Peter's grandfather on the paternal side. Born in Bereztoche, survived the occupation, left for Omsk after a knife fight. A driver and an authoritative figure.
Childhood in Bereztoche
Born on 7 September 1930 in the village of Bereztoche. His father Demyan was in prison from 1937 — Mykhailo was raised by his grandmother Nastasya Sergeyevna. He survived the German occupation (14 September 1941 — 19 September 1943), aged 11–13. Worked at a mine.
Leaving Ukraine
He was stabbed twice in the back. He recovered and went and stabbed his attacker, this time not in the back. He had a choice: join the army or go to prison. He chose the army. Trained as a driver in the Tyumen region (the Urals). Then transferred to Omsk as a driver for some major.
Life in Omsk
In Omsk he met Larisa Petrovna Yakovleva (she was 23 when she married Mykhailo). He studied at a motor-transport college in the evenings — together with Danylo Danylovych Shevchenko, the future head of the traffic police of the Omsk region. He was a driver. An authoritative figure in the family. His documents were lost — he made new ones and shaved a year off his age (many did so; the war had interrupted his schooling).
Connection with Ukraine
He travelled to Ukraine constantly. He reinforced the house in Bereztoche himself. In 1990 his grandson Arkadiy travelled to Ukraine with him. In 1992, because of the collapse of the USSR, he found himself a foreigner in Russia, but by then he had stayed.