Volodymyr Tsvil

Volodymyr Tsvil (Володимир Іванович Цвiль, born 11 February 1962) is a Ukrainian public figure, and a Ukrainian ex-Consul in Munich.

After finishing an eight-year school in Tomashivci, Ivano-Frankivsk region, Tsvil was accepted to Ivano-Frankivsk Medical College, from which he graduated in 1981.

From 1981 to 1983 he served in the Soviet Army (Air Force).

In 1983, Tsvil got accepted to Ivano-Frankivsk Medical Institute from which he transferred to Lviv Medical Institute, which Tsvil finished in 1989, with a degree as a doctor-gynecologist.

After graduating from the Medical Institute, Tsvil worked at Lviv Perinatal Centre.

In 1991, he became a deputy chief medical officer.

In 1992, Volodymyr Tsvil was approved to study at Ivan Franko State University in Lviv, from which he graduated in 1996.

Volodymyr Tsvil was a leader of a working group of young politicians that organised a reburial of Cardinal Josyf Slipyj from Rome to Lviv in St. George’s Cathedral in 1992.

In 1993, Tsvil became the candidate in Verkhovna Rada in the majority constituency of the Rivne region, and was also a delegate of the VI World Congress of Free Ukrainians (Toronto, Canada).

In 1993, Volodymyr Tsvil founded a "Dilova Galichina" company in Lviv.

From 1996, Tsvil studied at the Diplomatic Academy affiliated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.

He finished the Academy in 1998, majoring in International Law.

In 1998, Volodymyr Tsvil was a candidate in the Verkhovna Rada.

In 1999, Volodymyr Tsvil became a trusted person of the leader of the Socialist Party of Ukraine, Alexander Moroz, during the presidential election in Ukraine.

In 2000, Tsvil moved to Munich to work on an academic project at the "Ukrainian Free University".

Since 2000 Tsvil and his family have lived in Germany.

On 28 November 2000, the leader of the Socialist Party of Ukraine, Oleksandr Moroz, released the audio recordings made in the office of the President of Ukraine to the Ukrainian media.

The content of these recordings supposedly proved involvement of the President of Ukraine, Leonid Kuchma, and his associates, in a series of sensational crimes.

One of these crimes was the murder of a journalist, Georgiy Gongadze.

Consequently, "Cassette Scandal" loomed throughout all country, or as it was called in the West, Kuchmagate.

As became known afterwards, the audio recordings released by Alexander Moroz were obtained from a major of the State Security, Mykola Melnychenko.

After the scandal, Melnychenko acquired political asylum in the United States.

Eminent scholars mentioned the role of Volodymyr Tsvil while writing about works on the tape affair.

In 2002, Volodymyr Tsvil wrote a book about the "cassette scandal", later known as Kuchmagate.

The book speaks about the wiretapping of Leonid Kuchma, then President of Ukraine which was the result of the murder of independent journalist, Georgiy Gongadze.

These events were catalysts in a resulting in a political crisis in Ukraine.

Said crisis subsequently led to the events called "The Orange Revolution".

Tsvil was in the centre of these events and described them in his book "In the Whirlpool of the Cassette Scandal. A Story Told by Eyewitness"

In 2002, Volodymyr Tsvil published his book "In the Whirlpool of the Cassette Scandal. A Story Told by Eyewitness", with Tsvil acting as a publicist of the book.

In 2002-2004 Volodymyr Tsvil was the Ukrainian Councillor in Munich.

Among many academics were: Dr Taras Kuzio, professor of the Institute of European, Russian and Eurasian Studies in George Washington University, as well as Jaroslaw Koshiw, author of "Beheaded. The killing of a Journalist" Volodymyr Tsvil was the first to describe the chronology of Kuchmagate in his book "In the Whirlpool of the Cassette Scandal. A Story Told by Eyewitness" in 2002.

Consequently, Volodymyr Tsvil published his book “Kuchmagate & the Collapse of the Orange idea” (translated in English).

Author House UK became the official publisher of Tsvil's work.

In 2004, Tsvil founded «O.M. Osteuropaeishe Investitions GmbH», which subsequently became a part of TSVIL GROUP

Volodymyr Tsvil is married and has two children.

Volodymyr Tsvil, as plenipotentiary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, arranged to have Helmut Kohl awarded with an Honorary Doctorate Diploma of the Ukrainian State Forestry University (the award ceremony was conducted in Berlin in the Deutsche Parlamentarische Gesellschaft, on 4 December 2012).

The book was significantly extended, providing descriptions of contemporary events in Ukraine which happened in the aftermath of the “cassette scandal” and the Orange Revolution, up to early 2013 and the precursors of a new turmoil in Ukraine.

Over time, the book was supplemented by new facts and events.

The Publishing House of the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy has released in 2018 a newest book by Volodymyr Tsvil «Kuchmagate.

Behind the Scenes of the Cassette Scandal»