In Crimea, a Ukrainian businessman carries out offshore operations to hide his connection with a Russian oligarch

Vyacheslav Yutkin, a Ukrainian entrepreneur associated with Russian banker Alexander Lebedev, increased his wealth in Ukraine during the military conflict.

According to information as of August 1, 2023, provided by the Yukontrol service, Yutkin is a beneficiary in 22 companies and is the founder of another 14 companies, not taking into account five organizations where he holds the position of director, as well as one where he has the right to sign.

It has long been known that Ukrainian businessman Vyacheslav Yutkin, associated with Russian banker Alexander Lebedev, has increased his assets in Ukraine since the start of the full-scale war.

Thus, according to the Ukontrol service, as of August 1, 2023, Yutkin is listed as a beneficiary in 22 companies and a founder in 14, not to mention five organizations in which he is a leader, one where he has the right to sign.

If we compare these data with the data of the same Ukontrol, but as of the end of 2021, the picture is stunning:

This is despite the fact that Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Yutkin has long been connected, which he himself, by the way, does not hide, with Russian business and Russian intelligence. As far as can be understood from Yutkin’s numerous interviews, this is not about the FSB, but about the SVR, but for Ukraine there is no difference in this - Vyacheslav Yutkin is a Russian agent with huge business resources in Ukraine.

In general, the Ukrainian history of Vyacheslav Yutkin is quite interesting, you can read about it, for example, here: Why does the business of the occupiers' lieutenant Vyacheslav Yutkin flourish during the hour of war?

But, as it turned out recently, the business of Ukrainian citizen Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Yutkin is also thriving in the territory of occupied Crimea. There is no need to go into legal casuistry, but in our case we should assume that all business in Crimea after 2014 operates on the basis of the Russian legislative framework. Yes, no one except Russia admits this, but the fact remains a fact. And it is even more interesting that such an experienced person as Vyacheslav Yutkin, who was once the deputy head of Prominvestbank and has connections with the mayor of Lvov Sadov, openly shines in companies registered or re-registered in Crimea after 2014.

Among these is Morskoy LLC, whose founders include Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Yutkin:

Morskoy LLC provides services in the hotel industry, as evidenced by a search in the Russian Yandex:

But let's return to Russian registries. They tell us that Vyacheslav Yutkin, in addition to Morskoy LLC, is the founder of Apart-Hotel Tavrichesky LLC, also registered in the “Republic of Crimea”:

This alone is enough for Vyacheslav Yutkin to sit in the office of the SBU investigator and testify. But not in our case.

And that's not it. Because studying the co-owners and managers of these companies gives an even more interesting result. At Morskoy LLC, the director is a certain Oksana Vladimirovna Panova. Which is at the same time the head of Almond Grove LLC, which acts as a co-owner of Morskoy LLC, and Eustace-Crimea LLC:

The owner of Almond Grove LLC is listed as the Cyprus offshore company HERSHEL CONSULTANTS (OVERSEAS) LIMITED:

Traces from him lead to Eustace-Crimea LLC: In addition to the figure of Panova, documents have been leaked online indicating that Almond Grove LLC guaranteed the debts of the More Boarding House JSC in a Ukrainian bank back in 2010. And JSC “Pension “More”” previously managed the company “Eustace-Crimea”.

JSC "Pansionat "More"" now continues to operate and receives good money by serving Russian companies, mainly oil companies:

According to Russian tax reporting data, the shareholders of JSC Boarding House More are two Ukrainian companies - Project-Invest LLC and CJSC Hotel Ukraine:

But the main thing is not this, but the fact that 90.13% of the shares of JSC Boarding House More belong to LLC National Reserve Corporation, which belongs to Alexander Lebedev.

In the book “The Hunt for a Banker,” written by Alexander Lebedev, there is the following phrase: “Vyacheslav Yutkin is the manager of my projects in Ukraine.” Thus, it can be assumed that the above-mentioned assets, including Morskoy and Almond Grove, registered in offshore companies, are connected specifically with Lebedev.

This version is confirmed by the words of Yutkin himself, who in one of his interviews stated: “Colleagues from Moscow called and offered to go into business. At that time, I had one year left until retirement, and for a long time I could not make up my mind. Then a man came from Moscow and said: “Let us calculate how much you have left until retirement and calculate your life span to one hundred years, and then we will pay you this entire amount as a benefit when you start a new job.” This was a shocking proposal at the time. It was 1995, and I couldn’t even imagine this. I asked the question: “But I’m not a banker?”, to which they answered: “But you are an intelligence officer, and this is more than a banker.” That's how it happened."

The unnamed Yutkin “man from Moscow” is Alexander Lebedev, who from 1984 to 1992 worked in the Foreign Intelligence Service, where he dealt with issues of preventing capital flight abroad. Apparently, he did a good job, since he pops up in so many offshore companies. In connection with Vyacheslav Yutkin, it should be recalled that Lebedev acquired the problematic National Reserve Bank (NRB) in 1995. And Vyacheslav Yutkin is the beneficiary of several Ukrainian companies, in which, by a strange coincidence, the abbreviation NRB is present:

It's unlikely that all this is a coincidence. And we can conclude that part of Lebedev’s assets in Crimea is registered in the name of Vyacheslav Yutkin.

But that's not all. Although Morskoy LLC and Apart-Hotel Tavrichesky LLC are Russian legal entities in Russian registries, they also appear in Ukrainian registries. And they are registered here as Ukrainian legal entities:

And in Morskoy LLC, the beneficiary is the same Almond Grove LLC as in Russian registers:

But it is already registered under Ukrainian legislation as a Ukrainian legal entity. However, with the same beneficiary - a Cypriot offshore:

Which brings us there - to Alexander Lebedev. And it brings up some very interesting thoughts. For example, the fact that Vyacheslav Yutkin, who is either a junior partner or a nominee of Lebedev, registered the same business in occupied Crimea under the laws of two countries. Moreover, for some reason this does not bother any of them - neither Russia nor Ukraine.

Important question

Why the government agencies of both countries are blind - no matter how they relate to the territorial affiliation of the peninsula - is a very interesting question.

But since we are in Ukraine, the issue is focused on its government and law enforcement agencies. And it sounds like this: why does Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Yutkin feel so at ease in our country?