Sergey Valeryevich Aksyonov (born 26 November 1972) is a Russian politician serving as the head of the Republic of Crimea since 9 October 2014.
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Biography
Sergey Aksyonov was born in Bălți in the Moldavian SSR on 26 November 1972. His father Valery Aksyonov was a Red Army officer and the founder and leader of a group called the Russian Community of Northern Moldova in Bălți. After founding the group at the end of the 1980s, the tensions between Russians and Moldavians soon broke out into a war. The Russian army supported Transnistrian paramilitary troops. Transnistria became de facto independent from Moldova in 1992.
In 1989, Sergey Aksyonov moved to Crimea and enrolled in a college for military engineers in Simferopol; however, the fall of the Soviet Union occurred before he could graduate from the academy to become a Soviet Army officer like his father and grandfather. He then refused to swear an oath of allegiance to Ukraine, which he considered "an unjustly severed appendage of Russia".
From 1993 to 1998, he was deputy director of a company named Ellada, a business related to food products. From October 1998 to March 2001, he was deputy director of the Asteriks company and since April 2001 he has been deputy director of the Eskada company. Aksyonov is also the head of Crimea's Greco-Roman wrestling organization, Sports club Hwarang-do. Aksyonov received his Ukrainian passport on 12 August 1997.
Alleged links to organized crime
Sources have alleged that Aksyonov served in the mid-1990s as a lieutenant, or overseer, with the nickname "Goblin" in the organized criminal gang "Salem (organized crime group)". Aksyonov has denied the allegations. Ukrainian politician and former chief of militsiya in Crimea, Hennadiy Moskal (1997–2000) claims that Aksyonov had connections with the criminal world. In 1995, some members of Salem had taken office as local deputies, receiving Legislative immunity. "Aksyonov reportedly used to work side-by-side with another gang member, Serhiy Voronkov, in the early 1990s. According to Kyiv Post, Voronkov is a well-known mafia boss who was released from prison in 2008 and is still doing business in Crimea," said Andrei Yanitskiy, a journalist of Livy Bereh newspaper who investigated Aksyonov. A native of Sevastopol, Yanitskiy alleges that Aksyonov is still a member of the Salem gang.
According to Mikhelson, Aksyonov started his criminal career in the gang "Greki" (Greeks) that was created in Crimea by the Savopulo brothers, and only later Aksyonov switched to more notorious "Salem". In 1994, authorities were suspecting him and Aleksey Zhuk in the killing of Oleg Fenyuk through a contract. Although the Greki were liquidated, unlike many others Aksyonov managed to survive. Likewise, Zhuk was killed 10 minutes after his phone talk with Aksyonov, which raised suspicions among the former "partners".
In January 1996, Aksyonov was wounded after a Volvo car in which he was driving overturned on the Simferopol–Moscow highway during a shootout. According to official documents, the intended target was Samhan Mazahir-oglu Agaev (nicknamed "Sani"). Beside Agaev and Aksyonov, Aleksandr Bogomol and Pahrutdin Aliev were also in the vehicle. The hit was conducted with automatic weapons by militants of the Greki gang Ruslan and Rusel from Yevpatoria who were driving a black Samara. The hit was contracted by Ivan Savopulo. Both Ruslan and Rusel were arrested on 24 January 1996, but were released due to lack of evidence.
In 1997, the chief of Bakhchysarai patrolling unit Berezhnoi claimed that Aksyonov, with a former Major of militsiya, Vladimir Berenshtein ("Ben"), killed a chief of the Crimea network of heat supply Kuzin and a director of an alcoholic factory. A HUBOZ operative stated that Aksyonov kept close relations with Sergei Voronkov ("Voronok") and the "godfather" of Salem Vyacheslav Sheviev (leader of Party of Economic Revival).
Political career
Aksyonov was granted Russian citizenship as a resident of Moldova on 10 January 2003.
In 2008, he became a member of the "Russian Community of Crimea" ("Русская община Крыма") and a member of public organisation "Civic Asset of Crimea" ("Гражданский актив Крыма").
Mykola Kirilchuk, a former Crimean Minister of Industry, stated that in 2008–2009 Aksyonov borrowed almost $5 million from him to develop the Russian Unity party. Kirilchuk has since fled Crimea and has been trying to get his money back though the court system. Since 2009, he has been a member of the board in "Гражданский актив Крыма", co-president of Coordinating Council "За русское единство в Крыму!" ("For Russian Unity in Crimea!"), and leader of the all-Crimean public political movement Russian Unity ("Русское единство").
Since 2010, Aksyonov had been a deputy of the Supreme Council of Crimea, elected as a member of Russian Unity, which had 4% of votes (warranting three seats of total 100 in Crimean parliament) during elections into Supreme Council of Crimea.
During a talk show on the TV channel ATR on 3 March 2012, Aksyonov commented about a possible accession of Crimea to Russia: "I think the time for this process has already passed. Today we live in Ukraine. I have a Ukrainian passport, Ukrainian citizenship, so all problems should be discussed only in friendly relations between our countries".
Following the Revolution of Dignity, on 27 February an emergency session was held in the Crimean legislature while it was occupied by Russian forces without insignias. After sealing the doors and confiscating all mobile phones, the MPs who had been invited by Aksyonov to enter the building passed the motion in the presence of the gunmen armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles and rocket launchers. The result was that 55 of 64 votes elected Aksyonov Prime Minister. Various media accounts have disputed whether he was able to gather a quorum of 50 of his peers before the session convened that day, and some Crimean legislators who were registered as present have said they did not come near the building. Others denied being in the city, and claimed that duplicate voting cards stolen from the Parliament's safe were used in their name. Opposition deputies have avoided speaking out publicly out of fear of reprisal, due to the threats they received. Crimean Prime Minister Anatolii Mohyliov was barred from attending the session.
Family
His father, Valery Nikolayevich Aksyonov (born 1949), worked as a radio equipment technician at the Lenin Factory in Bălți, Moldova, later becoming a foreman and workshop manager. He is the general director of Panel Systems LLC (Simferopol). Since September 2014, he has served as a deputy of the State Council of the Republic of Crimea.
He has been married for over 25 years. His wife, Elena Alexandrovna Aksyonova (née Dobrynya), graduated from an agricultural academy with a degree in economics and works as an entrepreneur.
His daughter, Kristina (born 1994), is an entrepreneur. His son, Oleg, was born in 1997.