Poklad: ex-con mafiosi spy chief. Business, family, killings. Kyiv deep politics. Yermak.

That organized crime group included the notoriously infamous Poklad — ‘the Strangler,’ who personally strangled detainees with his bare hands. They say it gave him a feeling of deep satisfaction, up to the point of orgasm. Poklad has many bodies to his name.

A new figure has risen in the Security Services of Ukraine (SBU), the country’s KGB successor. A most remarkable individual. But also most representative.

Today’s hero replaced a most memorable face. On January 5, Zelensky announced the dismissal of SBU chief Vasyl Malyuk.

Western-funded media and NGOs are convinced that Zelensky was dissatisfied with Malyuk’s insufficient enthusiasm in repressing the anti-corruption organs over the past 6 months. Because of Malyuk’s indecision in quashing the corruption probe, on November 28 Zelensky was forced to dismiss his beloved chief of staff, Andriy Yermak.

Replacing Malyuk as head of the SBU is Evgeny Khmara, credited with successful military operations and flashy drone strikes against Russia the media loves so much. But that’s just a formality.

On the same day as Malyuk’s replacement with Khmara, Zelensky promoted another individual to the position of first deputy head of the SBU. It is this man that most believe to be truly holding the reigns of power in the Service. Perhaps he will soon become head of the SBU formally as well, or perhaps not. He has always preferred to stay in the shadows.

His name is Oleksandr Valentinovich Poklad. Nickname: ‘the strangler’. There are very few photographs of this gentleman, so you’ll have to remember this photo.

In many respects, Poklad’s life is the embodiment of the SBU officer. This will be a multi-article series, so it’s best to begin with a brief biographical sketch.

1974: Born in the oil-rich central Ukrainian province of Poltava

1996: Graduates with a degree in law, immediately starts a career in the organized crime department of Poltava’s police

1996/7: Convicted of extortion, sentenced to 6 years in prison with confiscation of property.

1999: Released after serving 2.5 years thanks to intervention from Oleksandr Pluzhnik, Ukraine’s richest policeman, head of Poltava’s organized crime department.

1999-2006: Becomes one of the leaders of a large organized crime group in the Poltava area. Responsible for a number of high-profile assassinations, often through the use of explosive devices. Becomes known for his sadistic tendencies, earns the nickname ‘the strangler’.

1999: Sets up a real estate company. Through it, he would enter a number of influential political clans.

2003: Returns to the ministry of internal affairs

2006: Becomes a qualified lawyer, heads to Kiev along with Pluzhnik.

2006-2015: Organizes a number of high-level corruption schemes in the capital with Pliuzhnik and other Big Men, cooperates closely with the influential film producer, political operator, and future shadow dictator of Ukraine, Andriy Yermak

2007-2019: Works as a volunteer aide for a number of highly influential MPs from the ‘pro-Russian’ (pro-themselves) Party of Regions

2015: License to practice law suspended. Joins the SBU, appointed head of the newly-formed Fifth Department: the assassination squad. Likely long already involved with the SBU as an informant or agent, probably dating from the gangster days.

2015-present: Responsible for countless high-profile assassinations of pro-Russian fighters, Russian military officers and political figures, neutral lawyers, and even Ukrainian nationalist fighters. Often accused of responsibility for the 2016 car-bombing in Kiev of Pavlo Sheremet, a liberal, pro-western, pro-Kyiv journalist. Many victims killed by explosive devices, some strangled.

Is also thought to be behind the organization of a number of fake coup attempts and staged assassinations. His motivations are thought to include extortion and the creation of false flag justifications for state repression.

2017: Receives a presidential medal for bravery, despite never having served at the frontlines.

2021: Appointed to head the counter-intelligence department of the SBU. According to western-funded media, Poklad was chosen personally by his old accomplice and now Zelensky’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak.

March 2022: His most famous assassination, that of Ukrainian banker and negotiator with Russia Sergei Kireev, tortured extensively before death. Later, the SBU’s rival intelligence agency, the Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR), would tell the western press that Kireev had been their agent, and GUR head Kirillo Budanov directly blamed Poklad for the murder.

April 2022: Awarded the rank of Brigadier General

2023: A drug-addicted Ukrainian blogger in exile releases information on the transnational drug cartel Khimprom. Soon after, the blogger’s Switzerland residence is firebombed, and he blames Poklad.

2023: Appointed deputy head of the SBU

January 2024: Awarded the rank of Major General

May 2025: Included in Ukraine’s negotiation group with Russia in Istanbul

September/November 2024: Rumors swirl that Yermak intends to replace Budanov as head of the GUR with Poklad.

December 2024: Investigated for embezzlement by the NABU (National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine).

July 2025: Named by western-funded NGOs as the primary SBU figure responsible for Zelensky/Yermak’s crackdown on NABU.

September 2025: Awarded Hero of Ukraine with the award of the Order of the Golden Star.

September 2025: Captures and retrieves a former MP in the UAE. Zelensky/Yermak intend to extract testimony from this MP that the anti-corruption organs are filled with Russian agents, hence justifying further SBU crackdown on them.

