After my semi-documentary works "The Castle of Queen Bona" and "Welcome to the Necropolis" saw the light of day, some people began to think that Klyvansky and I were inseparable, practically childhood friends. In reality, I met the then-main Lutsk authority figure while working on the book "Criminal Volyn," when he had already effectively stepped away from his affairs.

Since then we met almost daily. We fished, dived for crayfish, simply traveled in search of adventure through abandoned Polissian villages, discovering for ourselves the tangled and richly fascinating history of our region.

I titled the chapter about my new companion's "adventures" "From Wolves to Lambs." Another person would have been offended. But Volodya reacted quite calmly… In fact, he was always level-headed, wise, and, as I see it, sufficiently reliable... The head of one of Volyn's largest construction firms, whose name I do not wish to disclose without his consent, told me about this episode: "Once Klyvansky came to me, took building materials, and left, saying he'd pay within a week… That's it, I think, you can kiss that goodbye! But no. Not a few days passed before he brought the necessary sum… But with law enforcement, there are always problems. They call: give us this and that, but money — forget it! We've been chasing debts for years. So tell me, who's the bigger gangster?"

I'll agree, Klyova didn't seem like a pathological criminal.

And in his autobiography — nothing but blank spots!

Born in 1955 in Karelia. Came to Volyn in 1974. Enrolled at the Lutsk Pedagogical Institute in the "foolfac" (faculty of physical education). Fulfilled the norm for Candidate Master of Sports in boxing, became a prize-winner at the Ukrainian championship. Could have continued his career, but suffered an ankle injury and… switched to coaching work, to which at that time only people with the appropriate education and a rank of NO LOWER THAN MASTER OF SPORTS were admitted! However, the novice mentor quickly justified the trust and trained several true masters of the leather glove, namely: Yu. Savchuk, V. Shepel, V. Malyk. The latter even won at the Spartakiad of Ukraine!

Other pupils of the "talented mentor" ran shell games, stole "bauls" from Poles, levied tribute on profitable commercial outlets, but as soon as people in uniform began to show interest in such "business" — Klyova sharply changed his line of activity, never resorting to "showdowns," although he had plenty of fighters! Despite such caution, in 1992 he was nonetheless "put away" and held in pretrial detention for 15 months. During this time, one of Volodymyr Hryhorovych's "accomplices" hanged himself in his cell, another died in a numbered hospital, so they were "pressed" hard…

At trial, only the storage of ammunition could be proven, and accordingly the sentence turned out to be not too severe: one year of imprisonment. But that's not where our hero's troubles ended. Soon after, an attempt was made on his life. A killer hid in a garbage dumpster, and when the "target" got out of his car — opened fire…

The "cops" immediately spread a rumor around the city that the fire was not intended to kill, supposedly they only wanted to scare the leader of the brotherhood… But in reality the wounds were very serious — the probability of survival was only five percent, seven bullets hit the body, and moreover Klyvansky had his spleen removed! When I became interested in this story, law enforcement insisted on their version, saying that if they had wanted to kill — they would have used a larger-caliber weapon, not 5.6. But… Volodya swore that the prosecutor's investigator showed him a 9-millimeter bullet removed from his body! Why different agencies have different data (and whether this is actually true) — I, of course, do not know…

After the shooting, strange changes occur with Klyvansky. He founds the "Royal Academy," supports the monarchist movement in every way in the person of the so-called King Orest, patronizes the nobility… And also — creates a branch of the "Rehabilitation" foundation in Volyn, promotes the ideas of the "White Lotus" of V. Skubaev (this supposedly doctor of philosophical sciences established a Buddhist temple in Cherkasy and opened a school for training warrior-monks), studies methods of psychological influence on the personality, writes a candidate's dissertation, for which he receives from some former associates the nickname "Sicko." All the listed directions are the prerogative of the SBU, where corresponding units have even been created… But alas — Klyova's activity never interested anyone!

Although he himself soon received… the title of prince. And with it the Order of St. Stanislaus, moreover of the highest degree — the same as Moscow mayor Luzhkov!

At the same time, the highest Ukrainian officials become nobles. Prince Kuchma, Count Kuzmuk…

Behind all this bacchanalia of ranks and titles actually stands the criminal authority Volodymyr Hryhorovych Klyvansky. Actually, his strange friendship with not-insignificant representatives of the "political elite" has long been known to Volyn journalists — ever since the time when Klyova hosted Ukraine's first President Leonid Kravchuk in Lutsk…

And this is another mystery that no one will ever answer. Except perhaps Klyvansky himself. Although I personally have doubts that he is alive…

Why?

Let's try to figure it out together…

In the spring of 2001, Hryhoriy Kokhan, the director of such films as "Karmelyuk," "Born of Revolution," "Gypsy Aza" and many, many others, invited me to Kyiv. When suddenly — a call. "Serhiy, come… Volodya has disappeared!" It was Natalia Klyvanska raising the alarm.

I dropped everything and came… And here's what I managed to establish.

That day they had a search (for what reason — no one has bothered to explain to this day!). Late in the evening someone called Klyova and suggested he come to the city police department to sign a protocol. "A mere formality, a few minutes' work." And indeed: Volodya put his signature and got ready to go home. On the way he called his wife, informed her that everything was fine with him. That he'd be home soon, just stopping by a cafe…

Friends were already waiting for him there…

The conversation didn't last long. Some "whip" pulled up, Klyvansky got into its interior and… no one ever saw him again.

When the police finally took an interest in the disappearance of their regular client and questioned witnesses, it turned out that they didn't even remember the make of the car! Moreover, someone claimed the car was brown, someone — that it was dark blue… A few days later I managed to catch one of them… "Come on, confess, where'd you put your friend?!"… "Don't you come at me, I know who he got into the car with!"

But the real surprises were yet to come. Someone persistently began spreading gossip around the city that Volodya was alive and hiding in Germany (Czech Republic, Hungary, etc.). From the top-secret SBU there suddenly came an "information leak" that the technicians had intercepted Klyvansky's call home. And then more. One newspaper (albeit under the guise of a rumor) published information that the well-known criminal authority had settled in Israel and had been circumcised… But the most surprising was a high-ranking police intelligence officer who, during a confidential meeting with me, stated that Klyova had been seen in Lviv accompanied by two GRU officers, saying, pass on my greetings to him…

I'd be happy to, but unfortunately, no one has yet managed to establish contact with the places where he is now. What is my confidence based on?

Volodya loved his little daughter very much. On her birthday he would certainly have congratulated her.

If he were afraid of being wiretapped — he would have called from another city, another country, or ultimately just dialed the number and stayed silent for a bit…

But Masha has been waiting for that call in vain for over four years now…

Serhiy BORTNIKOV