Frankly speaking, I have long wished to meet Michel Tereshchenko, a descendant of the glorious lineage of the Tereshchenkos, industrialists and sponsors. He is not as rich as were, say, Artemy and Nicolas Tereshchenko or even his grandfather Mykhailo, the last minister of finance and foreign affairs in the Provisional Government of Russia. But he obviously inherited the talent of an entrepreneur and, what is more, the love for his forefathers’ land to which he has decided to devote the rest of his life.
After a barrage of TV spot news and publications about Michel’s recent renunciation of French and acquisition of Ukrainian citizenship, I wished to have a simple, sincere, and down-to-earth chat without too much fanfare. But I felt that, for a person who has deliberately taken this step at a mature age, it is important not so much to be called the son of Ukraine as to establish himself in a new Tereshchenko generation, adding his own history to it. It is, after all, a challenge to himself, his willpower, strength, and stamina.
FACT FILE
Being the sugar tycoons of the Russian Empire and having built a family nest in Hlukhiv, the former capital of the Ukrainian Hetmanate (now part of Sumy oblast), the Tereshchenko dynasty used to donate 80 percent of all their profits for charitable purposes. We can still see a “Tereshchenkohrad” of sorts, a number of structures in Kyiv built fully or partially at the expense of this family: the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, the Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko Museum, the Russian Art Museum, the Taras Shevchenko Museum, the Maternity and Childcare Hospital, the First Music Academy (now the Peter Tchaikovsky Conservatoire), St. Volodymyr’s Cathedral, St. Michael’s Church, the museums of History and Art, the National Medical Library, as well as schools and orphanages.
Seven structures, linked to the Tereshchenkos, have survived in Hlukhiv, including Three Anastasias’ Cathedral, Pedagogical University, the Institute of Fiber Crops, and the raion hospital. The Tereshchenko family’s longtime motto is “Aspiring for Public Benefit.”
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When we arrived at Hlukhiv, the hospital built by the Tereshchenkos hosted a charitable action, “A Step to Life – Check Yourself,” held on the initiative of the NGO “Center of Active Hlukhiv Residents” and with support from the Tereshchenko Heritage Foundation. The aim was to examine local residents for visual forms of cancer. The Kyiv Oncologic Institute sent special equipment, and some oncologists came from Sumy. The idea of community medicine was being implemented before your very eyes, when the community itself decides which forms of examination ought to be applied on its territory.
“I FEEL HERE ON THE BORDER AS IF I WERE A SHOP WINDOW THAT MUST SHOW THE CLOSEST NEIGHBORS THAT IT IS POSSIBLE TO LIVE IN A CIVILIZED AND FAIR WAY WITHOUT CORRUPTION”
“If you want to see how flax is harvested, come with me,” Michel Tereshchenko said to us matter-of-factly. “Today is the last time harvesters are in the field. I must be there.”
Leaving behind his own auto, he jumped, like a young man, onto the back seat of our staff car, told the driver where to go, and went on:
“I am a farmer now. I work on the land of my ancestors. They were successful here about 100 years ago. They grew sugar beet, and we do flax and hemp. There is also a good microclimate here for these crops.”
What did you do in France?
“I was very far from land farming. I might say I was deep down. My managerial work was connected with underwater research and construction of submarine equipment.”
And suddenly this transformation…
“There’s nothing accidental in this life. It was a happy lot, a happy lottery if you like, to come back home. I twice visited Ukraine with my father – in 1994, when we were invited to Kyiv on the occasion of renaming Repin Street as Tereshchenkivska, and in 1998 to attend the opening of the Khanenkos Museum after restoration. I came as a tourist and never thought that I would live in Ukraine.
“Everything changed when I came to Hlukhiv in May 2002. It was a tender sensation of your ancestral land. This was the first time I had the feeling of a son who was coming back home. I saw a sincere attitude of Hlukhiv residents to the Tereshchenko family and the way they cherished the memory of family line and cared about the structures of that time. I began to love these people and took a deep interest in their life and problems. I suddenly felt I was one of them.
“First we helped the local Institute of Fiber Crops. Later I came up as a guarantor of sorts and persuaded some French businessmen to invest in the land farming of Hlukhiv raion, Sumy oblast. Here is the result,” Michel said, stopped the car, and we went out. “This Belgian-made flax-processing equipment is unique and expensive. You won’t find it elsewhere in Ukraine. A very closely-knit team of Hlukhiv residents works here. We have already transferred our office from Kyiv to Hlukhiv.”