November 28, 2025: Poklad’s decades-old associate and patron Andriy Yermak is forced to resign as head of Zelensky’s presidential administration due to raids by the anti-corruption organs.

November 28, 2025: Poklad is appointed a member of Ukraine’s negotiation group with Russia and the US.

January 5, 2026: Appointed first deputy head of the SBU by Zelensky, amidst rumors that Yermak continues to wield shadow influence over Zelensky and the government. Simultaneously, Poklad’s old rival Budanov is finally chosen as the replacement for Yermak to head the presidential administration.

Though there are very few photographs of Poklad, he is quite an interesting fellow. As you can see, there is good reason to dedicate several articles to the man. Not just because of the richness of his biography, but also because it is Poklad that Zelensky (and the ever-present Yermak) have chosen as their chief protector to ride out the turbulent future.

Today, we will explore Poklad’s life before he entered the SBU in 2015. Although, if they say that there’s no such thing as a former SBU agent, it might be that the opposite is also true: it is possible Poklad was always in the clutches of the Service.

In any case, the methods of ‘the strangler’ remain the same, whether as a gangster in the early 2000s or a spook today. Extortion, torture, drugs, explosives, wet works, and sadism.

And along with the continuity in methods, there is also the continuity of names. Despite his status as the country’s top killer of ‘traitors’, he also spent more than a decade working for politicians derided as pro-Russian by nationalists.

It was in this milieu that he met his most important friend: Andrey Yermak, Zelensky’s closest confidant. Poklad has been close to Yermak since the early 2010s. The past years have seen constant rumors that Yermak would promote Poklad further in the SBU or GUR. Ironically, this only happened after SBU head Malyuk caused Yermak’s resignation. Indeed, Poklad’s rise only feeds the persistent rumours that Yermak remains the shadow fixer of Ukrainian deep politics.

Regardless, Poklad’s rise shows that Zelensky is arming himself with the most loyal and ruthless cadres. The time for civilians like Yermak is over — now the real killers are in charge. Perhaps Yermak is still in the mix, perhaps not. In any case, Zelensky could not ask for a more powerful weapon than Poklad. He’ll need such men if he is to survive the coming years.

Today’s article consists of three parts. First, we’ll track Poklad’s early life in the provincial region of Poltava. This means his time in prison for extortion, his bloodstained role in organized crime, and his important connection to Ukraine’s richest cop.

Then, we’ll move alongside Poklad to Kiev in the late 2000s. This will take us deep into the heart of the capital’s cutthroat politics. Poklad’s politico-business associates from this period, often derided as ‘corrupt pro-Russian traitors’, have proven so cunning that they remain Kiev’s most influential men to this day.

Finally, we’ll take a look at Poklad’s family, and his family business. The tendrils of his real estate company, founded in 1999 and subsequently registered to his mother, extend to all colors of Ukraine’s political spectrum.

Poltava

In 1996, Poklad received a law degree from the Yaroslav Mudry National Law Academy in Kharkiv. He then got to work in Poltava law enforcement.

But almost immediately, something went wrong. The young Poklad would split the next decade between prison and organized crime activities. The strangler was born.

A note on sources. Obviously, any public figure in Ukraine is subject to a number of media hit pieces. An SBU officer is subject to even more than most. But the following information comes from a Ukrainian publication dated from 2008. Poklad only became known as an SBU agent in 2015. In 2008, Poklad was an entirely unknown name in broader Ukrainian politics.

Hence, it is unlikely the following information was merely fabricated by political enemies. Even if Poklad’s enemies in organized crime commissioned the article, the information in the article continues to be referred to as fact by contemporary Ukrainian journalists. One such journalist, for instance, is Volodymyr Bondarenko, an anti-Russian nationalist.

Back to the life of Poklad. Right as soon as he began his career in law enforcement, it abruptly ended.

In 1997 (some say 1996), Poklad was convicted of racketeering as part of an organized criminal group and sentenced to six years’ imprisonment with confiscation of property, under Article 144 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (“Extortion of state, collective, or individual property committed under aggravating circumstances”). The Court of Appeal upheld the verdict. Poklad served his sentence in pre-trial detention and correctional facilities in his Poltava region. A week ago, the journalist Volodymyr Bondarenko even posted proof of his conviction:

Why was the young Poklad immediately convicted as soon as he started work as a cop? Some believe that Poklad was framed.

And for some strange reason, two and a half years later Poklad was released under an amnesty. Said 2008 article on the matter is certain that Poklad was helped out by his patron, Aleksandr Pluzhnyk, head of the Poltava Organized Crime Unit (UBOP).

Could it be that Poklad was framed and imprisoned by higher-ups in order to make him into a perfectly manipulable subordinate? Traumatized by prison and with the whiff of an ex-con floating around him, he could now be forced to do anything.

Once out, UBOP chief Pluzhnik found enviable employment for Poklad. As the leader of an organized crime group. Perhaps Pluzhnik, head of the police department on organized crime, was conducting an experiment?

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