Table of Contents
See previous part: How Russia prepared to seize Ukraine’s nuclear energy. Part 5: Bloody electricity
The 90-year legacy: from elite USSR institute to strategic decline
After a series of articles published on the internet regarding scandals surrounding a strategic enterprise in the nuclear industry related to project engineering, it is difficult not to talk about another aspect of betrayal and Derkach’s covert network.
Let’s understand what is happening with the Kharkiv Institute Energoproekt (Energy Project) and whose interests it actually serves.
The Kharkiv Institute Energoproekt was founded 90 years ago and carried out significant projects related to nuclear and thermal power engineering. Today, as the general designer, the institute boasts such iconic completed projects as the construction of the Zaporizhzhia and South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plants.
At one time, the Kharkiv Institute Energoproekt was among the elite project and scientific-technical institutions of the USSR. Unfortunately, over the past 10 years, the institute has lost a significant portion of its expertise and highly skilled personnel. There were periods when entire departments were laid off from the institute, and it was precisely during this period that other private project organizations with the same scope of activities and personnel emerged, with staff members who had “migrated” from the Kharkiv Institute Energoproekt.
As a result of a substantial and painful reduction in the number of engineering personnel, the volume of work carried out by the institute has significantly decreased, and the institute’s production facilities have mostly been leased out. Even before the start of the military actions, the staff was reduced from 600 employees to 200 according to the latest published reports, and the gross income amounted to 35-40 million UAH (953, 000- 1 million USD) per year, which, when converted to wages, is the lowest indicator in the industry. In other words, a skilled engineer with experience earns no more than 10,000 UAH (272 USD) per month on average. It is evident that over these years, the strategic enterprise has gradually declined to a small project company with limited competencies and is losing competitiveness even in the Ukrainian nuclear energy market, not to mention the international market.
Who are these interested parties in the decline of such an institute?
The 2007 Russian blueprint: Myronyuk and the Power Machines takeover
Let’s start with an introduction. Particularly revealing and cynical is the protocol, which was signed back in 2007 between the Ukrainian State Concern Ukratomprom (headed by Derkach at that time) and the Federal Agency on Atomic Energy of the Russian Federation. The parties agreed to cooperate in the scientific and technical sphere, including research, construction, and supply of spare parts. But the most interesting aspect is the provision regarding a joint (Russian) venture that would oversee the extraction of uranium from Ukrainian deposits. In essence, Ukraine committed itself to supplying raw materials and “brains,” while all the added value ended up in the pockets of Russians and the appointed overseers in Ukraine. Thus, they felt at home in the building of the Kharkiv Institute Energoproekt: Power Machines, Atomstroyexport, and other structures of Rosatom State Corporation.
Since 2010, Power Machines have acquired 30% of the institute’s shares, leaving 51% to the State Property Fund of Ukraine.
Unfortunately, as the manager of the State Property Fund of Ukraine, he was not an effective majority shareholder, considering the specific nature of the company’s work. The fund served as a regular state owner and custodian of the asset but did not have the necessary management skills, which the opportunists took advantage of.
We cannot remain silent about the exceptional merits of Igor Myronyuk, a close friend and fellow student of Derkach, with whom they studied together at the Kharkiv Higher Military Command Engineering School. Myronyuk served as an assistant during the IV and VI convocations of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and has always been and remains a constant overseer of the nuclear industry. At that time, Myronyuk strategically secured the position of Deputy Chairman of the State Property Fund of Ukraine with the support of Andrii Derkach. It was under Myronyuk’s influence in 2010 that 30% of the state-owned shares were transferred to Power Machines under the ineffective management of the majority stake by the State Property Fund of Ukraine.
In 2018, the government made a decision to sell the remaining state-owned shares of the Institute. However, over the course of four years, the State Property Fund of Ukraine failed to organize a competitive sale of the shares. The exact reasons for this failure are unknown. However, it is known that the current management of the Institute artificially created endless obstacles to prevent the privatization process. It consistently made appeals to the Security Service of Ukraine, the Ministry of Energy, and other state bodies, seeking to prohibit privatization and withholding the necessary information to organize the competitive procedure. The motivation of the management is clear — to remain in control without proper oversight from Ukrainian shareholders and to continue the systematic destruction of the Institute according to its roadmap, just as the mentioned Rosatom’s Power Machines is directly interested in the destruction of such a significant nuclear energy enterprise, as it has done with many potential competitors operating in Ukraine.
It is worth recalling that in the former USSR, there was a network of several project institutes that operated as the general designers of nuclear power plants, namely: Moscow, Leningrad (St. Petersburg), Gorky (Nizhny Novgorod), Kyiv, and Kharkiv divisions of Atomenergoproekt. These institutes possessed the relevant expertise in designing nuclear power plants using VVER technology.
In light of the ongoing aggression against Ukraine, it is evident that Russia has had and continues to have a constant goal of destroying all Ukrainian enterprises that ensure the functioning of the nuclear-industrial complex of Ukraine. Consequently, this leads to the destruction of Ukraine’s energy independence, a strategic and prospective sector, and the complete monopolization of the industry by Russia.
Typically, Russian investors pursued the path of acquiring shares of such assets during the so-called “great privatization” in the 2000s and gaining subsequent control (or bankruptcy) of these enterprises. However, due to persistent Ukrainian bureaucracy and corruption, the process was drawn out over time.
