Not so long ago, she, a pensioner from the Transcarpathian region, had nothing to do with the sports business, and today, she supplies skis, snowboards, and equipment to Ukrainian athletes. Her success in state tenders seems even more remarkable when one finds out that she is the mother-in-law of Serhii Sedniev, the head of the Department of Winter Olympic Sports in the Ministry of Youth and Sports.
NGL.media, in collaboration with the sports news portal Tribuna, investigated this family business.
This investigation has become possible thanks to the participants of the NGL.media community, who have access to special content and possibilities.
This investigation started with a routine inspection of the procurements made by the Ukrsportzabezpechennia [Ukrainian Sports Provisions] in the second half of 2024. Among dozens of agreements, we noted Antonina Susyk, a 34-year-old resident of Pidvynohradiv village in the Transcarpathian region, who received her first state order merely one month after being registered as a sole entrepreneur.
At first, in October, she sold tracksuits (UAH 56 thousand each) and gloves (UAH 5.5 thousand per one pair) for the total amount of UAH 738 thousand to the national freestyle skiing team. And by the end of the year, Antonina Susyk sold snowboards, skis, and other equipment for almost UAH 5.8 million.
At the same time, Antonina Susyk works as the head of the subscriber maintenance department at the AVE Vynohradovo — a small garbage-hauling company, providing its services to the Vynohradiv and Khust communities with a total population of under 150 thousand people.
NGL.media and Tribuna found out that several novice entrepreneurs also manifested their sudden interest in procurements made by the Ukrsportzabezpechennia. All of them are united not only by their desire to earn money from the same state institution but, allegedly, also by their coordinated participation in the tenders and the association with the relatives of Serhii Sedniev, the head of the Department of the Winter Olympic Sports at the Ministry of Youth and Sports.
41-year-old Serhii Sedniev used to be a rather well-known biathlonist; he won a medal at the World Championship in 2011 and the Biathlon World Cup in 2010. However, Sedniev’s career in sport ended with a scandal – in 2015, he was disqualified for the use of performance-enhancing drugs. He worked as a coach for some time and then was employed at the Ministry.
A group of entrepreneurs, associated with Sedniev, has received a total of over UAH 59 million from the Ukrsportzabezpechennia. And it all started quite trivially – with his mother-in-law.
A mother-in-law becomes an entrepreneur
Oksana Shperyk, a 64-year-old mother-in-law of Sedniev, lives in the small town of Vynohradiv in the Transcarpathian region. As for her biography, it is merely known that she used to work at the Zakarpattiaoblenergo [the Transcarpathian regional power distribution company]. This was also the place of employment for her daughter, Myroslava Shperyk, the wife of Serhii Sedniev. In 2019, Oksana Shperyk became a member of the management board of the public organization “Biathlon of the Future”, founded by her daughter and son-in-law.
Oksana Shperyk, a photo from the Facebook page
According to the data of YouControl, in September 2020, Oksana Shperyl was registered as an entrepreneur and immediately started receiving large orders from the Ukrsportzabezpechennia. At first, she won a tender for the supply of skis at the cost of UAH 370 thousand, and two weeks later – for various biathlon equipment, at the cost of UAH 2.2 million.
To receive these orders, Shperyk even had to act a bit craftily. To prove her experience as an entrepreneur while applying for both procurements of the Ukrsportzabezpechennia, she submitted the same small agreement with the Sumy ”” As it happens, Serhii Sedniev is from the Sumy region Regional Centre of Winter Sports. However, the agreement, submitted by Shperyk, is dated September 21, 2020, although the same agreement is dated October 1 in Prozorro. In response to the NGL.media’s inquiry, the Regional Centre of Winter Sports confirmed that this agreement was actually executed at a later date.
In other words, as of the moment of executing both agreements with the Ukrsportzabezpechennia, Oksana Shperyk could not confirm her relevant experience in entrepreneurial activity, and her proposals should have been rejected. Yet, she was declared a winner and paid almost UAH 2.6 million. Now, the Ukrsportzabezpechennia claims that they were not aware of the “probable inaccuracy of the documents”.
