Ukraine “deruzzificated” Kyiv’s shopping mall, which allegedly belongs to Putin’s narrow circle

Ukraine “deruzzificated” Kyiv's shopping mall, which allegedly belongs to Putin’s narrow circle

Ukraine conducted “deruzzification” of the Ocean Plaza shopping mall in the central Kyiv. The property former owner is a company affiliated with Vladymir Putin’s friend Arkadiy Rotenberg.

The Kyiv shopping center Ocean Plaza, which allegedly belongs to businessmen from Vladimir Putin’s narrow circle, was brought under Asset Recovery and Management Agency’s (ARMA) management – the Ukrainian market does not believe in Swiss owners.

The arrested corporate rights of companies worth more than UAH 350 million, including one of the largest shopping and entertainment centers in Kyiv, were brought under the management of the Asset Recovery and Management Agency. That is stated in Andriy Kostin’s the message, the head of the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine .

“We are talking about one of the largest shopping and entertainment centers in the capital. Among its ultimate beneficial owners are citizens of Russia from the inner circle of the head of the aggressor country,” the Prosecutor General emphasized.

According to the investigation, the funds, received from the shopping center activities, were transferred from the chain of financial transactions to citizens of the Russian Federation.

“The latter subsequently used them, in particular, to finance the production and supply of ammunition for the armed forces of the aggressor country,” the Prosecutor General’s message reads.

Most likely, it is about the Ocean Plaza shopping center owned by Avangard-Vilarti LLC through the Lybid Investment Union. Its final owners are Swiss citizens Andrea Rishaal and Suzanne Vallabh. According to the state register, Ukrainian businessman Vasyl Khmelnytsky is also one of the owners of the shopping center.

In an interview with Forbes Ukraine in April, Khmelnytsky said that he sold the construction business to his partner Andriy Ivanov before the New Year holidays but is still the owner formally since he “did not re-register all the assets.”

Until April 2018, among the co-owners of the shopping center was Arkadiy Rotenberg, and until September 2019, his daughter Liliya.

However, the Ukrainian market does not believe in Swiss owners. As Oleksandr Nosachenko, managing director of Colliers Ukraine, said in a comment to NV Business, the shopping center is still owned by individuals from the closest circle of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, namely Ponomarenko (co-owner of Sheremetyevo Airport and, according to Aleksey Navalny, the official owner of “Putin’s Palace” near Gelendzhik in the Krasnodar Krai).

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