Who do you feel you are genetically?
“A Ukrainian European! I am equally keen on the cultures of France and Ukraine, as they are the closest to me.”
Is Russia far from where we are standing?
“As the crow flies, it’s seven kilometers away.” Looking towards the neighbors’ side, Michel turned stern. “This is not the first war in Europe. Of course, I’m sorry for the killed and wounded people. But, on the other hand, paradoxically, the war will strengthen Ukraine. Take, for example, Israel – it has always been at war, but the country is amazingly strong and impregnable like a fortress. I am sure nobody in Ukraine wants a war. It is a foreign aggression.
“Our history has always known those who wanted to invade the Ukrainian land. Today it is Russia. The defense of your native land considerably increases the feeling of patriotism. Local people have undergone essential changes before my very eyes. Most of them spoke Russian until very recently, but now Ukrainian is in vogue. They come out on the street together in festive embroidered shirts. People are displaying pride, dignity, and a victorious spirit. They place their confidence in their defenders. Contrary to his intentions, Putin instilled cohesion and patriotism in us.”
How do you, now a Ukrainian businessman, feel in Ukraine?
“I feel here on the border as if I were a shop window that must show the closest neighbors that it is possible to live in a civilized and fair way without corruption. We just have no other way than to conduct business legally and transparently. Sooner or later, we will have to work and pay taxes honestly. If the locals do not do so, foreign investors will come. А few French investors are already working with me here. Foreign investments are, of course, a good thing, but they will not save Ukraine. This will only happen when Ukrainians themselves begin to invest in their own future. Foreigners can help in some large-scale strategic projects. But the blood of the nation is the Ukrainian investor!”
“A UKRAINIAN HECTARE OF FERTILE BLACK EARTH IS THE MOST COST-EFFECTIVE IN THE WORLD. YOU SHOULD ALWAYS REMEMBER THIS!”
What is your attitude to the painful question of the privatization of Ukrainian land?
“I am for privatization. As an agrarian, I can see that land suffers annual losses because it doesn’t have a good manager. But let me warn you: the greatest evil for land is agro holdings! The founders of these firms, who work via stock exchanges, don’t know and have never set a foot on their land. They only deal with shares and try to officially acquire as much land as possible – 100, 200, 400 hectares… Maybe, some will try to grab a million! It’s terrible! Successful land farming in Europe and America rests on family agro business – from grandfather to grandson. In France, where there is not so much arable land, one family successfully cultivates an average 300 hectares to reap decent profits. The average size of a US land plot is 1,500 hectares. This is considered a very cost-effective enterprise. In my opinion, a similar farm in Ukraine can cultivate up to 3,000, maximum 5,000, hectares – not more! If we set up this kind of farms all over the country, there will be true, patriotic, managers who will keep any occupiers away from their land. This will halt the demise of the Ukrainian countryside, for 25 percent of the population is still living there.
“The Ukrainian hectare of fertile black earth is the most cost-effective in the world. You should always remember this! People will then get back to their land. The state must at first help new farmers on a selective basis by means of cheap loans and mini-machines.
“As for agro holdings, they have other priorities – profits will go abroad, and Ukraine will get nothing. I am thoroughly convinced that agro holdings are death to Ukraine!”
FACT FILE
In 2007 Michel Tereshchenko and French investors came to Ukraine to cultivate an area of 2,800 hectares. Since then their agro company has been growing various crops. Up to 400 hectares are reserved for growing flax. Last year they also began to sow drug-free hemps (these varieties were first bred at the Hlukhiv-based Institute of Fiber Crops). About 400 hectares of land have also been allotted for this purpose. To process the raw material, they bought out several flax mills, including one in Hlukhiv, which also processes hemps. A company, Linen of Desna, was set up on its basis. The main end product is linen and hemp fiber, which is widely used in the textile industry, and construction tow. They also manufacture a very salubrious linseed and hemp oil. The products are exported. It a waste-free production process: even awn is exported to Europe’s horse farms and wastes are used to make biomass briquettes. There is a rope-making factory based on the revived traditional handcrafts of this region, a company that grows such natural products as raspberry, black currants, medicinal herbs, and environment-friendly teas. There is an apiary with 300 honeybee families.
