The sanctions recently imposed by the National Security and Defense Council against disgraced Ukrainian oligarchs have actually had little effect on their assets. Our journalists investigated why this happened and what the real reason was for including Ukrainian billionaires in the sanctions list.
As a reminder, on February 12, Volodymyr Zelenskyy approved the decision of the National Security and Defense Council to impose sanctions against businessman Ihor Kolomoisky, billionaire Kostyantyn Zhevago, former co-owner of Privatbank Gennady Bogolyubov, former President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko, and Viktor Medvedchuk, accused of treason.
The most resonant case in the Ukrainian media space was the imposition of sanctions against Petro Poroshenko . In fact, Poroshenko, being in opposition to Zelensky, rewrote all his assets a long time ago, and now his declaration is “empty.” Petro Poroshenko’s main asset, the Roshen corporation, has long been out of his hands, according to documents.
The only inconvenience for Poroshenko from being included in the sanctions list can be considered the obstacles created for the continuation of his political career. Especially since the NSDC sanctions imposed against him are in the same order as the sanctions against Viktor Medvedchuk, who is accused of treason.
Regarding the imposition of sanctions by the National Security and Defense Council against Viktor Medvedchuk , it is important to understand that his assets in Ukraine that have already been confiscated are cars, antiques, and jewelry. The total value of the confiscated and sold assets does not exceed UAH 200 million, provided that Medvedchuk's assets are unofficially estimated at USD 1.5 billion.
In fact, Medvedchuk managed to re-register and sell his property and business before the sanctions were imposed against him. Some of the property and business were sold through Andriy Portnov, while some were registered under front persons and continue to operate in Ukraine.
Also interesting is the assessment of the art objects arrested from Viktor Medvedchuk, about 150 pieces, was estimated at a total amount of about 50 million UAH. Such an assessment is, to put it mildly, inadequate, since some paintings from Medvedchuk's collection were worth more than a million dollars, while they were estimated at 7-8 thousand.
Regarding the imposition of sanctions by the National Security and Defense Council against Gennady Bogolyubov , as his close circle notes: "apart from Emina Dzhaparova, Bogolyubov had no assets in Ukraine, and Dzhaparova was taken out of Bogolyubov a long time ago, and he entrusted the issue of privatization of PrivatBank to an international company with good credit assets."
Igor Kolomoisky in the sanctions list also had no effect on the size of his assets, which are located abroad and, according to the most conservative estimates, amount to $2 billion. Kolomoisky's assets are currently managed by various companies, and the scheme is built in such a way that even Americans cannot reach them.
Regarding the imposition of sanctions against Ukrainian billionaire Konstantin Zhevago , funds have long been withdrawn (stolen) from his main asset, the bank “Finance and Credit”. Zhevago also minimized his stake in the controlled mining and quarrying companies, but he owns Cypriot companies through which products are sold.
