Aleksey Arestovich: expert-seer or storyteller and provocateur?

In times of unrest and war, there is a great demand for false prophets, demagogues and all-knowing experts. Therefore, if in Ukraine there were no Alexey Arestovich, then his place on the TV would probably have been occupied by someone else! But not everyone can become this other, since Arestovich occupies a specific niche of a “special look” at geopolitics, military strategy and society, with a somewhat non-standard manner of narration.

And even if he speaks complete nonsense from the screen, he does it according to the canons of the Oscar-winning "Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears" - that is, so convincingly that the audience has no doubt: they are re-opening their eyes to the world. This distinguishes Arestovich from hundreds of identical "talking heads" who repeated their stereotyped truths one after another, and with the outbreak of war made him the main mouthpiece of the President's Office.  

Family and family business

Alexei Nikolaevich Arestovich was born 3 August 1975 year, in a military garrison near the Georgian town of Dedoplistskaro (Kakheti). His father Nikolai Sergeevich Arestovich served there as an officer of the headquarters of the unit, and my mother Tamara Alekseevna was in charge of the "chip". According to him, he has Polish and Belarusian roots, which causes some skepticism: after all, in Arestovich there is nothing from a gray-eyed blond (rather, Ashkenazi features are visible). Maybe he meant only territorial origin, or did he just traditionally make something up?

A few years after the birth of their son, their family moved to Kyiv. By the beginning of the 90s, they lived in the so-called. "Turkish Town" (Solomensky district) on Kadetsky Gay Street, where military personnel received many apartments. According to a number of media reports, his mother headed a trade cooperative, and his father worked at a military university and eventually became "the head of the selection committee at the National Defense Academy." True, academies with this name in Ukraine It never happened (but was in Poland), so the journalists were clearly mistaken here, perhaps meaning  National Defense Academy (formerly the Academy of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, now the National Defense University). Yes, and the "head of the admissions committee"  - this is a temporary position for the period of admission of new cadets, which is usually occupied by the head of the academy or his deputy. However, we did not find his father Nikolai Arestovich in the lists of the former leadership of this academy.

In the "zero" Arestovich family actively engaged in business. Nikolai Sergeevich was the founder of at least three companies: Promzerno LLC (since 1995, the production of meat products), Sun Cree and Technodex. When his son became closer to power in 2019, the Technodex construction and trading company had new activities: production of explosives, production of military vehicles, repair and maintenance of aircraft and space (!) vehicles. And all this with an authorized capital of 50 thousand hryvnia! 

Of the firms owned or managed by Tamara Alekseevna, three are known: this is the Temp-1995 service housing complex created back in 2 (in the residential complex of which her son has an apartment on Aviaconstructor Antonov), his  subsidiary enterprise "Serving cooperative Temp-2" (2014), and horticultural partnership "Ecolog" (2001). Being an accountant at Ecolog, Tamara Alekseevna became a "heroine" of a corruption and fraudulent scandal - however, did not go beyond the indignant  press releases. Of which, at the same time, it became known that in addition to their son, the Arestovichs also have daughter Olesya, about which the brother for some reason keeps quiet. By the way, Olesya is much more like the descendants of Poles and Belarusians than her brother!

Olesya Arestovich-Korniychuk

Olesya Arestovich-Korniychuk works as a private notary and was a wife Andriy Kornichuk  -  former secretary of the delegation of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine in PACE. But when in 2017 Kornichuk was pulled out of Europe and sent as an adviser to the Ukrainian Embassy in Lebanon, Olesya did not go with him. And in the declaration of Kornichuk for 2018, the wife was no longer there (only their children),  therefore, their current relationship is most likely in a state of divorce. 

Aleksey Arestovich himself was the founder and leader charitable foundation named after him, created in June 2014 for volunteering (or just raising money) and closed at the end of 2016, as well as the production studio "Aegis Film" (since 2006), co-founded by the Ukrainian actor Anton Pavlenko and Russian Kirill Burdikhin.

In these databases can be found and Irina Viktorovna Arestovich (nee Gribanova), who is the second wife of Alexei Arestovich. Since 2013, she has been a FOP (printing advertising products, organizing congresses and exhibitions), since 2018 she owns Medical Improvement LLC (publishing magazines, exhibitions), in 2019 she became the founder of Kafelton LLC (building materials), in 2021 opened Medics House LLC (programming). Together they raise two children: their son Alexandra и Veronica, Arestovich's daughter from his first marriage. And here is information about Arestovich's first wife, about the reasons for their divorce and why she gave him the child, absent in the media.

