Mezhyhirya Residence
Mezhyhirya Residence
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Mezhyhirya Residence

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Mezhyhirya Residence

The Mezhyhirya Residence (Ukrainian: Межигір'я, romanizedMezhyhiria, pronounced [meʒɪˈɦirjɐ]) is an estate in Ukraine where Viktor Yanukovych lived when he was Prime Minister and then President of Ukraine and is now a museum displaying Yanukovych's luxurious lifestyle. Yanukovych lived in the estate from 2002, when he first became Prime Minister, to 21 February 2014, when he fled the country during the Revolution of Dignity.

The estate was founded as a monastery that functioned off-and-on until closed in 1923 by the Bolsheviks following the establishment of the Soviet Union. From 1935 Mezhyhirya was a state government residence, first under the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and then under an independent Ukraine, until 2007 when it was privatized in the final weeks of Yanukovych’s leadership as Prime Minister. This privatization has been alleged as having been illegal, with no money being reported as being paid to the state for its sale. In 2012, the State Administration of Affairs rented a space from Tantalit for 99,691 per year, arranging it for official receptions. In 2014, it returned to state ownership.

In 2010, Yanukovych claimed the lease of 1 ha (2.5 acres) in Mezhyhirya cost ₴314 per month (2010) which was about $39.57 according to the exchange rate at the time.

Another luxurious residence was under construction near Cape Aya in Crimea at the time Yanukovych was ousted from office. The residence was popularly known as “Mezhyhirya 2”.

Until April 10, 1786, the space now occupied by the modern residence was inhabited by the Savior-Transfiguration Monastery, the establishment of which is attributed prior to the period of princely epoch in Kyiv, which was liquidated by the Russian Imperial edict of Catherine the Great. A year later, the monastery was set on fire, supposedly on the order of the same Catherine the Great. Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko wrote about the incident: "As tsaritsa with Nechesa walked around Kyiv and the Mezhyhirya Savior she set on fire at night". At the end of the 19th century the monastery was restored as a female monastery called "Intercession of the Saints", but in 1923 was once again closed by the Bolsheviks. During 1923–1931 the monastery building was used by as a college for ceramic production. Former cells of the monastery became occupied by a commune of artists-monumentalists. In 1931 the college was moved to Kyiv. At the same year the iconostasis of the Savior-Transfiguration Monastery was destroyed.

Mezhyhirya is also the former summer house of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's leaders since 1935.[failed verification] During the occupation by Nazi Germany, it was a residence of the Reich Commissar Erich Koch in a palace of the Kiev Military District commander Iona Yakir. Before its privatization by the President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych (at that time Prime Minister of Ukraine), the residence belonged to the State recreation complex Pushcha Vodytsia.

Stepping into the post of Prime Minister of Ukraine in 2002, Viktor Yanukovych received free of charge building #20 with an area 325 m2 (3,500 sq ft) in the residence from the Fund of State Property. On April 1, 2003 Viktor Yanukovych rented building #20 and 3 ha (7.4 acres) of land through the mediation of Donetsk Charity Fund "Revival of Ukraine". By the agreement, the rental price was ₴3.14 per month for a period of 49 years for the purpose "implementation of measures for the promotion of national and international programs aimed at improving the socio-economic status".

Stepping out of the post of Prime Minister of Ukraine in 2005, Yanukovych received another building, #20-a.

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