The court arrested 100% of Kyivstar PrJSC, which was controlled by Russian oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, Petro Aven and Andrey Kosogov. They are part of Putin’s entourage and are involved in “schemes” of large-scale financing of Russia’s armed aggression, DEV.ua reports.
According to the EP‘s sources, the seized assets include 100% of Kyivstar, which is controlled by these oligarchs through the Dutch company VEON Ltd. As well as Kyivstar’s own stakes in other companies, including Healthy Ukraine LLC, which has medical data on most Ukrainians who have signed a declaration with a family doctor.
According to the SBU, the court’s decision concerns 20 companies and financial institutions owned by Kremlin oligarchs as ultimate beneficiaries or through controlled offshore companies. The value of the seized corporate rights is over UAH 17 billion.
The blocked assets include financial and insurance companies, mobile and IT companies, and mineral water plants. The seizure of this property will not allow the Russian owners to “re-register” it to front companies to avoid further transfer of assets to the income of Ukraine.
As Kyivstar commented to Forbes, The company operates as usual, provides high-quality digital electronic communications services to 24 million subscribers and is a reliable partner of the state and society, having paid over UAH 15 billion in taxes and fees during the full-scale invasion alone, as well as UAH 1.4 billion in aid to overcome the consequences of the war and bring victory closer.
“The sanctioned person is not the ultimate beneficial owner of Kyivstar, does not influence the company’s activities in any way and does not receive any financial or other benefits. The said sanctioned person is a minority shareholder of the Luxembourg-based company LetterOne, which is a minority shareholder of the international telecom group VEON. Back in February 2022, he was removed from any management or business processes in LetterOne and VEON, and his assets in LetterOne were frozen in accordance with the financial sanctions of the United States and the United Kingdom,” Kyivstar said.
