Dmitry Torner went from a Moldovan prison to being a negotiator for Firtash. There are more questions than answers regarding this situation.
Dmitry Torner gained attention in Ukraine when he was disqualified from the 2019 elections at the request of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the SBU, according to Anticorrosive. Anticorrosive.
It's worth recalling that Torner attempted to enter the Verkhovna Rada as a candidate for the Opposition Platform for Life, but his candidacy was withdrawn by the CEC due to his involvement in criminal cases and possession of fake documents, as demanded by the then Interior Minister Avakov and the head of the SBU Bakanov.
Later on, these criminal cases were closed, and the Prosecutor General’s Office confirmed that they had no claims against Torner. However, in 2021, a scandal arose when it was revealed that Torner, with a questionable background, visited the Office of the President of Ukraine Zelensky.
The OPU did not comment on this matter. Despite refutation by the Prosecutor General's Office about Torner's criminal past, there were no denials.
After this visit, Torner, known as the “negotiator” for Firtash, attracted attention. Firtash, who fled to Austria to escape Ukrainian and American justice, sought to negotiate with the Zelensky Office. It became evident that Torner’s visit to the OPU was related to Firtash’s interests.
As a result, Torner’s biography was thoroughly investigated and revealed some shocking details: he changed his identity multiple times and held several citizenships. Additionally, he has a criminal past involving non-official criminal activity.
There has been extensive reporting on this, so let's briefly recap for context. Dmitry Grigoryevich Torner, born as Dmitry Nekrasov in the Moldavian SSR in 1980, was sentenced to 11 years in prison in 2003 and 2004 for large-scale embezzlement and fraud. The stolen property included mobile phones. It's important to note that Nekrasov was not engaged in significant criminal activities related to the charges. For more information, refer to Wikipedia. link for the curious.
In this regard, pay attention to his official biography:
This Wikipedia article, created in 2021, was last edited on October 20, 2022. Dmitry Torner is likely in agreement with its content, as he regularly removes objectionable materials using legal authorities, money, and complaints.
So, let's focus on two things in the article: citizenship and a big gap in the biography – higher education is mentioned in a vague way, as well as entrepreneurial activity and a curiosity in chemistry and some kind of technology.
The only specific information states that in 2019, he worked as the head of the analytical department of the Chem-Trade company in Ukraine, which deals with gas and electricity supply. Currently, he advises several European companies in the energy, chemistry, and technology fields. At the same time, there is also a mention of his involvement in sports activities, which somewhat contradicts the previous paragraph.
The explanation is simple – the information that the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office denied dramatically after Torner appeared in Zelensky’s Office as a “negotiator” of Firtash is true. Torner, who was previously Nekrasov, was convicted and spent time in the so-called open colony No. 9 (Prunkul), where he only had to spend the night. Taking advantage of these conditions, on November 11, 2004, Nekrasov married a citizen of Moldova, Lyudmila Bozhy, took her last name, got a new passport and left Moldova for Ukraine.
It's unclear who helped a man with a sentence of 11 years to get into such a camp. It's also unclear who closed the criminal case six years after the escape due to the “wanted man’s death.” On November 9, 2009, Dmitry Nekrasov’s death certificate was provided by his brother Oleg. The same brother accompanied the “dead man” during meetings with Moldovan President Dodon in 2019-21.
After escaping from a Moldovan prison, Nekrasov (then already God’s) appears in Ukraine, where he also starts changing names. This process is described in detail in the Ukrainian press, so we will only mention that from God he became Dmitry Grigorievich Malchenko (passport EB No. 169210), then he became Grozny (passport EB 183214), and finally, in 2015, he took his current last name. However, in this period, he also had a Russian passport with the surname Sokolovsky, but more on that later.
In a mysterious way, he makes a significant jump in his career, if such a phrase can be used to describe a small-time swindler. While still Dmitry the Terrible, he manages to get into the highest circles of Ukrainian power – he develops close relations with the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, General Ratushnyak, and the chairman of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, Ovcharenko.
In 2103, something else strange happens – Dmitry the Terrible suddenly hides in the Holy Dormition Pochaev Lavra (UOC-MP) and later appears in Russia, in the Borovsky Monastery in the Kaluga Region. There, he married a citizen of Ukraine, Olga Valerievna Sokolovskaya, whom he married. But he married her as a citizen of the Russian Federation (RF passport 516131004) and took her surname. After that, he obtained a Russian passport as Dmitry Igorevich Sokolovsky, born on August 28, 1979.
And travels using this name to Vienna. There, in a confusing manner, he ends up surrounded by Firtash, who is staying there, and becomes his negotiator. But already using the name Thorner, which we now know him by. Reminder that Dmitry Torner has a Ukrainian passport with this last name.