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Alexey Arestovich with his wife Anastasia and children

Failed scout

In Kyiv, Aleksey Arestovich studied at secondary school No. 178, after which he decided to fulfill his childhood dream and in 1992 entered Faculty of Biology, Kyiv National University. Shevchenko. A year later, Arestovich had a new dream: he enthusiastically got carried away by art, began to play in the Kiev theater-studio "Black Square" and simply abandoned his studies, after which he was expelled from universitya. Parents, in principle, were not against this hobby (still better than crime or drugs), but reminded Alexei that now he was waiting for the military registration and enlistment office and a year and a half of communication with peers, among whom there were almost no subtle artistic personalities. 

The father could help his son in one thing: to enter the Odessa Institute of the Ground Forces (now the military academy), where Nikolai Sergeevich had some connections. Alexey Arestovich studied there from 1994 to 1999, and his “military experience”, as expected, began to be calculated from the moment of enrollment, hence somewhat exaggerated data on its service life.

Arestovich at the Odessa Institute of Ground Forces

Also false claims that Arestovich studied to be a scout. The faculty of intelligence management appeared at the Odessa Academy only in 2012, while Arestovich studied as an ordinary staff officer with the additional profession of an interpreter (as well as Irina Vereshchuk). The dream of becoming a scout appeared to him only shortly before graduation, when he thought about the prospects for further service. He carried it out, again, with the help of his father, who placed his son in the central office of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, located in Kyiv on Rybalsky Island, and therefore nicknamed the “Island” by the military.

"Island": GUR MO, where Arestovich served

Arestovich served in the GUR office from 1999 to 2005, and, judging by the very negative (to put it mildly) responses former colleagues, he was not allowed to do intelligence work, appointing "eternal duty" and "boy on parcels." But this also had a positive side for Arestovich: he had more free time for his old and new hobbies. In the last two years of his service, he was, rather, only listed.

In 2005, Aleksey Arestovich made a scandal and resigned from the GUR, leaving for the reserve with the rank of senior lieutenant. He himself explained it this way:After the Orange Revolution, the situation in the country changed. When former directors of sugar factories begin to issue directives and teach military officers how to serve them, this is nonsense, which I once reported to the command. In response, they told me: they say, where will you go, you will serve. But the next day I did not go to work, and after a long ordeal, I still quit". But the real reason for the dismissal of Arestovich remained unknown. Perhaps the service on the "Island" simply bored him, and he was eager to realize himself in a new role.

Absalom Submarine, Dugin and Korchinsky

Back in 2000, having barely settled in the service in the office of the GUR,  Arestovich again became interested in art and, in addition, all sorts of psychological trainings (and what else was there to do as a deputy duty officer). This led to his "esoteric psychology" of the Moscow writer and philosopher Absalom Underwater (Alexander Kamensky). In 2002, Podvodny opened the correspondence Internet school "Man among people", and Arestovich became one of its first students (until 2010). This allowed Arestovich to call himself subsequently a “certified psychologist”, although a diploma from Podvodny has the same value as the title of “Doctor of Ufology” or a title of nobility from Juna Davitashvili. 

That arrogant pathos with which Arestovich called himself a “combat officer” and despised the “directors of sugar factories” (is it not Poroshenko?) Was not accidental - after all, he actually quoted Dmitry Korchinsky, whom he met and became close to long before his dismissal from the GUR. It is known that in February 2005, Arestovich was no longer just a member of the Brotherhood, but his deputy leader (he was called "Adjutant Korchinsky") and together with him took part in Congress of the International Eurasian Movement, held in Moscow under the slogan of creating an "anti-orange front". The founders of this movement on the Russian side were the well-known ideologist of "neo-Eurasianism" Alexander Dugin and his companion Valery Korovin. 

Valery Korovin, Alexey Arestovich, Dmitry Korchinsky and Alexander Dugin at a press conference of the "Eurosian Union" in Moscow, 2005

Yes, the same Dugin, whose daughter died on 20 August 2022 in an assassination attempt (terrorist attack?), whose customers and performers have not been found. That allows you to voice a wide variety of assumptions and statements, including "trace of special services" of Ukraine and Russia. Sam Arestovich expressed regarding this assassination attempt (and the personal tragedy of a former ally), it is very cynical: they say, Dugin "sucked somewhere" on the money for which he was allegedly killed ... 

