Biography of Semyon Semenchenko seems rather ambiguous. Some people consider him a hero of Ukraine, others - a swindler or even an extremist. Indeed, quite a few dark spots have on his track record Semen Semenchenko. The biography of this military, political and public figure of Ukraine will be the subject of our close study.
Question about the name
Let's find out what Semen Semenchenko was named at birth. Biography The real name of this person reveals. By our own admission of our hero, given to him in an interview, Semen Semenchenko is a pseudonym. The main reason for its use, the soldier called the desire to protect relatives.
He never directly voiced his real name. However, members of the hacker association Cyberberkut claimed that his real name was Konstantin Grishin. This information was later confirmed by one of the fighters of the Donbass battalion. Thus, Konstantin Grishin - Semen Semenchenko. The biography of this person is now fully connected with the last name, since he made the appropriate changes in the form prescribed by law, even in the passport.
Nationality
But if Konstantin Grishin is the real name of Semyon Semenchenko, then the question arises of his nationality. Semenchenko is a Ukrainian surname, but Grishin is not. So who is Semen Semenchenko by nationality?
The commander of the battalion "Donbass" never hid that he was Russian by nationality and was born in Sevastopol.
Life before the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine
Biography of Semen Semenchenko is divided into two main periods: before the outbreak of armed conflict in eastern Ukraine and after it. The fighting in the Donbass was the turning point after which this man gained general fame. It was then that Konstantin Grishin became Semyon Semenchenko.
Konstantin Igorevich Grishin was born in June 1974 in Sevastopol. He graduated from school in his hometown. He went to study at the Black Sea College. Nakhimov, but then was forced to transfer to SNTU (technical university), which, however, also did not graduate. From 2006 to 2008, he was a student at the Moscow State Institute of Cinematography in the direction of filmmaking, but did not pass his thesis. Thus, the biography of Semyon Semenchenko indicates the presence at the moment only complete secondary education.
Since 1998, he worked as editor-in-chief in the publication "Sevastopolsky Vestnik". This period of his life ended in 2001. From that moment until 2004, he held the position of director at one of the commercial enterprises. After that, having moved from Crimea to Donetsk, he opened his own business.
In addition, Konstantin Grishin (Semen Semenchenko) actively participated in public life. The biography indicates that from 1998 to 2004 he led a large public association, took part in the 2004 Maidan.
The war in the Donbass
Biography of Semyon Semenchenko speaks of fundamental changes in his life after the outbreak of hostilities in the Donbass in 2014.
At the beginning of the same year, Konstantin Grishin was an active participant in the Euromaidan. When hostilities began in April in the Donbass, Semyon Semenchenko (from now on he called himself that) organized the territorial battalion “Donbass”, consisting mainly of local residents. According to Semenchenko himself, the Ukrainian oligarch Igor Kolomoisky contributed to the material support of this formation, and the base was originally located in Dnepropetrovsk.
Until August 2014, fighters of the volunteer battalion managed to take control of a number of settlements in the Donetsk region, previously controlled by the DPR.
During this period of activity, Konstantin Grishin did not advertise information about his past, but hid his face under a balaclava in order to protect his family. The biography of Semyon Semenchenko remained a mystery to the general public. A photo of the mysterious commander of the Donbass battalion in black camouflage circled all the Ukrainian media.
Deputy
While still the commander of the Donbass battalion, Semen Semenchenko decided to reveal his face, what happened on September 1, 2014 in Dnepropetrovsk. This was primarily due to the decision to begin active political activity. Already on September 25, he registered as a candidate for parliament from the Samopomich party, where he was held under the second number. According to the results of the elections held at the end of October, the Samopomich party unexpectedly gained nearly 11% of the total number of voters, gaining 32 seats in parliament.
Having become the people's deputy of Ukraine, Semyon Semenchenko, according to the legislation of the country, was forced to leave the leadership of the Donbass battalion. He was dismissed from military service with the rank of captain.
Scandals
Biography of Semyon Semenchenko is associated with numerous scandals, which are often provoked by a lack of information about this person, speculation, although there are quite a lot of real facts.
The dark spot remains the life of Konstantin Grishin before the conflict in eastern Ukraine. Many ill-wishers claim that at that time he was engaged in large-scale financial scams and even received a prison term.
A rather large resonance was caused by the deprivation of his captain rank in December 2015 and the transfer to reserve soldiers. Allegedly, this decision is connected with the illegal obtaining of a rank, and supporters of Semenchenko attribute this to political repression.
In addition, fame was interviewed by fighters, some of whom claimed that the actions of Semyon Semenchenko contributed to the deaths of a large number of personnel entrusted to him by a military unit near Ilovaisk. Semenchenko succumbed to criticism for other military miscalculations, and sometimes he was even charged with intentional actions.
A family
Semen Semenchenko has living parents and a brother living in the Crimea. They remained on the peninsula after joining it to Russia.
Semen Semenchenko is married to a native of Donbass Natalya Moskovets (from Makeevka), who is Ukrainian by nationality. Four children were born in this marriage. The eldest son Gregory turned 8 years old. In addition, there are sons Michael and Artem, as well as a daughter.
