Mykola Rudkovsky

Mykola Mykolayovych Rudkovsky (Мико́ла Микола́йович Рудько́вський; born 18 December 1967) is a Ukrainian politician who was the fourth Minister of Transport and Communication from 2006 to 2007.

Early life and education
Rudkovsky was born on 18 December 1967 in the village of Staryi Bykiv, Ukraine SSR, and was educated at the Chernihiv Collegium National University from January 1985 to January 1986. From January 1986 to January 1988, he served with the Soviet Army, returning as a student at the Chernihiv Collegium National University from May 1988 to February 1990. He then moved to the Moscow State Business School as a trainee from February to September 1990, and studied at the Vienna University of Economics from September 1991 to January 1994. While studying in Austria he met a member of the Razumovsky family with whom he quickly became friends. After approximately five years in Austria, Rudkovskyi had his own company, $100,000, his own house and a modern car, but he decided to sell everything and move back to Ukraine.

Career
From September 1994 to September 1996, Rudkovsky worked for the President's Administration while residing in Kyiv on Kosiora Street. In February 1996, he returned to the new Bykov, where he registered a second time at the previous address and obtained a new passport from the Bobrovytsia Raion Police Department as a citizen of Ukraine. Police officials claim that the presidential consultant was threatened and extorted during the procedure.

Prior to Rudkovsky's ministerial role, he held several positions, including: assistant consultant to the then–People's Deputy of Ukraine Valentyna Semenyuk-Samsonenko from April 2000 to April 2002; and mayor of Chernihiv from April to May 2006. He served as the Minister of Transport and Communications from 4 August 2006 to 18 December 2007. He was the First Secretary of the Socialist Party of Ukraine (SPU), the First Secretary of Chernihiv SPU in November 2001, and the head of the SPU in October 2013. In the Verkhovna Rada, he was seen at least twice in impersonal voting.

Controversies
On 12 October 2013, Rudkovsky was elected chairman of the SPU. He fled Ukraine in 2014, after police began to focus on him as part of an investigation into the kidnapping of the ex-head of Naftogazvydobuvanny, Oleh Valeriyovych Seminskyi. Rudkovsky and Nestor Shufrych were co-owners of the Naftogazvydobuvanny company. Seminsky was kidnapped in 2012 and held hostage until 2015, and Rudkovsky's name was mentioned among the customers.

Rudovsky was detained in Dubai at the beginning of April 2018 for entering the country with a fake Iraqi passport. Due to differences with the autonomous government, he was unable to carry out his plan to exploit oil in Iraqi Kurdistan. He was released on 7 May 2018. He was again taken into custody on 28 September 2018 in Moscow on suspicion of being part of a group that stole items from the Russian Embassy in Kyiv in 2014.

Kyiv traffic accident
Rudkovskyi ran over a 22-year-old cyclist on 14 August 1996, and the cyclist died at the site of the accident. The prosecutor's office in Kyiv filed a criminal complaint against him in May 1998, but a few days later, the case was abruptly closed. The Kyiv prosecutor's office later noted that only a superficial inspection was conducted, that the inquiry inspector came to a conclusion based on Rudkovskyi's own testimony, and that the inspector failed to discover crucial facts at various stages of the investigation.

Kuchmagate
On 18 January 2001, officials of the General Prosecutor's Office and the Security Service conducted a search of Rudkovsky and his brother's apartment, under suspicion of forgery of audio tapes that seemed to contain remarks by State Security Administration major Mykola Melnychenko. The search was carried out on the basis of a “report” that Mykola Rudkovsky “[organized] the production of fake audio and video recordings with the voices of the President of Ukraine and other officials.”

On 2 February of that year, Mykola Rudkovsky filed a claim with the Pechersky District Court of Kyiv alleging that the state had disparaged his honor, dignity and business reputation. In his statement, he appealed Prosecutor General Mykhailo Potebenko's media statement alleging that Rudkovsky had a laboratory created for the production of audio fakes.

On 7 February, Deputy Prosecutor General Oleksiy Bahanets said that files were seized from Mykola Rdkovsky’s computer during the apartment search “with the same names and the same content" as leaked audio files from the Cassette Scandal "but [were] different in size, which may indicate falsification." Bahanets also reported that during the search, a CD was seized which contained recordings of various voices, including two voices similar to those of people featured in the Cassette Scandal. This claim has never been confirmed nor denied officially.

Later, on 6 October 2006, Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Volodymyr Lytvyn said when speaking at PACE to European deputies: “...The international examination, which was carried out officially, as far as I know, established that the tapes were edited from September 18 to October 15 [2000], phrases were compressed [therein], and the corresponding words were inserted into the corresponding sentences.” Rudkovsky himself has always categorically denied his involvement in the editing of the “Melnychenko tapes."

During the same general time period, in November 2005, Mykola Rudkovsky also notably announced his readiness to cede his deputy mandate to Major Mykola Melnychenko, who by that time had returned to Ukraine.

Embezzlement and abuse
Rudkovsky was charged in 2007 with misusing his position of authority and embezzling a sizable sum of money. On 14 December 2007, the Security Service of Ukraine summoned Mykola Rudkovsky for questioning surrounding the alleged illegal use of Ministry of Transport public funds totaling 390,000 hryvnia during an official trip to Paris on a private charter plane the previous June. The flight, according to investigators, was paid for by the Ministry of Transport. Rudkovsky was specifically accused of using public money to travel abroad.

A criminal case was initiated under Article 191 Part 5 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (“misappropriation of funds on an especially large scale”), then reclassified to Article 364 Part 2 ("abuse of power and abuse of official position"). Mykola Rudkovsky was given a written order not to leave the country; he faced a sentence of up to 12 years in prison. During the investigation, it was revealed that the then-acting Minister of Transport had traveled to Paris in the company of one of the former “Miss Ukraine-Universe” winners Oleksandra Nikolayenko.

Judge Oleg Bilotserkivets of the Pechersk Court in Kyiv terminated the case on 26 May 2010, at which time the state declared that it was dropping all charges and changing the lead prosecutor.

Russian embassy attack
Rudkovsky was arrested in September 2018 after landing in Moscow and was charged with assaulting the Russian embassy on 14 June 2014. According to the Russian prosecutor's office, the former minister carried out this action alongside Right Sector activists. The case was transferred to the Moscow court on 1 November 2019. The Moscow court considered mitigating factors (compensation for material damage in the amount of 2 million rubles and remorse) and ultimately imposed a sentence of two years in prison, a 5.75 million–ruble fine to be paid the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, and another 8.289 million–ruble fine to be paid to the Sogaz insurance company. The prosecution had requested a sentence of six years in prison. The court also counted time spent in the pretrial detention facility starting on 28 September 2018 as part of the sentence served, with a daily rate of one and a half days.

Kidnapping case
On 25 February 2021, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) revealed the details of a prominent 2012 kidnapping involving Rudkovsky. The abducted victim was Oleh Valeriyovych Seminskyi, the head of a gas extraction firm at the time and, as of 2019, a deputy of the pro-government Servant of the People Party. On 3 March, Rudkovsky left for Ukraine, and the following day he was charged with ordering the kidnapping. The inquiry found that Seminsky was held captive for over three years, subjected to relentless torture, and forced to pay the crime's mastermind a bogus debt equaling 200 million USD. Mykola Katerynchuk was hired as Rudkovsky's attorney in March 2021.

Honours
Throughout his career, he has been awarded the following honours;


 * Order of Saint Theodosius of Chernihiv (Russian Orthodox Church, 1 December 2010)