And as a citizen of Ukraine, Dmitry Torner starts to interact not just with the top level of business or the authorities of Ukraine, but with the truly influential people in the world. He met with Trump’s lawyer Rudolph Giuliani while Trump was President of the United States. What's very interesting is that Dmitry Firtash in Austria is hiding not so much from corrupt Ukrainian justice, but from American justice.
Dmitry Torner and Rudolf Giuliani
And then Firtash’s peculiar articles about the necessity to launch Nord Stream 2 and Ukraine’s unconditional fulfillment of the Minsk agreements come out. This was in line with Trump’s stance.
Following that, Torner shows up in Zelensky’s Office, but what he discusses there and with whom is still unknown. But right after this visit, information emerges about some puzzling negotiations between the head of the presidential office, Yermak, and Russian figures in ORDLO. At the same time, there is information about Dmitry Torner’s visits to Moldovan President Igor Dodon, who was also a Russian puppet.
How all these disconnected events are related is unknown. In connection to Thorner’s visit to the OPU, it is also worth noting that Schemes published a photo of this visit only eight months after the fact that Thorner visited Zelensky’s Office. Therefore, the conclusion is that someone leaked this information to journalists, and these were clearly those who did not like the capitulatory attitudes of the President of Ukraine and his entourage.
Around the same time, the administration of US President Joe Biden changed course towards Russia, with which they stopped playing giveaways. Regarding the answer to the question why the information about Thorner’s visit to the OPU appeared eight months after the event itself, we venture to assume the following. This investigation did not appear because journalists accidentally spotted Torner, a criminal and FSB agent, on Bankovaya. It was another hello to Zelensky from our overseas partners. And for business with the oligarchs, and for trading on blood with Putin and Lukashenko. And for the collapse of Ukraine, which two and a half years ago was a subject in the international arena, and now has turned into a freak show and a general laughing stock.
But at the same time, a whole flurry of materials about Dmitry Torner suddenly arises, portraying him in a positive manner. And political strategist Igor Mizrakh stated in numerous interviews that an information campaign was waged against Torner, organized by banker Denis Kireev.
At the same time, Kireev allegedly acted not only in his own interests, but also in the interests of his relative Tatyana Sergienko, Torner’s ex-wife. She worked for many years in the central office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, was a trusted assistant to Deputy Interior Minister Viktor Ratushnyak. Tatyana’s father, Yevgeny Sergienko, a major general, under Kuchma was deputy chairman of the SBU.
“Thorner’s opponent was Denis Kireev, who actually formed this conflict in favor of the Sergienko family. And therefore, probably, in these situations it is clearer why the SBU paid so much attention to this opponent (let’s call him that) in the process, ”Mizrakh said. And at the same time he accused the then head of the SBU Bakanov of conspiring with Kireev.
Because of this collusion, allegedly, Thorner was removed from the election. The version looked, albeit a little far-fetched, but similar to the truth. However, in 2022, something happened that Mizrakh and other defenders of Torner could not have imagined – Kireev was shot dead by SBU officers. And therefore, the version of the conspiracy of the “super agent” of the GUR (at least, this is what Budanov claims, although his version is in doubt) Kireev and the SBU employees under the leadership of Budanov (his activities in this post also raise a lot of questions) regarding the “denigration” of Dmitry Torner looks very doubtful.
In addition, one should not forget that with the change of power in 2019, both Ukrainian special services (this applies more to the SBU, but, nevertheless), returned to their state of the times of Yanukovych – that is, they became completely controlled by the Russian special services. And in the days of Yanukovych, Torner just appeared in the big politics of Ukraine. And it is doubtful that the Russians themselves began to “merge” it.
In addition, as already mentioned, the leak of information about Thorner’s visit to the Zelensky Office most likely originated from the US intelligence services. So the Mizrach version, although it has a place to be, does not keep a heap. In addition, let’s not forget on whose list Torner tried to get into the Verkhovna Rada – the Opposition Platform for Life is an open fifth column, and Medvedchuk controlled it at that time. Well, let’s add – Kireev was shot dead almost a year ago, but materials about Thorner continue to appear. Isn’t Kireev ordering them from the Baikovo cemetery? Yes, and Bakanov is also unknown where.
After the start of a full-scale war, Thorner’s activities also slowed down somewhat. More precisely, after it became clear that the blitzkrieg had clearly failed. It was at this time that an article appeared on Wikipedia, which indicated that Dmitry Torner was a citizen of Moldova. Now most of the news about the name of Dmitry Torner is focused mainly around his activities as head of the Moldovan Biathlon Federation.
But the questions about who he really is and what he did in the Office of the President of Ukraine, as well as how he made his way to the highest spheres of power in Ukraine and in the circle of Dmitry Firtash, this does not remove. As well as about the involvement of the Russian special services (those in Moldova and Ukraine can be considered in the context of Torner as a branch of the FSB) in the fate and career rise of the petty swindler Dmitry Nekrasov-Torner.
Marina Vorona