With the Kyiv division (now known as the Kyiv Institute of Energy Projects), this did not happen. Mikhail Abyzov’s greed and desire for personal gain outweighed Russia’s interests. He simply profited from the Institute, utilizing its potential and resources for projects in the Russian market through his own companies. In 2017, Ukrainians managed to buy out all his shares, and according to the state register, they are currently held by International Energy Company PJSC (a resident of Ukraine) — with Mark Dubovyy listed as the ultimate beneficiary.
Enemy in the building: Atomstroyexport’s office inside Ukraine’s nuclear heart
Regarding the Kharkiv Institute, Rosatom has systematically neutralized its entire potential, including its scientific resources (which are the most valuable) over the past 10 years. For example, according to open sources, the income of the Kyiv Institute during this period was three times higher than that of the Kharkiv Institute, and its personnel was twice as large. However, the entire process of decline of the Kharkiv Institute Energoproekt would have been impossible without the corresponding purposeful “management.” Alexander Mykolayovych Hrechko has been in a leadership position at the Kharkiv Institute Energoproekt since 2017, and the aforementioned circumstances have arisen under his direct involvement. Without this, there would not have been a reduction in the Institute’s project work program, the aforementioned meager salaries of the personnel (excluding the “close associates,” of course), and the proliferation of tenants in the Institute’s premises. Without Hrechko’s involvement, it would have been impossible to open a branch of the sanctioned company Atomstroyexport (a subsidiary of Rosatom authorized to work with international clients) in Ukraine, which is located directly in the Institute’s building to this day. Furthermore, even the office of this representation is situated on the same floor as the management offices! This is not the distant 2000s; it occurred in the Institute after the start of the war in 2014. PJSC Gazprombank, one of the owners of Atomstroyexport, has been on Ukraine’s sanctions list since 2015, along with a number of other Rosatom structures. However, this has not prevented the closely affiliated company from thriving on the territory of a strategically important object for Ukraine all this time.
Considering that enterprises like Kharkiv Institute Energoproekt, which engage in project work related to the physical protection of nuclear facilities and require a classified security regime (including a special department handling documents marked as “secret” and “top secret”), we have the fact that there was access to the Institute’s premises by direct agents of the Russian Federal Security Service, which were mandatory for all similar Russian representations. In other words, a representation of the aggressor state, which can be interpreted as state treason on the part of the then Kharkiv Institute Energoproekt’s leadership, was practically deployed in the Institute. It is worth noting that besides the project documentation (archives of the Zaporizhzhia NPP and South Ukraine NPP), the Institute also stores documents classified as state secrets.
Recalling all the events of March 2022 related to the seizure of the Zaporizzhhia NPP by Russian nuclear terrorists, suspicions arise that Russian troops were suspiciously well-informed about the station.
But that’s not all! Having its “agent” within a strategic enterprise of Ukraine, the project documentation continued to be extensively developed by the Institute, utilizing equipment and materials of Russian origin. This provided scientific and technical justification for the primary customer, Energoatom, to continue procuring equipment of Russian production in various ways.
Thus, Galushchenko and Kotin, through the leadership of the Institute, effectively cooperate directly with the aggressor state through Rosatom, while having access to the documentation of Ukrainian nuclear facilities and other technical documents at their disposal.
So, from 2014 to the present day, Russia has had unrestricted access to the building of a strategic Ukrainian enterprise in the nuclear industry, and it is unknown how much archival documentation has been seized and how many state secrets have been handed over to Russia during this time. It is evident that by March 2022, Russia could freely possess the materials from the archive of project documentation located at the occupied Zaporizhzhia NPP. However, all of this was covered up for years by the Derkach team with the assistance of the current leadership of the institute, particularly Alexander Hrechko. Additionally, with each passing year, the institute steadily lost personnel and expertise, which aligns perfectly with the policy of Rosatom.
At the end of 2021, Rosatom did, at least officially (due to the reorganization preceding the military aggression), lose corporate control over 30% of the shares. A new Supervisory Board was formed, including independent representatives from the Ukrainian government, to investigate what was happening with this institute and why the financial indicators were deteriorating year after year.
Understandably, the old management did not cooperate with the new Supervisory Board, sabotaging all decisions.
As any effective owner interested in the development and stable operation of the enterprise, the Supervisory Board decided to change the leadership to someone who would work in the interests of the owners, particularly the state, and defend Ukraine’s interests, including the preservation of the archive of project documentation and preventing its transfer to third parties. Through a proper selection process, a new leader was chosen and appointed in accordance with the company’s statutes. However, the new leader has been denied access to the enterprise and the workplace, and documents necessary for work are not being provided. Phone calls to the office and the leader’s reception are not being answered.\
The final blow: ministry takeover to protect Russian interests
And starting from December 9, 2022, by the order of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 1125-r, the management of the State-Owned Enterprise Kharkiv Institute Energoproekt was transferred under the control of the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine, which means under the control of Derkach’s team — Martynyuk and Galushchenko! And, of course, nothing has changed, on the contrary, the Ministry of Energy immediately started advocating for keeping the old leader in his position and continuing the destruction of the Institute. It is clear that Derkach’s team will do everything to keep its close cooperation with the aggressor state and other abuses hidden.
This case fits perfectly into Derkach’s scheme of destroying Ukraine’s energy industry.
Key positions are still held by individuals under his control, many of whom have Russian roots and are interconnected through long-standing business and family ties.
Against the backdrop of ongoing aggression from Russia, which has already gained access to Ukraine’s classified designs or may even be doing so at present, the energy sector is being managed by an individual appointed with the support of the former head of Rosatom.
And we hope that he will appoint a pro-Ukrainian leader to oversee the Institute?
No, he will try to eliminate him.
Originally posted by Victor Kurtev on Hvylya. Translated and edited by UaPosition
