The former director of the state-owned enterprise "Spetstechnoexport" Pavlo Barbul, who is currently being tried by the Supreme Anti-Corruption Court in a corruption case and is wanted by the NABU in new criminal proceedings, continues to actively engage in business abroad. Despite his procedural status and international suspicions, he works freely in Poland, where he created a new company and hides his actual participation in the project.
As it turned out, Barbul is a co-founder of the Warsaw company U-Lead business community sp. z oo, which he opened together with citizen Anna Fedorenko. Formally, it is she who represents the community externally, while Barbul's name is not mentioned on the official website. However, information from the registers confirms that it is the former official who is behind the project, which is positioned as the largest international platform for Ukrainian entrepreneurs and investors.
Despite loud statements about hundreds of events and thousands of participants in different countries, the actual activities of U-Lead turned out to be minimal. Rather, it is a few intimate meetings for a limited circle of acquaintances, after which the project actually stopped. According to experts, this is a typical scheme for creating image business initiatives abroad, which allow suspected officials to maintain publicity and legalize financial flows.
It is known that Barbul previously also owned the British company PATRIOT INVESTMENTS LLP, co-founded by his mother Karina Atanasyan. It was to her, according to anti-corruption investigations, that some of the assets and business connections were registered when Barbul worked in a government position. Atanasyan is now gradually withdrawing from his companies in Ukraine: in particular, in March 2025, she transferred corporate rights in the food business to a new person, and also ceased participation in the closed-end non-diversified venture fund "Absolute".
Lawyers suggest that such actions may indicate preparation for possible sanctions or procedural steps by the investigation. At the same time, Barbul himself continues to remain wanted and, in parallel, is building a business infrastructure in EU countries, which calls into question the effectiveness of control over suspects in corruption criminal proceedings.
