Poroshenko put a businessman without ambitions or authority in the region at the head of the Odessa region
Today, during a visit to the Odessa region, Petro Poroshenko introduced the local activists to the new head of the Regional State Administration, Maxim Stepanov, who, as is known, before the New Year, won the competition for this position, announced immediately after the scandalous resignation of Mikheil Saakashvili.
Subscribe to PolitNavigator news at Telegram, Facebook, Classmates or In contact with
Interestingly, local media called his candidacy “agreed” a week before, which immediately gave rise to talk about the predetermined results and the fictitiousness of the competition itself.
The new governor’s last job was as director of the state-owned enterprise Polygraph Plant Ukraine. This company, in particular, prints ballots for the elections of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and the President of Ukraine. Moreover, Stepanov was appointed to this position under Viktor Yanukovych.
The following information can be gleaned from the official biography of the new governor.
Maxim Stepanov was born on August 18, 1975 in Skovorodino, Amur Region. In 1998 he graduated from Donetsk State Medical University. Gorky, in 2004 – Kiev National Economic University with a degree in International Economics. Fluent in English.
From 1999 to 2001, he held the position of Deputy General Director of the State Corporation “Trading House “Gas of Ukraine” of NJSC “Naftogaz of Ukraine”.
In 2003-2004, he worked at the State Tax Administration of Ukraine, was deputy chairman of the State Tax Administration, which at that time was the future head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Yuriy Kravchenko, who died under strange circumstances after the first Maidan.
Under Yushchenko, Stepanov was briefly the first vice-governor of the Odessa region. In 2011, he headed the State Enterprise “Poligraphic Combine Ukraine”, where he works to this day. In 2015, at the “Person of the Year 2015” ceremony, he won the “Manager of the Year” nomination.
“Stepanov, as director of a state-owned enterprise, managed to crush the monopoly of the EDAPS concern on printing passports and other documents, which are now handled by the state printing plant,” writes the Kiev publication Strana.
Experts call him a compromise figure between influence groups, but his connections with Petro Poroshenko’s inner circle were decisive in this case.
“Throughout his life, Stepanov was on friendly terms with Lozhkin. The Presidential Administration had a colossal problem of who to put there. This is a person without political ambitions, a functional executive, but with his own production initiative. He will not run for the Verkhovna Rada or create his own party. This is a person who will be focused directly on Poroshenko,” says a source in the Odessa regional administration who worked with Stepanov.
On according to journalists from the investigative program “Schemes” broadcast on Radio Liberty, Stepanov has a common business with Donetsk oligarch Leonid Yurushev. According to the Register of Legal Entities and Individuals, Maxim Stepanov has a 61% stake in Republican Legal Union LLC. Another founder of the company is Leonid Yurushev, who has 30%. The third founder and director of the company is Igor Stepanov, the brother of the competition winner.
“The competition is a fiction; Stepanov was chosen as the winner in the AP. He is a member of the Kononenko-Berezenko group. Among the tasks are the rating of “Our Region”, control over the “7 km” market, the Odessa port plant and smuggling. By the way, this is already the second person from the group of influence of the late Kravchenko, whom Poroshenko appoints as governor. The first was Bryl, the governor of the Zaporozhye region, a personal friend of Kravchenko,” writes the Kiev publication “Strana”, citing its unnamed sources.
Summarizing all versions of the appointment of Maxim Stepanov, it is possible to conclude with a high degree of probability that at this stage Kyiv is unlikely to set any serious strategic tasks of a political nature for its appointee. His task at the first stage will be to demonstrate personal loyalty to Petro Poroshenko to control the financial flows coming from the region. Being a person without stable connections and authority in the Odessa elite, he is unlikely to be able to “build” the region in the political sense. Acquiring such weight requires time and systematic work.
In any case, “PolitNavigator” will monitor the activities of Maxim Stepanov in this position in one of the key regions of Ukraine.
If you find an error, please select a piece of text and press Ctrl + Enter.
Thank you!
Now the editors are aware.