In July 2005, Arestovich and Korchinsky arrived at a seminar of the Russian pro-Kremlin Nashi movement (curated by Vladislav Surkov) in the camp on Seliger. At that time, this caused indignation among a number of Russian media outlets, who recalled Korchinsky's participation in the first Chechen war, but in Ukraine they reacted calmly to this.

It is not very clear what Dugin and Korchinsky quarreled over, but after a couple of years, the Brotherhood broke with the Eurasian Union and returned to the traditional positions of Ukrainian nationalism with inherent in Korchinsky "imperial swing". There was again talk of the Russian threat, and in 2008 the Brotherhood staged “command and staff exercises for public organizations” in Kyiv, at which they talked about a possible scenario for the Russian seizure of Crimea. The political part of the script (with speeches about the Zionists) was voiced by Korchinsky himself, and the military part was outlined by Arestovich  - who, as a former GUR officer, was promoted by the Brotherhood as a military analyst. In 2014, some of what Arestovich said really came true. (And even more did not come true). He seized the chance, pulled a recording of his speech from the archive as evidence of his "foresight", and began to actively work his way into the Ukrainian media as an expert. 

However, the expert from Arestovich turned out to be unimportant, but his talent was (and still is) in eloquence.  The "esoteric psychology" of Podvodny left a deep imprint on his personality and thinking, then supplemented by close communication with people like Dugin and Korchinsky. All this fell on the fertile ground of acting talent, raising one of the brightest demagogues of modern Ukraine - on which Arestovich made his career. 

And its main highlight was the stuffing method used by Korchinsky. "The stuffing of some information that Arestovich does is a stuffing to make the so-called informational noise. Pure information noise. Senseless, stupid. But how they discuss!"- the President of the Ukrainian Analytical Center spoke about him Alexander Okhrimenko.

Arestovich in cinema

But for the first time, Alexei Arestovich appeared on TV screens as not an expert, but an actor. The first stage experience in the theater helped him appear in television commercials for the Oranta insurance company, the Life mobile operator, 5 drops vodka and Korona chocolate. Moreover, some media mentioned that Arestovich began acting in commercials while still a lieutenant of the GUR! And immediately after his dismissal, he moved into film actors - which was largely facilitated by his regular trips to Russia, where he made acquaintances with actors and directors of the serial genre.

Arestovich began with cameo appearances in "Grandfather of my dreams" and "Thank you for everything" (2005). In 2006, he played Vlad in the popular Russian TV series The Return of Mukhtar-3, and then reincarnated as George in The Return of Mukhtar-7 and Dodin in The Return of Mukhtar-8. Arestovich played more prominent roles in Okhlamon (Kirill) and Brother for Brother - 2 (lawyer Zaripov). 

The pinnacle of Arestovich's film career was a comedy "Don't be afraid, I'm there" (2012), where he played Igor Smirnov dressing as Lyusya Zaitseva. However, although the film was shown in cinemas, it cannot be called a success. And its absence on pirate movie torrents eloquently testifies to the almost zero interest of the audience. Nevertheless, Arestovich in the cinema was remembered precisely for the role of Lyusenka, because of which even there were rumors of him about his unconventional orientation. 

Arestovich as Lucy Zaitseva

It was his last role on screen, after which his interest in art faded again. Arestovich began to engage in "serious business": brandishing the aforementioned diploma from the school of Absalom Podvodny, he himself began to conduct psychological training, and also participate in television programs as a guest expert in the field of psychology. In particular, in 2013, he appeared in the show "Teach Us to Live" on the ICTV channel. 

Arestovich conducts training

 And with the beginning of the second Maidan, when his friend Korchinsky saddled a bulldozer, Arestovich presented “warm ocean strategy”- this is how he called his plan to “change the system in Ukraine”. In principle, the idea was interesting, but Arestovich's introductory speech spoiled everything, in which he, in particular, said the following: “I belong to an expert group that is designing the future. I communicate with different people: from Baikal shamans to people from India, China, the Islamic world, Catholics…". Many readers were frankly amused by this pathetic self-praise, and they noticed that Arestovich should have involved voodoo priests and Carpathian molfars in the design of the future.

Arestovich and ATO

By 2014, Arestovich, with the help of re-certification in the military registration and enlistment office, “progressed” to the rank of reserve captain, since the almost forty-year-old “starley” did not look very respectable as an expert. In February he gave interview publication "Newspaper. UA”, in which he “predicted” the fall of Yanukovych (which was already obvious), and the coming to power of Poroshenko and Klitschko. True, he saw Pyotr Alekseevich only as a prime minister, but as the new president Klitschko - which, again, was known from the negotiations of the leaders of the Maidan. In general, Arestovich again pointed to the sky, but then he brandished this interview as another proof of his foresight. 