Michel Tereshchenko and partners have created about 200 jobs for local residents in a few years.
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Let us throw an imaginary “bridge” across history. Your ancestors lived in the Russian Empire. Did they show any Ukrainianness?
(Michel takes an old photo)
“This is Nicolas, my great-grandfather. He was born in 1819. His parents, Artemii and Yefrosinia, decided to give the boy a Ukrainian first name – Mykola. But it was forbidden to register Ukrainian names at the time. So, not to record it in Russian, they registered him in the French manner as Nicolas. Comment is superfluous, isn’t it?
“Our family’s coat of arms is in yellow-blue colors: two lions (one blue and one yellow) that hold wheat ears. It was in 1870, but Ukrainian colors were esteemed even at that remote time.
“To paint over Three Anastasias’ Church in Hlukhiv, the Tereshchenkos invited the best-known artists, such as Vereshchagin, Pymonenko, and Zhuravel. If you look closely at the fresco of The Last Supper over the altar, you will see that the cloth on the table at which the apostles sit is also in blue-yellow colors. There also are many other facts that prove that my ancestors were very Ukrainian in spirit.
“Our family owned five watercolors by Taras Shevchenko, which are displayed now at Kyiv’s Shevchenko Museum. The main part of the Tereshchenkos’ collection is at the Kyiv Museum of Russian Art. I have already requested the Kyiv Council to change the title to ‘Tereshchenko Brothers’ Collection.’ This would be fair.”
[I look at the pictures on the walls of Michel’s Hlukhiv office. – Author.]
Who is the author of these pictures?
“My daughter. This is a Ukrainian field. She is in rapture over Ukraine’s landscapes! Incidentally, we put up her pictures, as well as some other ones, for charitable auctions.”
“THE WORD ‘RICH’ IS FAR FROM ALWAYS A SYNONYM TO THE WORD ‘THIEF’”
When do you think rich people will begin to be respected in Ukraine?
“I’ve been often asked this question, particularly after the book The First Oligarch was published. The word ‘rich’ is far from always a synonym to the word ‘thief.’ How did my ancestors live? From generation to generation, they worked, handing over their expertise and managerial culture and investing money in their native land. None of them ever tried to carry their money abroad. They developed business, built the social sphere, and donated 80 percent of the profit to charity.
“I propose a new capitalist system adapted to Ukraine: many business, including those in Hlukhiv, are staying shut down, but I am sure they can become cost-effective after retooling. I am ready to ask my foreign friends of Ukrainian origin to invest 100,000 dollars each in the Hlukhiv Development Fund (and about 20 have already agreed!). So, we will have 1-2 million! This is enough to buy out the idle enterprises: a bakery, a cloth factory, a dairy plant, a meat-packing plant… We will earmark a part of this money for supporting the fledgling Ukrainian business. We have talented young people. They need to be helped to take the first steps in launching a business of their own, for banks give no loans now (or they do at a very high interest rate).
“We will extend interest-free loans from this fund to those who seriously offer long-term projects on condition that they develop their business here in Hlukhiv and 50 percent of the profit is channeled to charity. Some people are already prepared to take part in this project.”
FACT FILE
The Tereshchenko Heritage Foundation was founded in 2008. Since then, the Kyiv Conservatoire has been hosting annual charitable soirees. This is also the place where pictures by Ukrainian artists are traditionally auctioned off. The Tereshchenko scholarship has been founded for the conservatoire’s best students, Ph.D. seekers, and teachers.
Michel Tereshchenko also donates his money to support the National Medical Library, Three Anastasias’ Cathedral in Hlukhiv, the Center of Children’s Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery, and the Kyiv Clinical Hospital which treats ATO soldiers.
This year saw a charitable recital of Oleh Skrypka, sponsored by the Tereshchenko Foundation. The raised money was used to purchase heart surgery instruments. It is in Hlukhiv that the “Art Expeditions” project (curator Liudmyla Hararuk) was carried out. There was a concert at the local Palace of Culture and a picture exhibit as part of this project.
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Next to Michel Tereshchenko’s office, in special premises, the “Center of Active Hlukhiv Residents” has organized making battlefield camouflage nettings. Any resident of Hlukhiv can come here and do this volunteer work. Almost 100 nettings have already been made by joint efforts. The locally-made binder twine was used for this. High-quality military uniform for our soldiers is also sewn here.
