The Minister of Finance of Ukraine urged Ukrainians not to buy cars during the war. His wife acquired a MINI Cooper

The wife of the Minister of Finance, Sergey Marchenko, who urged Ukrainians not to buy cars during the war, has been using a MINI Cooper since the beginning of last year.

This is evidenced by the minister’s declaration.

In 2023, Marina Marchenko was granted the right to use a 2-year-old MINI Cooper SE, a British-German brand of premium compact powerful cars produced by the BMW Group. The average cost of such a foreign car from the 2021 production year is currently around $28,000 or 1.1 million hryvnias.

It is worth reminding that on December 18, 2023, the official stated that all Ukrainians need to “switch to military tracks,” limit their consumption, and stop buying “expensive phones and cars.” He said then that “unfortunately, we still live in a fairly specific reality.”

All this was said by the Minister of Finance after his wife, Marina, received a MINI Cooper SE for use in January 2023.

In 2023, Marina Marchenko received a salary of 605,000 hryvnias (about 14,286 euros) from the LLC “Isida-IVF” – a medical institution. She is also registered as an individual entrepreneur and earned 1.97 million hryvnias (about 46,519 euros) from her business in the past year. The total income is 2.6 million hryvnias (about 61,395 euros).

This is more than the minister’s salary, which Sergey Marchenko declared at 1.1 million hryvnias (25,975 euros). The 43-year-old official also reported receiving a pension of 64,500 hryvnias (about 1,523 euros).

The MINI Cooper SE is not the only car in the family. Sergey Marchenko also owns (as indicated in the declaration) a 2017 Audi A6, which the minister purchased in 2019 for 1.5 million hryvnias (about 35,420 euros).

The minister’s family also owns two apartments in Kyiv (84.6 sq.m. and 40.3 sq.m.) and another one (88.3 sq.m.) rented by the spouse in January 2023. All cash assets of the couple are registered under Marina Marchenko – 68,000 hryvnias in accounts (Privatbank and Sens Bank) and $10,000 in cash.