And when the ATO began in the Donbass, which Arestovich for some reason did not predict, he realized that this gave him a great chance to become military expert of all-Ukrainian scale. He started blogs on Facebook and YouTube, in which he commented on events at the front, criticized the authorities and taught how to fight “correctly”. But Arestovich himself did not feel the desire to personally fight - like most of the "experts", journalists and volunteers. Although such an outstanding military  an expert and a whole captain of the reserve could certainly come in handy in the "Jesus Christ" company, created by Korchinsky's "brothers" at the scandalous "Shakhtersk" battalion (after reformation known as "Tornado"). He wouldn’t even have to fight, he would just guard the near rear, slurping borscht at the base! But Arestovich preferred to stay in the rear, where he established a fund for "psychological support for ATO participants" and participated in the amusing exercises of the "People's Reservist" program at the "Marusya training ground" as an instructor. He visited the conflict zone only occasionally, as a guest (to take a selfie). 

And on December 21, 2017, Arestovich suddenly confessed publicly that deliberately deceived Ukrainians for three years, by not telling them the truth for the sake of propaganda effectiveness, and that he does not consider himself a patriot of Ukrainebecause for him this concept is too narrow. Like what he said about the same time comparison  ATO with a "resort for boys", this greatly angered all the "note patriots" who still remember Arestovich's words (they outlined all this in "Peacemaker").  

Only in September 2018, when the active phase of the war in the Donbass was on pause, did Arestovich decide to sign up as a contract soldier. In his words, he served for a whole year near Kramatorskand in the 72nd OMB of the "Black Cossacks", allegedly as an intelligence commander, and during this time he did 33 combat exits. But where, if from Kramatorsk to the line of demarcation as much as 50 kilometers? And the main thing is that The 72nd brigade has never been in the Kramatorsk area, she was then stationed to the east, in the area of ​​​​the Svetlodar arc, with a base in the Bakhmut area. And then, how did Arestovich, who supposedly simply did not get out of the constant raids behind enemy lines, still find time to constantly appear on television as a military expert? 

Something was clarified by the conflict that broke out two years later between Arestovich and General, dismissed from the post of Deputy Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Krivonos. Arestovich accused Krivonos of being an intriguer and protege of Poroshenko, and Krivonos He accused Arestovich that on November 8, 2018, he “led a group of snipers from Desna into the minefield, where two were killed and three were seriously wounded,” and also questioned his qualifications as an expert: “When Arestovich presents himself as a professional, a military expert - what platoon, what company did Mr. Arestovich command? No!» 

Arestovich tried to justify himself, saying that “it was not a minefield”, that he did not change the route of the group’s movement - but he did not explain exactly where this incident took place, and what the snipers from the Desna training center were doing there. But if we look into list of APU losses in the Donbass, we find there that on the 10th (not the 8th) of December in the area of ​​the Svetlodarskaya Bulge died, blown up, two snipers of the 72nd brigade, one of whom previously worked as an instructor at Desna.  Thus, only Arestovich's involvement in their death remained unexplained. 

But in any case, this contract helped Arestovich, firstly, to receive the rank of major in December 2018 (literally immediately after the death of snipers). And secondly, he replenished his collection of awardswhose origin raises questions. No, they are all real, but here why were they given to him? Already in July 2014, Arestovich received commemorative (not award) badges "Defender of the Fatherland" and "Evgen Bereznyak" - both from the hands of the then head of the Main Intelligence Directorate, General Yuri Pavlov, who was later expelled from intelligence in 2015, accused of the failures and “boilers” of 2014. In November 2016, Arestovich received the medal "For participation in the ATO", although at that time it also did not participate. 

In November 2018, already in the 72nd brigade, Arestovich received a diploma from the Minister of Defense Poltorak "for special courage and heroism in the performance of special tasks." Which ones, it did not indicate - but, once again, we recall that it was then that two snipers of the brigade died. In May 2019, Arestovich was awarded  Breastplate "Badge of Honor" MO. In July  - the badge of the commander of the Ground Forces "For Special Service", and a month later the second badge "For Special Service", already of the 2nd degree. Well, here, in fact, are all the awards of Arestovich! The journalist was the first to express his doubts about them Yuri Butusov, which provoked a very emotional conflict between him and Arestovich. конфликт.  