In 2020, Oksana Shperyk got orders from the Ukrsportzabezpechennia for a total of UAH 4.4 million. At the same time, her son-in-law, Serhii Sedniev was paid a salary by the same institution ”” The Ukrsportzabezpechennia refused to provide official information about the positions and periods of Serhii Sedniev’s work for the institution, including his biography or autobiography. Judging by the subsequent response to the inquiry, it may be assumed that he was receiving a salary from the Ukrsportzabezpechennia as a leading coach in 2017-2021 and from the State Centre of Biathlon Training for the Olympic Games ”” Serhii Sedniev worked at the State Centre for Biathlon Training for the Olympic Games in the position of a leading specialist in public and press relations on a part-time basis from June 02, 2015 to March 03, 2021. The Olympic Centre also refused to give his autobiography. .
In 2020, Oksana Shperyk also started receiving orders from the State Centre of Biathlon Training for the Olympic Games, and now the amount of agreements, signed with her, is over UAH 2 million. The agreements with her were signed by Viacheslav Derkach, the director of this Centre. Previously, he was a member of the Ukrainian national biathlon team together with Serhii Sedniev.
Derkach claims that he doesn’t remember who recommended Oksana Shperyk to him exactly. “Frankly speaking, I don’t even check who is whose mother-in-law. I do know Serhii because I used to run in the same team with him. And for the mother-in-law… Frankly speaking, I didn’t trace it,” he said.
It is noteworthy that the agreements with the Olympic Centre contain not the contact data of Sedniev’s mother-in-law but those of his wife Myroslava, including her telephone number. At that time, Myroslava Shperyk-Sednieva worked as the director of the Western rehabilitation sports centre and then in the Desnianska district state administration of Kyiv, thus combining state positions and business with her mother’s help.
In response to our inquiry, the regional department of the State Property Fund in Kyiv, where Shperyk-Sednieva is currently the deputy head, recommended asking her for her phone number personally. Yet she didn’t respond to numerous calls and written inquiries, made by the journalists of Tribuna and NGL.media.
The mother-in-law fails to cope on her own
In 2021, Serhii Sedniev started working at the Ministry of Youth and Sports – at first, he was a chief specialist in the Department of Winter Olympic Sports and then headed this department. In 2021–2022, Oksana Shperyk, his mother-in-law, didn’t receive any orders from the Ukrsportzabezpechennia; at least, it is not reflected in Prozorro.
But it all changed in 2023. Not only Sedniev’s mother-in-law, but also five related entrepreneurs started supplying sportswear, equipment, and inventory items – and all of these were for winter sports. In 2023, they were paid a total of almost UAH 15.3 million, and in the following 2024, the payments sky-rocketed to almost UAH 40 million ”” the data of Spending.gov.ua .
There is a high probability that these six people received the largest share of supplies of everything related to skiing sports.
They might have taken turns applying to the tenders, announced by the Ukrsportzabezpechennia, not to attract too much attention. As a rule, only one member of this group took part in the tender, and he was sure to win it. The group members won a total of 66 tenders from the Ukrsportzabezpechennia for the supplies of skis, snowboards, relevant clothes, and inventory items.
In addition to the Ukrsportzabezpechennia, Oksana Shperyk also received orders from other, mainly sports budget institutions – the total amount of her agreements, according to the data of Clarity Project, exceeded UAH 19 million. On the condition of anonymity, the head of one of these institutions told the editorial office that, allegedly, it was her son-in-law, Serhii Sedniev, who insisted on executing the agreement with her.
The attempts of NGL.media and Tribuna to ask Mrs. Shperyk personally about the reasons for her business success ended with a queer thing. At first, she confirmed that she was indeed selling sports equipment, but as soon the conversation turned to her daughter and son-in-law, she hung up and never responded to other calls.
As for Serhii Sedniev, in his written response to NGL.media, he denied his impact on any tenders won by his mother-in-law and other related entrepreneurs.
The Transcarpathian part of the network
We have managed to trace the following relations between Oksana Shperyk and other novice entrepreneurs who received orders from the Ukrsportzabezpechennia.
The first one turned out to be Ivan Roman, a 34-year-old resident of the Transcarpathian region, who was registered as an entrepreneur in April 2023. He is Oksana Shperyk’s nephew who used to work as the head of the investigative force at the Mukachevo district police department. Judging by the submitted financial statements, his wife is the prosecutor at the Mukachevo regional prosecutor’s office.
