“Earlier, journalists reported that Tatarov flew to Moscow 9 times after 2014”, — write: www.radiosvoboda.org
Oleg Tatarov did not provide answers to the questions of the “Scheme” editors sent to him in an official request for publication. After the publication of the investigation, Oleg Tatarov said in a comment to BBC Ukraine: “Usually I do not comment on any publications about myself. But in connection with the war that Russia is waging against our country, I consider it necessary to comment on this fake that was spread today.”
“It is absolutely unacceptable to spread unreliable data and even hints about the alleged existence of my communication with someone from Russia or trips to its territory. Especially with reference to enemy-controlled sources,” Tatarov added.
At the same time, in their investigation, the journalists cross-checked the data, which made it possible to confirm Tatarov’s trips to the Russian Federation. First, “Schemy” got access to information about his crossing of the Ukrainian border. Subsequently, these data were verified from the Belarusian side – with the help of access to leaks from the database of border crossings in Belarus. Having seen that Tatarov followed from Belarus to Russia, “Schemes” verified these data from the Russian side as well – they are reflected in a number of leaks from several Russian databases about crossing the border for different periods. Since air traffic between Ukraine and Russia was stopped after 2014, in most of his trips Tatarov reached Moscow from Kyiv via Minsk.
On August 27, 2017, Oleg Tatarov flew from Ukraine to Belarus to Minsk airport, from where he left for Moscow on the same day, landing at Vnukovo airport. The next day, August 28, Oleg Tatarov flew from Domodedovo Airport to Belarus and returned to Ukraine the next day.
Within a month, Tatarov again went on a two-day trip to Russia, arriving in Minsk on September 26 and heading to Moscow on the same day. On September 27, Tatarov returned to Belarus by plane and flew to Ukraine on the same day.
Tatarov made another trip to Russia at the end of 2017 – on December 12, he flew to Moscow from Minsk, where he arrived from Ukraine, and returned by the same route.
In 2018, Tatarov visited Russia four times – in March, October, November and December. In all cases, Tatarov flew to Moscow via Belarus and did not stay in the Russian Federation for more than a day.
In 2019, Tatarov flew to the Russian Federation twice. On the morning of March 12, he flew to Russia from the capital of Qatar, Doha. On the same day, he flew to Minsk and from there flew to Ukraine.
The last time, judging by the data available to “Scheme”, Oleg Tatarov flew on the usual route to the Russian Federation the day after the victory of Volodymyr Zelensky in the 2019 presidential elections in the second round. On April 22, Tatarov left for Belarus, from where he flew to Moscow on the same day. On the evening of April 23, Tatarov flew again to Minsk, and from there to Ukraine.
Also, as “Schems” learned, Tatarov went to Belarus in March 2013, twice – in June and November 2014, and once more in March 2016. On March 22, 2016, Tatarov crossed the border with Belarus through the “Nova Huta” checkpoint in his own car, returning to Ukraine on March 23 by the same route. At the same time, it is not known whether Tatarov visited Russia during these trips.
Also, according to “Scheme”, in 2015, Tatarov traveled to the occupied Crimea – on June 6, he crossed the Dzhankoy checkpoint. Back Tatarov returned on June 8 through the “Armyansk” checkpoint. The car in which Tatarov traveled to the occupied territory belonged to an employee of the company, which at the time of his work was owned by Halyna Farynnyk, the wife of lawyer Vasyl Farynnyk.
In 2008, Farynnyk, being at that time the head of the Main Investigative Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and deputy minister, brought Tatarov to work for him at the State Security Service, and then made him a partner in the law firm, which, when Tatarov arrived there, was named “Tatarov, Farynnyk, Golovko”.
After his release from law enforcement agencies, Oleg Tatarov worked as a lawyer, in March 2015 he received a lawyer’s license, later he was a managing partner of the Tatarov, Farynnyk, Golovko lawyer association. Tatarov combined legal practice with work at the construction corporation “Ukrbud” – there he headed the legal department.
As a lawyer, Tatarov defended Andriy Portnov, the former first deputy head of the Administration of President Viktor Yanukovych, Ukrainian oligarch Vadym Novinsky, former head of the Court of Appeal of Crimea Valery Chornobuk, and general director of Ukrbud Oleg Maiboroda. Bihus.Info journalists also recorded Tatarov accompanied by the richest Ukrainian oligarch Rinat Akhmetov during his interrogation at NABU.
In 2019, Tatarov represented the interests of Olesya Kuznetsova, the wife of Ivan Kuznetsov, who died from stab wounds received during the attack on Serhiy Sternenko near his home in Odessa. According to Slidstvo.Info journalists, Tatarov demanded that Sternenko be charged with premeditated murder.
In August 2020, Oleg Tatarov became the deputy head of the President’s Office, in December, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office notified Tatarov of the suspicion. According to the investigation, Tatarov, as a lawyer of the state company “Ukrbud”, could be involved in the provision of an illegal benefit for ensuring the issuance of an unreliable written opinion of a court expert in the case of the seizure of 81 million hryvnias of the National Guard of Ukraine. Tatarov rejected the accusation. Later, on the instructions of the prosecutors of the OGP, the case was transferred to the SBU, where it was closed in April 2022.
As previously reported by “Schemes”, in the midst of the Revolution of Dignity in 2014, Oleg Tatarov received the title of Honored Lawyer of Ukraine from the hands of fugitive President Viktor Yanukovych at the request of the then Minister of Internal Affairs Vitaly Zakharchenko. “Schemes” also investigated Tatarov’s influence on the election of the head of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office. In August, “Schemy” reported that a lawyer closely related to Tatarov advised the family of the head of the AMCU Pavlo Kyrylenka on how to hide the evidence in the NABU and SAP case regarding his alleged illegal enrichment and unreliable declaration.