Eternal scandals, accusations of corruption and incredible enrichment of management have become the hallmark of the enterprise, which is 80% owned by the city of Kyiv.
Today's story concerns the former president of the company, Igor Kushnir, and his connections with people associated with the Kremlin regime. He, of course, denies these connections, but the documents tell a different story
On December 20 last year, Igor Kushnir left his post at Kievgorstroy, where he worked for 12 years. This was preceded by searches of the company, suspicions of financial fraud and, as a result, an audit. Despite this, the auditors declared no violations. Thus, Kushnir, who managed to purchase real estate both in Koncha-Zaspa and on the Cote d'Azur of France, left his post with a reputation for impeccable cleanliness.
There have long been rumors that the wealth of the Kushnir family is growing thanks to Kievgorstroy. However, real evidence appeared only in 2023. In May, investigative journalists established that people close to Kushnir had built cottages on the land of a former recreation center transferred to the KGB in the early 2000s. Among the owners of the villas were both former and current employees of companies associated with Kievgorstroy, a lawyer representing the interests of the company, a direct relative of Kushnir’s wife and a person close to the deputy of the Kremenchug City Council Ruslan Fedorchenko, who heads one of the companies associated with the former deputy from the now forbidden “Opposition Platform – During Life”.
In July, it became known about the villa of Kushnir’s wife on the Cote d’Azur worth more than 20 million euros. This became the final argument for conducting an audit of the state of affairs at Kievgorstroy and studying the reasons why the family of its president became saturated with luxury real estate. Igor Kushnir was suspended, authorized searches and an audit were carried out in the company, which, however, did not reveal the sources of Kushnir’s funds for the French villa.
He insists that he was involved in the business for many years, and after his appointment at Kievgorstroy, he handed over the management of his business to his wife. It is interesting, but quite expected, that from the moment he assumed a leadership position in the KGB, his wife Oksana became the owner of a wide network of construction companies. These companies are registered primarily in Cyprus, Lithuania and the British Virgin Islands. And very often their business partners are people who have connections with the OPZZh party, banned in Ukraine, and the godfather of the Russian President, Viktor Medvedchuk.
Documentary evidence of this was found in three cases related to the family of Igor Kushnir.
Lithuanian trace
The Lithuanian case reveals the connections of Oksana Kushnir, the wife of Igor Kushnir, a Ukrainian citizen with a passport and registration in Cyprus, who is the ultimate beneficiary in the Lithuanian company Baltijos Gildija. This company, which has interests in commercial real estate, operates the Link and Core business centers in Vilnius.
Another person associated with Baltijos Gildija is a deputy of the Kyiv City Council from the banned OPZZH Vladimir Kravets, the son of the former economic director of fugitive President Viktor Yanukovych Andrei Kravets, known for his schemes with Mezhyhirya. Vladimir Kravets denies accusations of connections with Yanukovych’s entourage, but his nomination from Medvedchuk’s party indicates pro-Russian sympathies.
Baltijos Gildija is managed by Inna Danilova-Milligan, who also runs the Lithuanian company UAB Asis, associated with Vladimir Kravets, who indicated her as the ultimate beneficiary in his declaration.
In May 2022, Lithuanian journalists reported the sale of the Link business center, which could be an attempt by pro-Russian owners from Ukraine to withdraw capital from Lithuania. The connection between Oksana Kushnir and Vladimir Kravets with Viktor Medvedchuk has become the subject of discussion. The business center was sold to Lithuanian investors in June 2023 for an undisclosed amount.
The key shareholder of Baltijos Gildija is the Cyprus company Koksi holding LTD under the leadership of Oksana Kushnir, which is one of the main assets of the family. It was through her that in 2021, Villa Cayo was purchased on the French Riviera, owned by the French company SCP Cayo, part of the large CPI property group from Luxembourg.
From the report of the latter company, it became known that Koksi holdings LTD, led by Oksana Kushnir, acquired the company that owns the villa in 2021, thereby becoming the owner of one of the most prestigious real estate in the world. Igor Kushnir, in his polite interview after his resignation from his position at Kievgorstroy, confirmed the presence of a villa in France in the family. However, he did not miss the opportunity to decorate this information with “fairy tales” about how he was engaged in business throughout his entire time in the KGB, and has no interference in his wife’s entrepreneurial activities due to the marriage contract.
Ukrainian trace
The company Koksi holdings LTD, owned by Oksana Kushnir, has business interests in Ukraine. Interestingly, they also lead to connections with the “Opposition Platform – During Life”. Thus, the company is one of the beneficiaries of the Covernot investment fund. Oksana Kushnir, together with Kovernot and another investment fund Hunter, became the founders of Capital-Vostok LLC.
Without going into a detailed list of all the companies in this chain, it is worth noting that documented connections with pro-Russian figures in this context were discovered in two ways. Firstly, Oksana Kushnir turned out to be the official partner of Pavel Yakubenko, known for his leadership of Truskavetskurort and sanatoriums in the Lviv region, which were associated with the sphere of influence of the people’s deputy and one of Yanukovych-Medvedchuk’s closest associates, Yuriy Boyko. The Hunter Foundation, in turn, is the direct founder of the company created by Boyko’s son, Anatoly.
Secondly, the Hunter and Covernot funds appear in several criminal proceedings against the construction company AMC Budcapital. In at least two of them, the court decided to seize documents as part of the investigations. Unofficially, the Budcapital company is associated with Igor Kushnir in collaboration with a representative of OPZZH.
Swiss trace
In February 2021, when the Ukrainian authorities began active measures against one of the founders of the pro-Russian party “Opposition Platform - For Life” Viktor Medvedchuk, the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine imposed sanctions against five offshore companies. It is indicated that these companies own aircraft that belonged to Medvedchuk or were used for personal needs.
Among these companies was Klodius Investments Limited, owned by Oksana Kushnir. The company was prohibited from flying the Gulf Stream T7-ABC aircraft (s 203). This plane, a few days before the announcement of the sanctions list, was transported to the small town of St. Gallen in Switzerland, where Viktor Medvedchuk’s company was registered.
Klodius Investments Limited, led by Oksana Kushnir, also acted actively on the eve of the announcement of the NSDC sanctions list, withdrawing from four construction companies in Ukraine. In some cases, they were replaced by other offshore companies of the Kushnirov family. Here, for example, is the story of changes in one of the Ukrainian companies.
By the way, in February of this year the sanctions against Klodius Investments Limited end, and it is not yet known whether they will be extended. The same uncertainty concerns the four other companies that own Medvedchuk’s planes. Therefore, we should soon closely monitor where and how the planes of the state traitor of Ukraine will fly.
Where do Kushnir's tracks lead?
The mentioned three traces in the business empire of Igor Kushnir’s family in one way or another lead to the circle of Viktor Medvedchuk or the banned pro-Russian party “Opposition Platform - During Life”. And regardless of denials of the relationship from both him and his wife, the documents indicate the opposite. Interaction with enemy supporters during a full-scale invasion is not only disgraceful, but may become the basis for inspections by the Security Service of Ukraine.