Ivan Roman (Facebook)
According to the data of the Clarity Project, Ivan Roman received all his state orders solely from the Ukrsportzabezpechennia.
He claims to be running his business on his own and says that he doesn’t know who Oksana Shperyk is. Meanwhile, on social networks, she tenderly calls him “Vaniushka” [little Ivan] and wishes him a victory in the local elections. The confirmation of their family relations was also found in the russian social network, “Odnoklassniki”.
In autumn 2023, Shperyk and Roman were joined by 55-year-old Olha Pekar, also a resident of Vynohradiv. On social networks, she calls herself an energy therapist and runs her own thrift shop in Vynohradiv. Also Pekar often likes the posts of Shperyk on Facebook.
In the documents, submitted by both women to the tenders, announced by the Ukrsportzabezpechennia, we found identical defects which may serve as evidence that these documents had been prepared on the same device.
Olha Pekar refused to give any comments for this article.
Next year, in 2024, they were joined by the abovementioned Antonina Susyk from the neighbouring village of Pidvynohradiv. She confirmed that she had taken part in the tenders of the Ukrsportzabezpechennia, but during the conversation, she let it slip that it had been “done by another person… a colleague”. After that, she refused to give any further comments.
The Kyiv part of the network
Soon, the Kyivites – 46-year-old Andrii Mykhailenko and 22-year-old Taras Holiaka – started receiving state orders too. The metadata of the documents, submitted by them, demonstrate that in fact, their author is Uliana Yatsyshyna. She is also the author, indicated in the metadata of the documents, submitted by Oksana Shperyk and Antonina Susyk from the Transcarpathian region.
Similar metadata in the files of the participants
The same metadata also stated the company of the author of these files – a well-known producer of skiing gear, Fischer Ukraine, from Mukachevo.
In the conversation with Tribuna, Uliana Yatsyshyna claimed that she had never dealt with state procurements or prepared any documents for them and that she had left Fischer Ukraine at the beginning of 2023. She also assumed that her working account could have been transferred to another person and assured us that she didn’t know Serhii Sedniev.
As early as a few weeks after being registered as an entrepreneur, a 22-year-old Kyivite, Taras Holiaka, won a tender of the Ukrsportzabezpechennia for almost UAH 2.8 million at the first attempt. His mother, Tetiana Holiaka, has been working together with Sedniev’s wife for a long time – at first, in the Desnianska district state administration, and now in the regional State Property Fund in Kyiv, where Myroslava Shperyk-Sednieva is her immediate boss.
Their close relations are evident in their photos, which Tetiana Holiaka posts on social networks. It is noteworthy that the photo with Sedniev’s wife on Holiaka’s Facebook page was liked by three entrepreneurs from our list – Ivan Roman, Oksana Shperyk and Olha Pekar.
Tetiana Holiaka and Myroslava Sednieva, a photo from Facebook
Taras Holiaka didn’t respond to our request for comments. His mother said that she didn’t interfere with her son’s business. As for her relations with Sedniev’s wife, she made quite a clear statement, “She is my boss, I am her subordinate. We have some working issues. That’s it. I have seen her husband, but we are not friends personally. I don’t know what he does and I don’t even know what he heads.”
We also found the metadata “Uliana Yatsyshyna” in the files of 46-year-old Andrii Mykhailenko, who received over UAH 7.3 million from the Ukrsportzabezpechennia only last December. Judging by the tags for his phone number, he works in the sphere of repairs and construction works, not the supplies of skiing gear. Mykhailenko refused to talk about his participation in the tenders of the Ukrsportzabezpechennia.
A relevant issue – did they drive prices up?
Most goods, bought by the Ukrsportzabezpechennia from this group of entrepreneurs, are not sold in Ukraine. They can be found on the websites of producers and numerous online shops around the world.
We lack sufficient data for the full-fledged analysis. During the supply of goods of foreign origin, the Ukrsportzabezpechennia demanded that the sellers should provide copies of the customs declarations, among other documents. However, Oleksii Shubynskyi, the head of this state institution, refused to give these copies, explaining it by confidentiality issues. Yet these documents could have helped us find additional connections between the abovementioned persons and make some estimates.
Having compared the data from different sources, we can single out two tendencies regarding the procurement of goods by the Ukrsportzabezpechennia.
