The Klyuyev brothers, Andriy and Serhiy, have been long-time allies of overthrown President Viktor Yanukovych.
Andriy Klyuyev, the former chief of staff for Yanukovych, is a suspect in organizing the mass killings during the EuroMaidan Revolution. He is also accused of stealing public assets. He is wanted by the Security Service of Ukraine. While his whereabouts are unknown, he is believed to be hiding out in Russia with Yanukovych and many other fugitive members of the disgraced administration.
His younger brother, Serhiy, is running for re-election to parliament in Donetsk Oblast. And he’s doing fine, although he acknowledges the family has had a tough year.
“During the last year our family has really experienced difficult times. But we’ve become only stronger,” Serhiy Klyuyev said in an emailed response to the Kyiv Post. “I think sooner or later we will get to know all the truth about those events, including the names of those who have drawn Ukrainian people into military conflict. Regarding Andriy Petrovych (Klyuyev), he is deeply concerned about the situation in Ukraine, Donbas and in the district.”
His constituency 46, which includes the city of Artemivsk, is one of 10 districts out of 21 in the war-torn oblast where elections are expected to happen.
Eight districts – 41, 42, 43, 44, 54, 55, 56, 61 – remain under the control of Kremlin-backed insurgents, while three – 45, 51, 53 – are considered problematic, head of Central Election Commission Mykhailo Okhendovsky announced on Oct. 17.
Multimillionaire Serhiy Klyuyev, 45, is a former Party of Regions lawmaker. He’s been member of parliament since 2006. Serhiy Klyuyev supported the Jan. 16 “dictator laws” meant to restrict free speech and protests during the dying days of Yanukovych’s regime, according to Chesno public movement.
But this is not the only issue that makes him a controversial figure.
Together with his brother, Andriy, Serhiy Klyuyev was put on the European Union sanction list as a ”subject to investigation in Ukraine for involvement in crimes in connection with the embezzlement of Ukrainian state funds and their illegal transfer outside Ukraine,” according to the EU Council regulation of March 5, 2014 which is available here http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2014:066:0001:0010:EN:PDF.
As a result, his and his brother’s bank accounts in Austria, where their renewable energy company Slav AG is registered, have been arrested. Serhiy Klyuyev confirmed that his Austrian account is blocked and said he’s trying to determine the reasons. No criminal cases against him have been launched in Ukraine or abroad, according to him.
Meanwhile, his brother Andriy faces several criminal investigations in Ukraine, the most serious of which is suspicion of involvement in organizing mass murders on Kyiv’s Independence Square during the EuroMaidan Revolution. He has been put on wanted list by the Security Service of Ukraine in February, when he reportedly left the country.
He also faces investigations on suspicion of financial crimes, including one involving a 150 million euro loan from the state-owned bank for financing pкojects on solar batteries, according to the General Prosecutor’s Office.
Klyuyev brothers’ company Slav AG, reportedly, owns more than 70 companies in Ukraine, including Activ Solar, solar power station developer, owned and managed by Serhiy Klyuyev’s son-in-law Kaveh Ertefai. Serhiy Klyuyev has continuously denied having any connections with Activ Solar, while the company denied that Klyuyev brothers are its final beneficiaries.
There are 10 candidates, including Serhiy Klyuyev running in district 46.
Seven self-nominated candidates, including son of Artemivsk mayor Dmytro Reva, Natalia Kidina from Serhiy Tigipko’s Strong Ukraine party, Andriy Loza from Svoboda party and no one from President Petro Poroshenko’s bloc, which remains the front-running party, according to recent polls. Serhiy Klyuyev won parliamentary elections in this district with more than 73 percent support of voters in 2012.
For more than 10 years, through his charity fund, he’s been giving money to meet the needs of schools, kindergartens, hospitals and providing loans to local businesses in his district, Serhiy Klyuyev said.
If re-elected, he wants to give more power to local governments, continue fighting corruption, attract investment for agriculture and industrial sphere, create more jobs on enterprises, support small and medium businesses, restore destroyed during military actions buildings and provide support for victims, among other plans, according to his agenda.
“My decision to run at early parliamentary elections was weighted and needful,” Serhiy Klyuyev said in the email to the Kyiv Post.. “Today we need to restore destroyed villages, roads, defend local entrepreneurs who have been working effectively. In need of state support are also internally displaced residents of Artemovsk, there are more than 10,000 of them,” he said.
Kyiv Post staff writer Anastasia Forina can be reached at [email protected].
