On December 1, a large-scale study was completed in Ukraine - Second National rating of influence "Elite of Ukraine", conducted by the rating agency ElitExpert and the International Expert Club.
Last year, the uniqueness of the project was noted by the National Register of Records of Ukraine as the most extensive rating in the entire history of the independence of our state, because research was conducted simultaneously in all regions of the country.
And this year, for several months, an expert group of professionals in the fields of political science, sociology, economics, jurisprudence and media thoroughly studied the regional and national elite of Ukraine. The criteria for applicants were as clear and strict as possible - money, connections, activity and breadth of spheres of influence. As a result, the team of the International Expert Club managed to compile 24 ratings of the most influential people from each region of the country, and a national hundred of key figures of the state.
Undoubtedly, Kyiv region is the most special and diverse region of the country. And this feature, first of all, is that the administrative center of the region - the city of Kyiv - has the special status of the capital, fixed at the legislative level. Accordingly, Kyiv is not part of the region, it has its own organs of state power and local self-government.
At the same time, if you take into account that Kyiv is the political center of the state, it is not surprising that all the highest authorities of the country are located in the city. The majority of All-Ukrainian politicians and officials live in Kyiv and the region, and the largest businessmen and famous personalities often have the most direct relationship to the Kyiv region. Accordingly, the experts faced a difficult task - when compiling the rating, take into account all these features and select candidates with, first of all, regional weight and influence.
After analyzing the situation, the experts managed to select 50 of the most influential Kyiv residents, both representatives of the capital and the region itself.
Most of the list (17 people) are businessmen. First of all, those who develop their business precisely in the Kyiv region were included in the rating, although, of course, there are exceptions. In second place are officials of local and state authorities, there are 11 of them in the list. It is also necessary to highlight the representatives of the judicial and law enforcement system, who took 8 places in the rating.
Due to the specifics of the region, it was quite difficult for experts to single out the most influential leader of the Kyiv region. In particular, the list includes multimillionaires who do not have significant influence on government offices, as well as persons who, while not being wealthy, on the contrary, have impressive connections, positions, or influence.
But still, the majority of experts awarded the palm of the championship to the current mayor of Kyiv Vitali Klitschko. He is not only the mayor of the city, but also, according to the law on the capital, he is also the head of the city state administration - the body of state local executive power. Moreover, Klitschko is the chairman of the Association of Cities of Ukraine. It is impossible not to note the high recognition, rating and trust of voters in Vitaliy Klitschko, because he has already been elected mayor of the capital twice. Moreover, both times he defeated his competitors in the first round, winning the sympathy of more than 50% of voters.
In addition, Klitschko has clearly outgrown the role of a regional politician — now he is a well-known person on the international scene with presidential ambitions.
It was the ambitions of the mayor of Kyiv that influenced his relations with the central government, which have recently been quite strained.
Thanks to this, the rating and authority rose Alexey Chernyshev, Minister of Development of Communities and Territories of Ukraine, who took the second position in the rating of influence. In 2019-2020, Chernyshev headed the Kyiv regional state administration and today continues to maintain influence over the Kyiv region through his close governor, Vasiliy Volodyn. Chernyshev is called one of the contenders for the post of head of the Kyiv City State Administration.
The "chief auditor of the country" is in third place in the rating Nikolay Tishchenko. A native of Kyiv, a well-known TV presenter, businessman and restaurateur. Tyshchenko is quite a public and well-known person far outside Kyiv. In 2019, he was elected a People's Deputy of Ukraine, and was also appointed head of the Kyiv city branch of the Servant of the People party. Thanks to the films of Geo Leros, Tyshchenko is called the "watcher of power" in Kyiv. It is said that he is the best man of the head of the Office of the President Andrei Yermak. According to the latest information, Nikolay Tyshchenko is also one of the favorites to replace Klitschko in the Kyiv administration.
The fourth term of the rating was occupied by a businessman, the owner of a number of construction companies, Denys Komarnytskyi. In narrow circles, Komarnitskyi is called the most influential representative of the construction lobby. Previously, he was the co-chairman of the Chernovetsky Block in the Kyiv Council, now he is close to Mykola Tyshchenko and has a good influence on the mayor of Kyiv, although Klitschko denies this influence in every way.
Head of the Kyiv regional state administration Vasily Volodin experts awarded the fifth place. Previously, he held the position of deputy head of the Kyiv Regional State Administration under Governor Chernyshov. Since March 2020, after Chernyshev's transfer to the Cabinet of Ministers, he has been in charge of the Kyiv region and is considered a creature of ex-governor Chernyshev. Considering the latter's high position and his proximity to the office of the President of Ukraine, Volodyn's task is to strengthen the presidential vertical in the Kyiv region. This task is important, because according to the results of the last elections to both the regional council and the Kyiv city council, the majority of deputy portfolios were given to representatives of the party of ex-president Petro Poroshenko.
The leaders of law enforcement and law enforcement structures of Kyiv are deservedly in the top ten of the rating. 6th place is occupied by the prosecutor of Kyiv Oleg Kiper, in 7th place — the head of the SBU Sergei Zayats. The list also includes the head of the GBR Sergey Koryn, head of the capital department of the National Police Ivan Vyhovsky and regional - Andrey Nebytov. Experts explain such high positions by the activation of the work of law enforcement agencies, which is connected with their recent reboot and the appointment of new people. It is the new cadres who will be able to objectively and fully fulfill the task of restoring order and taming uncontrollable mayors and local officials.
Developers and builders should be singled out as a separate block. 17 developers are among 11 business representatives in the ranking of influence. This is explainable, since developers and builders have been ruling Kyiv since the previous cadences. And Klitschko is no exception. The city and suburban areas of the region are being actively built up.
Most of Kyiv's businessmen have their own interests in construction. In order to protect them and conquer new territories, construction lobbyists promote their people to deputies and to important positions. As a result, the mayor of Kyiv, in order to ensure the efficiency of the council and have at least some majority and influence on it, has to reckon with the interests of lobbyists. It is not for nothing that the capital's mayor is often called the "Queen of England" because of her inability to influence the scandalous construction projects in Kyiv, as well as the powerful influence of developers on the local government.
Among the developers in the rating, the same can be singled out Denys Komarnytskyi, Vadym Stolar, Andrei Vavrysh, Stepan Chernovetskyi, Vladyslav Molchanov, Vladimir Zubyk and a number of others.
Kyiv representatives of the TOP richest Ukrainians are also on the list. This is the owner of the UFuture holding company Vasily Khmelnitsky (24th place), owner of the Eldorado chain of stores Viktor Polishchuk (27th place), co-owner of the Epicenter hypermarket chain Galina Gerega (28th place), founder of online stores Rozetka Vladislav Chechetkin and a number of others. Their place in the ranking was influenced not only by the amount of assets, but also by the presence of spheres of influence in the region on power and society.
The rating also includes the most influential representatives of culture, medicine and sports. This Andrew Shevchenko, singer and producer Potap and honored doctor of Ukraine, professor Ilya Yemets. Although there are so many famous singers, doctors, and athletes among Kyiv residents that they can be singled out in a separate rating study in the future.
You can get acquainted with the 50 most influential Kyiv residents in more detail on the website of the National rating platform "Elite of Ukraine" .