Michel’s office in Hlukhiv is at the same time a community center. A lot of people come here with all kinds of questions. When we were there, a group of local public activists came. They had a problem, which they thought Den must also highlight. Fair Square, the largest in the town, was Ukraine’s 18th-century governmental center with the palace of Hetman Rozumovsky, the Chancery (analogue of today’s Cabinet of Ministers), the First Little Russia Collegium, barracks of the hetman’s guards company, and St. Elizabeth’s and St. Zachary’s Church. Once Rozumovsky surrendered his mace, Catherine II ordered his palace and then the whole governmental complex to be ruined. Owing to the historical value of culture layers, this square has not been populated for 250 years. It is a classical object of Cossack- and hetman-related archeology.
Six years ago the Hlukhiv City Council resolved to allow construction on this square. Until now, public activists managed to keep this historic territory from being shared out. Now the bureaucrats have applied a “forbidden technique”: as it was decided to furnish ATO veterans with land, they decided to give this area to ATO fighters and have already marked out the streets in spite of a warning from academics that an archeological survey of the place needed to be done. Comment is superfluous, so to speak.
“FOR ME, PARTICIPATION IN THE HLUKHIV MAYORAL ELECTIONS IS IN FACT LIKE AN ATO OF MY OWN, YOU SEE?”
When the activists had gone, Michel said pensively:
“A few years after staying in Hlukhiv, I began to be associated with a person who might be an alternative to those who had wielded power here for many years. The authorities do not change. A Kyiv MP, who has adjusted himself to all the presidents and has been repeatedly reelected in this constituency, is wielding unconditional clout here. No appointments can be made here without him – be it a kindergarten principal, a district attorney, a judge, or a customs chief. A raion council chairman, who was dismissed under lustration, was then reinstated in office. They said it was a mistake and he was in fact a ‘good man.’ The impression is this territory was leased out to somebody for a long period. These people are not interested in the coming of investors, for they themselves have brought nobody. Hlukhiv has lost 6,000 jobs in the past few years. For it is easier to manipulate the unemployed and poor populace. And this kind of electorate is cheaper, when it comes to elections – you throw out some paltry dole, and votes are in your pocket! This is the sad picture of today in the former capital of Left Bank Ukraine, where a monument to Lenin is still standing.
“And now people suggest that I run for the office of Hlukhiv mayor. Of course, it’s easier to refuse… But, in all probability, I won’t be able to do so. For me, participation in the Hlukhiv mayoral elections is in fact like an ATO of my own, you see? There will be fierce resistance. The whole old system will work against me. But, in case of victory, a third Tereshchenko will become the mayor. At different times, my great-grandfather and great-great-grandfather were at the head of Hlukhiv. They went on record as skilled, authoritative, and honest managers. I have no right to let them down.”
What urgent measures should today’s Ukraine take?
“We should introduce new young persons into the spheres of influence. Ukraine won’t achieve a new status unless it completely changes the political scene. Former Party of Regions members must not hold key offices any more. It is obvious for me. You must replace the politicians in power. Only like this.
“The French Revolution went through several changes. One of them was the guillotine. Of course, I don’t suggest putting up a guillotine on Khreshchatyk because its functions must be performed by lustration. People do not understand why those who robbed Ukraine under Kuchma, Yushchenko, and Yanukovych still remain in power – now that 6,000 Ukrainians have sacrificed their lives in the war. It’s no laughing matter.”
What is culture and spirituality for you?
“Figuratively speaking, there is a triangle: one side is God, the second is Earth, and the third is Man. But these sides will only stay in harmony when there is high spirituality in the center. When culture and spirituality flourish, this triangle works. This is the Tereshchenkos’ philosophy.”
What’s your greatest dream?
“When my time comes, I want to die in Ukraine which will be one of Europe’s best, most affluent, and strongest states. I am proud to be a Ukrainian!
“I like the following saying very much: ‘Do not fear that your day may finish. Fear that it may not begin.’ It is possible to open up new prospects at any time and age. We have an opportunity now to form a new nation. Now or never. It is a fantastic chance! I am ready to make an all-out effort to make this happen as soon as possible.”
Editor’s note: Michel Tereshchenko marked his birthday in September. The Day’s staff wishes him health and strength to overcome all the obstacles, and to be never disappointed with Ukraine!