Arestovich and Zelensky

At the end of the contract, Arestovich, who previously supported Poroshenko and harshly criticized Zelensky, calling him "Putin's savior and a problem worse than the coronavirus, began to quickly change his mind. A complete change in the vector took place in the summer of 2020, when Arestovich became openly sing of Zelensky. This paid off: he was noticed and accepted into the “Ze!Team”, appointing (through Kravchuk) the speaker of the TCG and adviser on information policy to the chairman of the Ukrainian delegation in Minsk, and also recorded as a freelance adviser Andrey Ermak.   

Of course, Arestovich himself commented on his appointment as a recognition of his "great experience" and powerful analytical mind. In fact, it caused bewilderment among many, since by that time Arestovich had already firmly established himself not as an expert, but as an information provocateur and "troll". But, apparently, it was in this capacity that he was needed in the TCG - in order to further block the Minsk process with his statements and antics.

Arestovich worked in the TCG in the same way as he served in Kramatorsk - that is, without getting out of television talk shows and interviews. Periodically provoking scandals with his statements: then he declaredthat the captured and killed fighter of the Armed Forces of Ukraine "while intoxicated, made an unauthorized transition to the side of the enemy and died from alcohol or drug intoxication", then suggested to rename Ukraine to Russia then he threatened to aim some Ukrainian missiles at Moscow (but Ukraine does not have missiles with such a range). But mainly Arestovich was engaged in the fact that unleashed his sharp tongue on Zelensky's opponents. 

But then something happened. Either they decided to get rid of Arestovich, although he didn’t seem to create any special problems for Zelensky’s team, or he himself felt that it was time to “tear his claws”, but on January 16, 2022, he wrote  announcement of his resignation from the TCG and the Office of the President. Literally immediately Arestovich again began to criticize Zelensky, and on January 20 landed on the "Peacemaker" with the following note: 

«Professional provocateur. Implementation of public information sabotage in favor of the Russian invaders. Participation in acts of humanitarian aggression against Ukraine. Conscious participation in activities that undermine the defense capability of Ukraine by demoralizing the armed forces of Ukraine» 

Was it connected with his scandalous departure? Perhaps this was done so that Arestovich would not be invited by any "pro-Ukrainian" political force. But this was not a problem for him: during his life, Arestovich was accustomed to being either in provocative movements such as the Brotherhood, or in general to be a loner. 

Arestovich and war

However, his "exile" was short-lived. With the outbreak of war, Arestovich  again became in demand - but almost unofficially, as the same freelance adviser to the head of the OP. Arestovich, who was entrusted not only with daily "gatherings" in television studios, but also with speeches at briefings in the OP, turned out to be simply indispensable - many Ukrainians called him "soothing", because he could "sweetly sing into his ears" his stories and "forecasts".

Most of them crumbled to dust almost immediately: for example, on the first day of the war, Arestovich assured that the Russian army will not shoot at civilian targets, and a few days later convinced that Russia has already run out of missiles and its army is exhausted. Unfulfilled predictions did not bother Arestovich, who continued to play his role as the main Ukrainian "expert and analyst." In addition to the constant promise of the imminent collapse of Russia, another of his tricks was regular insults to his own people: for example, over the summer he managed to name Ukrainian patriots "dolbo * bami", Ukrainian activists - "gand*nami", LGBT representatives - "people with disabilities", women in the army - "horror". For which he was subjected not only to reciprocal “criticism”, but also to physical influence: for example, on September 15, after the television broadcast, as reported, of Arestovich beat up ex-leader of "Azov" Andrei Biletsky. 

Arestovich's most recent escapade is his melancholic reaction to morning shelling of Kyiv by drones. Apparently Alexey was busy with something more "important", for example, he was sleeping or coming up with a traditional "witty" joke.

But, surprisingly, Arestovich had a rather large audience of fans of his stories: this already reminds sect on an all-Ukrainian scale. They began to say that Arestovich is one of the potential presidential candidates in the next elections - and he himself, in a well-known TV show, confirmed this. At the same time, according to him, the number of stars on his shoulder straps is also growing: in April 2022, he announced that he had been awarded the rank of lieutenant colonel (which was not confirmed), and in September he boasted that he had become a full colonel (but then said that this was a joke).

Apparently, we cannot avoid the appearance of this "joker" and "storyteller" in the ballots of the next presidential election. Although no one can now say exactly when they will take place, one thing is beyond doubt: Mr. Arestovich will certainly live to see them and take part. It will be very interesting to see the result.

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