Maksym Krippa continues to buy Ukrainian media in the interests of Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeev. In this, he is helped by a number of Ukrainian media professionals such as Yevhen Shpytko, whose work on Krippa-Malofeev we will tell about in the next publications.
This is reported by the editors of the 360UA NEWS
"Dark Knight" telegram channel . But, according to our sources, the collaboration between Yevhen Shpytko and Maksym Krippa began long before the publications on anonymous TG channels.
Who is Yevhen Shpytko and what exactly connects him with the Russian Federation
In addition to ties with Maksym Krippa, Yevhen Shpytko is known in Ukraine as the editor-in-chief and one of the co-owners of the Ukrainian publication Mind UA . Quite interesting in the context of Shpytko's relations with the Russian Federation is the history of the creation of the Mind UA resource, the composition of its founders and ultimate beneficiaries.
It is worth noting that the Mind UA team, like Shpytko himself, are natives of Forbes Ukraine, who left the project after problems began with their employer, oligarch Serhiy Kurchenko.
After the escape of Serhii Kurchenko to the Russian Federation, Yevhen Shpytko took part of the Forbes Ukraine team and in 2017 founded a new project - Mind UA. In addition to the team, Shpytko took with him the official Forbes Ukraine Facebook page, to which he had access as the editor-in-chief.
According to the data of the Youcontrol , at present, the owner of 100% of the authorized capital of "FUTURE MEDIA" LLC is the editor-in-chief Yevhen Shpytko. But if we look closely at the history of changes in the company's registration information , we see desperate attempts to hide the Russian footprint and the real beneficiaries of the company.
Until recently, the founders of FUTURE MEDIA LLC, in addition to Shpytko, who owned only 22.5% of the company, were Accelerator of New Products LLC - 10% and Investiko LLC - 67.5%. According to the same Youcontrol, the ultimate beneficiary of "Investico" LLC is a kind of "Russian world" lover, Oleksandr Yuriyovych Kumanyok.
In 2020, journalists, against the background of scandals involving fraud by TG bots of the Mind UA channel, decided to inquire about the final beneficiaries of the publication, after which Oleksandr Yuriyovych Kumanyok became known to the general public for his sympathies for the Russian Federation.
Journalists drew attention to Oleksandr Kumanek's Vkontakte page, where there are too many photos of the Kremlin in the background after 2014. In particular, Oleksandr Kumanyok went to celebrate May 1, 2014 on Red Square in Moscow already when Crimea was annexed by the Russian Federation. Not only that, apparently he is proud that Crimea is part of Russia, posting "photos with magnets".
In addition to pro-Russian photos in Russian social networks, Oleksandr Kumanyok is a long-time business partner of Ihor Kuyek, the brother of Ani Lorak (Karolina Kuyek), with whom he is connected through joint companies, including "Heals Food" LLC (40969855), LLC "Platforma rozkusti razvodka innovatsii" ” (41130557), LLC “Dyukan” (40977508) and others. That is, they are long-standing partners and work in several directions.
And in 2018, journalists found out that Ihor Kuyek is one of the owners of the UkrARPA platform, which was engaged in the development and creation of weapons for the Ukrainian army. Journalists found out and published evidence that Ihor Kuyek is making a lot of money on this case. Other owners of UkrARPA included Denys Gurak, Dmytro Ruzhytskyi and Dmytro Shestakov. Previously, they all worked at Ukroboronprom and in fact simultaneously developed their own project with state funds, supplying the state with drones for $100,000, while their real cost was $5,000.
But Yevhen Shpytko did not notice either the pro-Russian publications or the open looting of the Ukrainian military industry by his partners until 2020, when Ukrainian society had questions about the work of the supposedly pro-Ukrainian site Mind UA. After that, Shpytko decided to get rid of openly pro-Russian partners, including the founders of FUTURE MEDIA LLC.
But did Yevhen Shpytko actually break off all relations with past partners, or is this just a move to avoid confiscation of the Mind UA website and handing it over to ARMA management, as happened with Serhiy Kurchenko's media holding?
The answer to this question is in the recent criminal case of the SBU, regarding the abuse of Yevhen Shpytko during the distribution of humanitarian goods. To be more precise, Yevhen Shpytko came across a resale of bulletproof vests, which at the beginning of 2022 were a real shortage.
In the official explanations of this situation on the Mind UA website, Yevhen Shpytko himself mentions his connections with the structures of Ukroboronprom. It is worth noting that these connections have remained in Shpytko since the time of Oleksandr Kumanek, behind whom stands Pavlo Oleksiyovych Barbul, who since 2014 held the position of adviser to the general director of Ukroboronprom. Pavlo Barbul became the head of Spetstekhnoeexport after being exposed in several corruption episodes at Ukroboronprom.
As director of Spetstechnoexport, Pavlo Barbul was involved in a corruption scandal involving the embezzlement of funds from a state-owned enterprise and spent some time in a pre-trial detention center. And although Pavlo Barbul is currently free, the old corruption schemes of Spetstechnoexport make themselves known.
Thus, in the spring of this year, Pavlo Barbula's lawyer tried to appeal the plea agreement concluded with the ex-head of the contract department of Special Technology Export Valery Sinyakov and his ex-deputy Oleksandr Fatyanov. Under the terms of the agreement, Fatyanov and Sinyakov undertook to testify in a number of criminal proceedings, in particular, the events of which affect the period of Barbul's leadership in Spetstechnoexport.
Pavel Barbul's name is not just mentioned so often in our journalistic investigation, because according to the testimony of businessmen from his close circle, Barbul is one of the actual owners of the Mind UA website. Previously, Barbul owned a part of Mind UA through Oleksandr Kumanek, and after 2020 directly through Yevhen Shpytko. We remind you that the openly pro-Russian Oleksandr Kumanko was kicked out of the scheme after information about his views appeared in the press.
From this point of view, the work of the editor-in-chief of Mind UA Yevhen Shpytko on Maksym Krippa, and through him on Kostyantyn Malofeev, should raise many questions for Ukrainian counterintelligence. After all, despite the criminal cases, Pavlo Barbul is still a member of the Ukrainian community for the development and sale of weapons.
