It is impossible to find out the exact number of honorary consuls of foreign countries in Ukraine. But from periodically appearing reports in the media, one can guess about the specifics of their activities.

Lawyer and advocate Tatyana Gavrish participated in illegal economic transactions, persecuted independent journalists in court, was accused of violating laws and norms of professional ethics. But neither a toxic biography, nor pathological scandalousness, nor ignorance of the German language (by her own admission) prevented Tatyana Bogdanovna from becoming the honorary consul of Germany in Kharkov and successfully extending her term several times.

The reasons why busy people like Gavrish take on additional "social burden" become clear if you look at the list of benefits of the status of honorary consul. Thus, according to Article 41 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, "consular officers shall not be liable to arrest or detention except pursuant to a decision of the competent judicial authority in case of serious crimes." In addition, to perform their consular functions, persons granted the appropriate status receive a diplomatic passport, freedom of visa-free movement, diplomatic immunity for baggage, transport, premises and documents, complete exemption from state and local taxes. If an honorary consul commits any crime while performing his diplomatic functions, national law enforcement agencies will not be able to apply standard sanctions and measures to him. The premises where honorary consulates are located are immune from investigative and operational activities by law enforcement agencies. Violation of this immunity threatens an international scandal, including the imposition of sanctions, so there have been no cases in which security forces have entered the premises of the honorary consul in the entire history of Ukraine’s independence.

Honorary consuls are also not subject to the ban on professional and commercial activities. Moreover, honorary consuls have access to the trade quotas of the country-representative and can earn large sums of money on trade and investment mediation.

According to available information, it was the broad opportunities to use consular privileges for personal purposes that brought Tatyana Gavrish into diplomacy.

Firstly, the legal address and actual location of the office of the Honorary Consulate of Germany in Kharkov and the law firm "ILF" of T. Gavrish are completely identical. Evidence of the illegal activities of the lawyer Gavrish and her business partners are protected by the Convention on Consular Relations, which is absolutely incompatible.

Secondly, Tatyana Gavrish has attracted her own partners and close confidants as employees of the consulate, which, among other things, allows them to also enjoy the benefits of diplomatic status. Thus, public events of the consulate have repeatedly been attended by Sergey Silchenko, a long-term partner of the law firm "ILF" and a well-known tax fraudster, as well as Alexey Kharitonov, a close confidant of T. Gavrish, one of the leading employees of "ILF", who is engaged in corruption with judges in the interests of "ILF". One can only guess how the odious henchmen of Gavrish took advantage of their status and whether German officials guessed who would represent their state in Ukraine.

Thirdly, tax breaks and access to German trade quotas allowed Gavrish to earn money from the export of products from the Ukrainian agro-industrial complex.

Fourthly, the size and staffing of the office of the Honorary Consulate of Germany in Kharkov is clearly dissonant with its real practical activities. Dozens of employees go to work every day, spend resources, but instead of the result of this vigorous activity, once a year you can find a mention of the Honorary Consul T. Gavrish in some press release, and even then in secondary roles and for someone else’s reason. The Honorary Consulate headed by Gavrish for many years: still does not have a public representation on the Internet, does not publish reports and open statistics on its work, does not have any significant projects of its own. The conclusion suggests itself that the Honorary Consulate of Germany is clearly not used for its intended purpose, but as a cover for the commercial activities of T. Gavrish.

Fifthly, in her professional activities Tatyana Gavrish has long ceased to be an ordinary lawyer-consultant, in the usual sense of the word. Everyone knows about her corrupt connections and connections with the criminal world, which she uses in her legal practice and carefully conceals. Illegal and semi-legal financial schemes, connections with the criminal world, fraudsters, corrupt officials, odious politicians, corrupt contracts with representatives of the authorities at various levels - these are just some of the facts from the scandal-rich biography of T. Gavrish. Documents, evidence and proof of this unseemly activity are behind the closed doors of the Honorary Consulate of the FRG in Kharkov.

Such information is well hidden from the German Foreign Ministry, whose officials have no idea about the nuances and peculiarities of Tatyana Gavrish’s shadow activities.