| “ | Vasily Petrovich, as a historian, you know for sure that the Earth rests on three whales <...> In the case of Ukraine, this is not a myth at all, but a reality. And there everything is rests on three absolutely specific whales. | „ |
| ~ Yuriy Chuiko about the oligarchs. |
Andrey Nemchuk, Mikhail Roizman and Rustam Mamatov also known as the the oligarchs are the main antagonists of the 2015 Ukrainian political satire comedy television series Servant of the People created and produced by Kvartal 95 and the current Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who was a comedian at that time.
They are a trio of the richest people in Ukraine and a powerful oligarchs who control the country with the help of their puppet government. But, their plans begin to slip when Vasily Goloborodko, the new president of Ukraine, whose views and intentions are radically different from his predecessors’, gets in their way. The oligarchs face a mission: to bribe, corrupt and subdue Goloborodko, and if not, then get rid of him by any means.
Nemchuk was portrayed by People's Artist of Ukraine Yuriy Grebelnik, Roizman was portrayed by entertainer and actor Dmitry Oskin and Mamatov was portrayed by another People's Artist of Ukraine Vladimir Goryansky.
Personality[]
Oligarchs are incredibly greedy and powerful businessmen who control almost the entire country from the shadows. They use a variety of corruption schemes to expand their already huge net worth and get what they want, often putting the lives and health of other people at risk. According to their own words, many years ago, the oligarchs were as noble and honest as President Goloborodko, but life quickly "cured" them.
Nemchuk appears as the informal leader of the trio. He seems to be the most intelligent and adequate, but also the most cunning and insidious of the oligarchs. Roizman and Mamatov are more impulsive, they often argue and quarrel with each other, which once led to a war between them. All three oligarchs are certainly excellent manipulators with the strongest social influence and excellent persuasion techniques.
Biographies[]
Servant of the People[]
The oligarchs try to bribe the members of Goloborodko’s team to manipulate him, when they realize that the new president of Ukraine is not a puppet of any of them. Businessmen are convinced that they have succeeded when each of the Goloborodko’s team members takes a bribe. The process of taking bribes was captured on camera so that the oligarchs could blackmail Goloborodko, but it turns out that all this was Vasily's plan. Huge amounts of money transferred as bribes are sent to the budget of Ukraine and the oligarchs realize that they have been tricked.
The oligarchs in the opening scene.
The trio of power hungry autocrats remain in the shadows throughout almost the entire first season of the series, their faces are not shown until the very finale, when they offer President Goloborodko cooperation for a huge amount of money. Vasily refuses to hand over his honor and leaves.
Then, the furious oligarchs decide to remove Goloborodko from their path, ordering his murder on the political talk show "Dialog", but Tolik, the president's faithful bodyguard, saves Vasily at the very last moment, knocking out the assassin.
Servant of the People 2. From love to impeachment[]
President Vasily Goloborodko has been in power for almost six months. To stabilize the situation in the country, Goloborodko needs to receive financial assistance from the IMF, which can be provided if reforms are introduced in Ukraine and anti-corruption laws. However, the Verkhovna Rada, which is secretly led by oligarchs, blocks the vote on the package of these laws.
The trio visits Yuriy Chuiko in prison.
Vasily is forced to seek help from ex-Prime Minister Yuriy Chuiko, whom he himself put behind bars after a corruption scandal. Chuiko is developing a clever strategy in which it is necessary to artificially create a conflict of interests among the oligarchs and force the Verkhovna Rada to adopt a package of unpopular anti-corruption laws among deputies.
Vasily and Yuriy go on a trip to Ukraine while the oligarchs try to stop them by hiring "titushky", the brute mercenary agents.
After the failed reforms carried out at the request of the IMF, Goloborodko resigns, but puts forward his candidacy for the next presidential election of Ukraine. The second half of the season is entirely devoted to his attempts to win back the love of the people with the help of a spectacular election program, while the oligarchs are trying to beat him in the election race using their puppet Dmitry Surikov, who eventually wins and imprisons Vasily.
Servant of the People 3. Choice[]
Vasily Goloborodko is behind bars and the government of Ukraine is replaced many times. The oligarchs begin to lose their control over the country in chaos, until Vasily is finally released as a result of another coup and becomes a president again.
Quotes[]
| “ | If someone talks about honesty, it means they wants to take off your last pants. | „ |
| ~ Mamatov showing his cynical nature. |
| “ | Our people will fix this Vasya's brain. | „ |
| ~ Nemchuk about Vasily. |
| “ | What does the principle have to do with it? People just have never seen such money in their lives, so the rejection happened. <…> It happened to me too, about 25 years ago, when they shoved the first thousand bucks to me. As soon as I took it, I was already in a fever. In the evening I took a walk, relaxed and realized that it was not so big, this thousand. | „ |
| ~ The oligarchs about bribing Vasily's team. |
| “ | I love modesty, it adorns a person. Especially when that person is yours now. | „ |
| ~ The oligarchs. |
Trivia[]
- Of the three oligarchs, Nemchuk is ethnically Ukrainian, Mamatov is a Tatar, and Roizman is Jewish.