family’s potential ties to the occupied territory.
Connections with Pro-Russian Politicians
Deputy Minister Gaichenko was also a member of the supervisory board of the National University "Odessa Law Academy," headed by Sergey Kivalov. Other members of the board in 2021 included Andrey Portnov, former deputy head of Yanukovych’s presidential administration, and Vadim Novinsky, a pro-Russian oligarch currently under sanctions.
Luxurious Lifestyles of Subordinates
Not only Gaichenko but also his subordinates exhibit a high standard of living. For instance, the director of the Dnipropetrovsk Research Institute of Forensic Examinations, Sergey Razumny, vacationed in luxury hotels in France, Italy, Germany, and the UAE during the war. The chief expert of the Kyiv Forensic Research Institute, Alexander Ruvin, owns real estate worth millions of hryvnias.
Given these facts, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the National Agency for Corruption Prevention (NAPC) should pay attention to the deputy minister’s financial status and potential connections.
Gaichenko’s Response
Andrey Gaichenko denied the allegations, stating that his parents' real estate holdings had remained unchanged since 2017 and that journalists’ claims were false. According to him, the properties in question were purchased before his appointment to the Ministry of Justice and are unrelated to his activities.