First of all, a considerable part of these goods can be bought abroad approximately twice cheaper. However, considering all the expenses and customs fees, the actual difference will not be considerable.
For instance, last October and November, the Ukrsportzabezpechennia contracted 82 pairs of roller skis, Marwe Skating 620 FX, at the price of UAH 19.9 thousand/pair from Taras Holiaka. In autumn, twelve more pairs of the same roller skis were sold by Andrii Mykhailenko at the same price. Considering the NBU exchange rate in October-November, it is about EUR 420 per one pair, which generally doesn’t differ much from the retail price set by the producer.
The Finnish producer, Marwe Sports Company, reported that it sells a wholesale batch, consisting of 50 pairs of roller skis, for 260 euro per one pair. Their delivery to Ukraine, insurance, broker’s services, the import tariff, and the VAT increase the price to about EUR 360 per one pair. Thus, the difference is about EUR 60.
So the entrepreneurs did make some money on these goods, but there mostly was no overpricing.
However, there was the second category – the goods, re-sold to the Ukrsportzabezpechennia with a very high retail margin. Yet, it was mainly related to small agreements.
For instance, in 2023, Oksana Shperyk signed an agreement with the Ukrsportzabezpechennia, by which two special benches for the preparation of snowboards, Maplus Travel Bench (MTO640), were assessed at the price of over UAH 38 thousand each, though in the Internet these are sold for up to 70 dollars. Since these goods are quite non-typical, we managed to find out ”” using the data of the export-import database, MarketInside that it was not Oksana Shperyk who had brought these benches into Ukraine, but Ivan Roman, her nephew.
Several more examples – in November 2024, Taras Holiaka signed an agreement for 30 poles ”” Liski, 10110 AS2 for ski tracks at the price of UAH 102 thousand, although the producer sells the same number of poles for less than one thousand euro. And in December 2024, Oksana Shperyk sold 18 pairs of skiing goggles, UVEX Athletic CV, at the price of UAH 9.8 thousand to the Ukrsportzabespechennia, although such goggles even in Ukraine cost up to UAH 5 thousand.
Conflict of interests
The duties of Serhii Sedniev, as the head of the Department of Winter Olympic Sports in the Ministry, cover (the response from the Ministry of Sports about job responsibilities) “preparing proposals regarding the financial and material provisions for the national teams of Ukraine”, “participating in the distribution of financial and material resources, allocated for the development of Winter Olympic Sports”, and “control over its efficient use”.
His working as the head of the profile department of the Ministry of Sports and his mother-in-law’s receiving state orders from the institution, subordinate to the same Ministry, are not within integrity margins, at the very least.
The Ukrsportzabezpechennia claims (the response of the Ukrsportzabezpechennia) that “the specificities of the functioning of the electronic procurement system make it impossible for any person, including Serhii Sedniev, the head of the Department of Winter Olympic Sports, to impact the selection of the supplier during the open tender procedure”. As for the facts that Sedniev’s relatives and related entrepreneurs received state orders, they “don’t have this information”.
We tried to find out what Serhii Sedniev thinks about all this. “I respect the work of every journalist,” he assured us in the telephone conversation with NGL.media, but he refused to give us his interview without getting the questions beforehand. Yet when he got the questions, he stopped responding to our messages in the messenger and calls.
We managed to receive at least some kind of response only from the Ministry of Youth and Sports, where Sedniev seems to have been forced to write an “explanatory note”. Despite its lack of words, three key statements can be highlighted in this note.
Firstly, he claims that he is not acquainted with any entrepreneur, mentioned in the investigation, even his own mother-in-law: “Personally, I am not acquainted with the individuals, mentioned in the letter of the NGL.media journalist, and thus I have not impacted the process of procurements or promotion of their business interests.”
Secondly, he doesn’t see any problems because the procurements are dealt with by the Ukrsportzabezpechennia, not his immediate department.
And lastly, neither he nor his wife, as Serhii Sedniev wrote, “controls or helps carry out the entrepreneurial activity of the individuals, mentioned in the letter.”
Authors Oleksandra Hubytska (NGL.media) and Stanislav Oroshkevych (Tribuna), editor Oleh Onysko, infographics Nazar Tuziak, translation Nelya Plakhota, cover Viktoria Demchuk