Jefim Zwjagilsky

Date of Birth: 20.02.1933

Place of Birth. Education. Resident of Donetsk. By profession a mining engineer, graduated in 1956 from the Donetsk Industrial Institute (specialization - development of mineral deposits). Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor.

Career. From 1957 to 1975, Zwjagilsky went from assistant manager of a coal field to chief engineer and then director of No. 13 shaft of the Kuybyshev Mining Plant Donetskugol.

From 1975 to 1979, he headed the Kuybyshev Shaft Office in Donetsk. In 1979, he was appointed director of the Donetsk shaft named after Zasyadko. After 13 years, in 1992, he became the chairman of the city council and the city executive committee of Donetsk.

In 1993-1994, Zwjagilsky worked in the government - initially as the first Deputy Prime Minister under the Chairman of the Cabinet Leonid Kuchma. After Kuchma's resignation from September 1993 to June 1994, he performed the duties of Prime Minister.

Since 1990, he has been a member of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (all seven consecutive convocations). Member of the Party of Regions and its Political Bureau. In the early parliamentary elections of 2007, he ran on the Regional list under number 9.

In 2012, he ran as a candidate from the Party of Regions in single-mandate district No. 45 in the Donetsk region. In the Verkhovna Rada of VII. The turnaround is a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Zwjagilsky is considered one of the most respected figures in the Donetsk region. He is also referred to as one of the founders and informal leaders of the 'Donetsk Clan', a large group of businessmen and politicians. It was apparently no coincidence that Zwjagilsky was elected president of the Donetsk regional union of business leaders in 1997.

On January 16, 2014, he voted for the 'dictatorial laws' - a package of anti-democratic laws that significantly restricted the rights of citizens and freedom of expression.

In October 2014, Jewelim Zwjagilsky ran for district 45 in the Donetsk region in the early parliamentary elections and won the voting. Zwjagilsky received 72.73% of the votes after counting 100% of the protocols of the election commissions.

In the parliamentary elections of 2019 Jewelim Zwjagilsky did not run.

Scandals. In the fall of 1994, a criminal case was initiated against Zwjagilsky for 'abuse of power'. To avoid prosecution, the Hero of Socialist Labor and Member of Parliament left Ukraine and lived in Israel until the controversies surrounding him subsided.

Five years later, opponents of President Leonid Kuchma recalled 'incidents from the past'. Opposition deputies even pushed for official support for a request to the Prosecutor General's Office to initiate criminal proceedings against Kuchma, Zwjagilsky, and former Minister in the Cabinet of Ministers Yevgeny Lobov for 'embezzlement on a particularly large scale, organized by a group of persons through abuse of their official position'. The request concerned the case of 'embezzlement and misappropriation of 12 million German marks belonging to the state currency fund of Ukraine' (just during the period when these individuals held high government positions). However, the opposition's efforts had no legal consequences for those involved in the scandal.

Zwjagilsky is officially regarded as the honorary chairman of the board of the rental company A. Zasyadko. However, the business newspaper links the 'honorary chairman' to the actual management of the company and the distribution of earnings. Some sources even claim that Zwjagilsky personally stands behind the tenant community.

The mines, which provided about one-third of the total coke supply for Ukrainian metallurgy since 1999, became known for a series of unfortunate events during which nearly 200 miners lost their lives. In 2007 (on November 18 and December 1-2), 106 people died, and more than 100 were injured when three explosions of a methane-air mixture occurred at a depth of 1078 meters. Among the possible causes of the accident were even processes in the coal seams unknown to scientific understanding, and even a terrorist attack. According to Prosecutor General Alexander Medvedko, investigators examined as one of the main causes those related to the notorious 'human factor'. Including from the side of the shaft managers.

Shortly after the first explosion, state leaders (even regional Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych) began to discuss that the Zasyadko mine might need to be closed. The director and the honorary chairman refrained from public appearances and comments. Perhaps because, as the newspaper Delo reported, Zwjagilsky registered a special legislative proposal in Parliament half a year ago that allowed the preferential privatization of the mine under his control.

The contract obligated the tenants to pay the state 7.2 million hryvnias annually. At the time of the contract signing, the integrated real estate complex of the mine was estimated at 250 million hryvnias. Now, according to Zwjagilsky, the mine is worth about 1.25 billion hryvnias thanks to the tenants’ investments.

Honors. Hero of Socialist Labor and Hero of Ukraine. Awarded with the Orders of Lenin, the Red Banner of Labor, the October Revolution, the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise of the 5th class. Honored Miner of Ukraine. Laureate of the State Prize of Ukraine in Science and Technology.

Family. Married, has a daughter.

Death. Jefim Zwjagilsky died on November 6, 2021, at the age of 89. The cause of death was complications from coronavirus.

11.06.2021