Margarita Chervonenko: “Yevhen’s been spoiled by star fever and high office”

Fakty [Facts]
Category: Zaporizhzhia, Politics, Ukraine
20.07.2007
Anna Ivanenko

We met with Margarita Chervonenko in one of Kyiv’s restaurants. In nearly 20 years of living together with the former Transport Minister and now Governor of Zaporizhzhia oblast Yevhen Chervonenko, the press has noticed her only few times.

As to why she has avoided talking to reporters, Margarita gave the following explanation: she cares little about fame because instant popularity has never meant much to her. As she put it, her efforts as a business partner and a pillar of their family went into ensuring that her husband alone was in the spotlight. But now, with divorce proceedings underway and the story of the Chervonenko family appearing in the press thanks to Mr. Chervonenko himself, Margarita no longer wants to remain silent.

In an exclusive interview with Fakty, Ms. Chervonenko admitted that she has grown tired of the endless scandals, cruelty and insults that were part of their marriage for the last few years. “I kept silent for more than a year. I didn’t want our family problems to be aired in public. I asked Yevhen for a civilized divorce. But his response was that he would not rest until he reduced me to penury. Now, I don’t understand how I could have loved this man for 19 years,” said Margarita Chervonenko.

”Now, there is no way for him to go back. How can he? What will people think if he returns to the family?”

Today, Margarita is a businesswoman. Despite the upheaval in the family, her commercial activities are doing quite well.

(Margarita Volodymyrivna Chervonenko has two degrees in economics: one from L’viv [Franko] University majoring in Domestic Economic Planning and one from the Department of International Economics at Kyiv [Shevchenko] University. In 2000-2007, she headed Orlan, a major domestic beverages and transport company. Author’s note).

“My guardian angel is always with me. Especially now, when my husband is ruining the family, destroying my business and trying to put the family problems entirely on my shoulders. There was time when Yevhen believed that I was special and he shouldn’t treat me badly. This kind of thing was taboo to him.

“Three years ago, he broke this taboo. He’s been spoiled by star fever. Ever since he began to hold high positions, our family life’s been a complete nightmare—and it hasn’t stopped,” Ms. Chervonenko began our conversation.

“Ms. Chervonenko, what do you mean by ‘a nightmare’?”

“What Yevhen has done with our family. It’s a total disgrace. In Russia, in Switzerland, everybody knows about our problems! He keeps dragging all his friends and acquaintances into our conflict.

“Naturally, by getting outsiders involved, Yevhen has ended up burning all the bridges that might have let us peacefully get out of a difficult situation. That’s why there’s no going back for him now. How can he? What will his friends think, if he goes back to the family? It’s both sad and ridiculous…

“You have been living with Yevhen Chervonenko for nearly 20 years. When did you begin to feel that it was getting hard for you to stay together any longer?”

“The quarreling in the family has gone on for several years already. It began more-or-less from the moment Yevhen Alfredovych was appointed Minister of Transport. But, actually, the history of our divorce is extensive… He’s been waging war against me for three years. I wouldn’t say that the conflict was all about women. He did have a lot of them, and different ones.

“And I was aware of it. But when Yevhen became Minister, he stopped trying to hide anything from me. He would come to me and say: ‘Everybody thinks that I’m great. Just look – they’re all lined up.’ To which I answered: ‘Darling, my name is Margarita. And I’m not one of the ones in line’… In the end, what Yevhen did with our family no longer suited me. It was completely against my Christian morals.

”I was constantly growing the family business, which we started together virtually from scratch.”

“The press has been spreading rumors that your quarrel with Yevhen Chervonenko was supposedly because of your efforts to take over his business.”

“That kind of talk is sheer nonsense and lies,” says Margarita Chervonenko. “All the equity, 95%, is in Yevhen’s hands. He has buried the money so deeply that I can’t even imagine who might find it… Of all the family possessions, very little was registered in my name: just some real estate. But now he’s decided that even that is too much for me.

“‘You’re going to live on the sidewalk,’ he told me. But he understands himself that I’m a woman of strong will and firm purpose. I can take care of myself. How he tried to break me… But in all the time we were together, I was out of work for maybe a year at most. From the moment Yevhen left for big politics, I was the one constantly expanding our family business, which we built together virtually from ground up. I was running the company for the last seven years.”

“Then how would you explain your husband’s recent attempts to show that everything has supposedly been taken away from him by his wife?”

“As far as I know, Yevhen may have financial problems linked with that fact that he hasn’t made good on his promises to some very influential people. He promised to take care of their business, but didn’t keep his word. That’s probably why it’s very advantageous for him to show everybody that his wife supposedly took everything away and he has nothing left. But what have I to do with all this? Why use me as a cover? It’s pretty cowardly.

”It took enormous efforts for me to just get back my clothes.”

“Now my husband is trying to take property away from me through the courts—our house and apartment in downtown Kyiv,” continues Ms. Chervonenko. “Once, I came home and all my clothes and shoes had been collected and taken who knows where.

“He took away everything. The pictures and vases were taken even earlier. He took all my jewelry, my watches, earrings, rings… Only my slippers were left, and the clothes on my back. It took enormous efforts for me just to get back my clothes. On his orders, the power, gas and water were shut off in the house. Finally, Yevhen told security not to let me into the house, and I was forced to move into my mother’s apartment.

But this was not the end of their misfortunes for Margarita Chervonenko and her family. “He promised to leave my entire family without a penny,” she says. “Now he’s taking property away from my mother. He kicked our daughter and her husband out of their apartment. Just imagine: one day the children came home and all the locks on the doors had been changed. When we came with locksmiths, the security guards on duty at the building entrance just threw us out.”

“And the policemen we had called just stood around doing nothing. Witnesses told us that the flat had been cleared of everything: furniture and belongings. I called Yevhen and asked him to return at least our clothes and the children’s documents, but in response all I heard was another round of insults and put-downs. At that point, we were forced to turn to the courts.”

“Have you talked to your husband about ending your marriage in a more-or-less civilized manner?”

“Of course, I tried peace talks with my husband. But it was pointless… We would reach an agreement, and two hours later he would start insulting me all over again. And his idea of compromise was, ‘You give up everything, turn over everything registered in your name, and then—maybe—I’ll think about whether I should let you go or not.’ Frankly, I understood right then and there that we would never be able to put anything right again.

“Yevhen often used to say that any man was mere dust on his shoes. I didn’t want to accept that kind of philosophy then and I don’t want to live with it now. But when you live in discord with a man, the relationship simply gets worse every day… In 2005, in Yalta, during a rally Yevhen sponsored, he went so far as to raise his hand against me. That was the last straw…”

P.S. At the end of our conversation, Margarita Chervonenko said that, on July 24, a hearing would take place on the division of family property in the Kyiv Oblast Court of Appeals. “I want to separate in a civilized way. I’m sick of scandals. But I’m afraid our story is far from over. I know Yevhen well,” she said. “He has a vengeful streak.”