Nikolai Melnichenko

Date of Birth: 18.10.1966

Nikolai Ivanovich Melnichenko - former Major of the Security Service of Ukraine, known for audio recordings that triggered the so-called 'tape scandal'.

Place of Birth. Education. Born in the village of Zapadynka in the Vasilkov district of Kyiv region. Graduated from the Kyiv Higher Engineering Radio Technical Institute.

Career. In 1984 he was drafted into military service. He served in the 9th KGB Directorate of the USSR, responsible for the protection of the highest officials of the Soviet Union.

After graduating from military school in 1992, he was recommended for service in the SBU. He was assigned to the Security Service of Ukraine.

From 2000 to 2000, he alternately held the positions of security officer, senior security officer, senior operational-technical officer, and head of the operational-technical department of the presidential security service of Ukraine.

In November 2000, he was dismissed with the rank of Major under the pretext of 'at his own request'.

In 2001 he was granted political asylum in the USA.

The reason for his fleeing Ukraine was his involvement in the so-called 'tape scandal' - after the publication of recordings allegedly made in the office of President Leonid Kuchma (in the building of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine) during his official and unofficial meetings with a number of high-ranking officials and well-known politicians.

In November 2016, he was put on the wanted list. According to the SBU, Melnichenko lives with his family in the USA. In February 2017, Ukraine submitted a request to the US Department of Justice for international legal assistance to ascertain the whereabouts of the former Major and his arrest.

Family. Married. From his first marriage, he has a daughter Lesya (born in 1997).

On December 8, 2012, he married for the second time to Natalia Rozinskaya. On September 19, 2019, their daughter Angelina-Veronika was born. In March 2023, Nikolai Melnichenko and Natalia Rozinskaya divorced.

11.10.2023.