The Dnipropetrovsk Mafia, also known as the Dnipropetrovsk clan (; ) or simply Dnipropetrovtsi (), is a group of Ukrainian oligarchs, politicians, and organised crime figures, and formerly Soviet politicians. While two separate groups, both iterations of the Dnipropetrovsk Mafia have been linked by their powerful influence on Ukraine and base in the southern Ukrainian city of Dnipro (formerly Dnipropetrovsk).
Origins
The Dnipropetrovsk Mafia first emerged in the aftermath of the Great Purge, as regional structures of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union were re-established in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. Later, in the aftermath of World War II, as power structures were again rebuilt in the 1950s and 1960s, the Dnipropetrovsk Mafia was firmly established, comprising the close allies of Leonid Brezhnev in his political activities in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast and the city of Dnipropetrovsk (now Dnipro).
After World War II, Dnipropetrovsk was a closed city, with foreign visitors being barred from entry. This status was due to the city's importance in the Soviet nuclear weapons programme; Pivdenmash (; ), based in Dnipropetrovsk, was at the time the top producer of intercontinental ballistic missiles in the world. Pivdenmash also later grew to cover civilian rocketry, playing a critical role in the Soviet space programme. Dnipropetrovsk's position as a closed city also led to the growth of a flourishing black market, which involved many members of the post-Soviet Dnipropetrovsk Mafia, among them Ihor Kolomoyskyi and Gennadiy Bogolyubov.
Under Brezhnev
The Dnipropetrovsk Mafia was the name given to an informal group of Soviet politicians who held high office while Leonid Brezhnev was First Secretary or General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) in 1964–82, whom he knew from his time as a provincial party official in 1946–56.
The group took its name from the Dnipropetrovsk region of Ukraine, where Leonid Brezhnev began his political career after graduating from the Dnipropetrovsk Metallurgical Institute. He was First Secretary of the Zaporizhzhia Oblast regional party committee in 1946–48, the Dnipropetrovsk party committee in 1948–50, and the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Moldavia in 1950–52. Most members of the 'mafia' were pensioned off – or, in a few cases, arrested – either soon after Brezhnev died, in 1982, or when Mikhail Gorbachev took over as General Secretary of the CPSU in 1985.
Members
Leonid Brezhnev, General-Secretary of the Communist Party 1964–1982. Konstantin Chernenko, General-Secretary of the Communist Party following Yuri Andropov's death, 1984–1985. Nikolai Tikhonov, Premier of the Soviet Union 1980–1985. Andrei Kirilenko, Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee 1966–76. Volodymyr Shcherbytsky, First Secretary of the Communist Party of Ukraine 1972–89. Viktor Chebrikov, Deputy Chairman of the KGB 1968–82, Chairman of the KGB 1982–1988. Semyon Tsvigun, First Deputy Chairman of the KGB 1967–1982. Nikolai Shchelokov, Minister of Interior 1966–1982.
In post-independence Ukraine
However, the Dnipropetrovsk Mafia survived the post-Brezhnev period, and, after the Declaration of Independence of Ukraine, returned to the forefront of Ukrainian politics. Under President Leonid Kravchuk, the Dnipropetrovsk Mafia held the premiership from 1992 to 1993 under Leonid Kuchma. Kuchma's rule was preceded by Vitold Fokin, as well as succeeded in an acting capacity by Yukhym Zvyahilsky, both of whom were members of the Donetsk clan. These events precipitated the conflict between the Dnipropetrovsk Mafia, led by Kuchma, and the Donetsk clan, led by Zvyahilsky.
By the 1990s, Kuchma had taken on the same role as Brezhnev and Shcherbytsky as leader of the Dnipropetrovsk Mafia. This status was owed in part due to his role as former head of Pivdenmash, as well as his Dnipropetrovsk origins, in contrast with Fokin, Zvyahilsky, and Vitaliy Masol, all of whom had political roots in the Donbas region.
When Kuchma was first elected as president in the 1994 Ukrainian presidential election, he appointed close friends and political allies from Dnipropetrovsk to positions within the government. According to a 2002 report by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Kuchma appointed over 200 Dnipropetrovsk residents to government positions, awarding an additional 55 high-ranking positions. By 1996, however, this had become something of a liability, with bitter infighting among these individuals. Following the resignation of Yevhen Marchuk as Prime Minister, Kuchma appointed Pavlo Lazarenko, a leading member of the Dnipropetrovsk Mafia and First Deputy Prime Minister, to the premiership.