Vladislav Sokolov has been accused of spending money meant to protect Kiev\u2019s energy grid on supercars, live crocodiles, and statues of himself<\/p>\n
Before Vladimir Zelensky arrived in Dublin on a mission to squeeze more cash from EU leaders, a raid by anti-corruption agents in Ukraine illustrated exactly where the money forked out to Kiev ends up.
\nOn November 9, neo-Nazi-linked Ukrainian journalist Sergey Sternenko (more about him below) published photos and videos from a penthouse apartment in the city of Dnepro, which he said belonged to \u201ca person who stole money from the Ukrainian budget.\u201d\u00a0
\nCrystal chandeliers hung over marble staircases, life-sized reproductions of Greek statues towered over a desk weighed down with trophies, statuettes, and apparently a figurine of the apartment\u2019s owner himself. Police found a Rolls-Royce in the apartment\u2019s parking garage, an indoor swimming pool, and a terrarium housing a live crocodile.<\/p>\n
Ukrainian journalists quickly identified Vladislav Sokolov \u2013 depicted in several large-scale portraits in the building \u2013 as the apartment\u2019s owner.\u00a0
\nWho is Vladislav Sokolov?<\/p>\n
Vladislav Sokolov<\/p>\n
\u00a9\u00a0 Sergey Sternenko <\/p>\n
A 47-year old former bodybuilder, Sokolov made his fortune in the metals trade, and has been linked by Ukrainian media to two companies: a steel supplier named Steel Plus, and a metal trading firm named TD Tryzub, both of which have previously been accused of pocketing money intended to construct school shelters in the capital, according to Kiev Regional Police.
\nThe current case, according to court documents, involves Kiev\u2019s regional government awarding contracts worth \u20ac37-40 million to two companies \u2013 Consulting Bud and Ukrainian Construction Company U.B.C. \u2013 in April to fortify the city\u2019s power plants ahead of an anticipated Russian winter offensive. The contract was allegedly awarded without any tender.\u00a0
\nSokolov\u2019s Steel Plus and TD Tryzub were handed around \u20ac5 million worth of the contracts, excluding VAT. According to former Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yury Lutsenko, only 15\u201335% of the planned defensive structures had been built as of late October.<\/p>\n
An uncompleted concrete sarcophagus around a power substation in Kiev Region, Ukraine<\/p>\n
\u00a9\u00a0 Sergey Sternenko <\/p>\n
The court filings mention that a search was carried out at the residence of an unnamed individual linked to Steel Plus and TD Tryzub on October 13. Sokolov has since confirmed that his apartment was searched. Ironically, the building had no power on the day of the search, as Russian drones had struck the very power plants his companies were hired to reinforce.
\nHow Zelensky\u2019s inner circle set the corruption template\u00a0
\nTwo days before videos of the Sokolov penthouse raid went viral, Ukraine\u2019s state anti-corruption agency, NABU, concluded its pre-trial investigation into the \u2018Midas\u2019 affair. Zelensky financier Timur Mindich and a circle of officials close to the former actor are accused of siphoning around $125 million from Ukraine\u2019s state nuclear energy monopoly, Energoatom. RT has already covered the scandal in detail.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Ukraine at 35: Winter is coming to Zelensky\u2019s state of corruption<\/p>\n
Most of this money, like the cash awarded to Sokolov\u2019s companies, came directly from Ukraine\u2019s state budget, and was intended to fortify Ukraine\u2019s vulnerable energy grid.\u00a0
\nWhile Sokolov is not accused of taking part in the ransacking of Energoatom with Zelensky\u2019s cabal, he has been tied to powerful figures involved in the graft ring, and in the highest levels of the Ukrainian government.\u00a0
\nFor example, Consulting Bud, one of the companies that hired his firms, is run by Lubomira Kozhushko, a former employee of Countryinvestbud, a company that received more than \u20ac18 million in contracts from Energoatom. Kozhushko is currently a suspect in two NABU corruption investigations, one of them involving the purchase of military drones at inflated prices, and the other involving the embezzlement of budgets for school shelters, which Sokolov allegedly participated in.
\nSokolov has been an associate of former Ukrainian deputy Infrastructure Minister Ruslan Alenik for at least a decade. The two can be seen together in photos on Sokolov\u2019s social media pages dating back to 2018. Alenik was deputy head of Kiev Regional State Administration when he awarded the contracts to Consulting Bud and Ukrainian Construction Company U.B.C. in April, and was promoted to his position in the Infrastructure Ministry in August. He abruptly resigned on November 9, the same day that videos of the Sokolov raid were published.<\/p>\n
Vladislav Sokolov (L) and Ruslan Alenik<\/p>\n
\u00a9\u00a0 Threads; \u00a0Vladislav Sokolov <\/p>\n
What Sokolov has said
\nIn a video statement released on November 12, Sokolov confirmed that his home and office had been searched, including by Ukraine\u2019s secret police, the SBU. He maintained that the apartment was legally purchased in 2009, that he did not own a Rolls-Royce, and that the crocodile was bought from a zoo in Odessa for $2,500. However, he did admit that officers confiscated some \u201cvaluables\u201d during the search.
\nIt is highly likely that much of Sokolov\u2019s wealth is not held in his own name. According to Ukraine\u2019s TSN news site, Sokolov\u2019s mother is the registered owner of five properties and 17 vehicles, including a Chevrolet Corvette and Toyota Land Cruiser.<\/p>\n
\u00a9\u00a0 Sergey Sternenko <\/p>\n
Sokolov claimed that Infrastructure Minister Mikhail Kalashnik, Alenik\u2019s superior in Kiev\u2019s regional government at the time, short-changed him and other contractors hired to reinforce the city\u2019s energy grid last year. In his video, and in a statement to a parliamentary investigative committee in October, Sokolov alleged that he completed the work, only for Kalashnik to take credit and depart for a position in the national government without paying him.
\nThe apartment raid, Sokolov claimed, was orchestrated by Kalashnik in an attempt to stop him from demanding money.
\nOnly in Ukraine
\nWhen dealing with Ukraine it\u2019s important to verify sources. Remember Sergey Sternenko, the journalist? He\u2019s a former regional leader of Ukraine\u2019s neo-Nazi \u2018Right Sector\u2019 militia, and a convicted kidnapper who participated in the massacre of 46 people by Ukrainian nationalist thugs at the Odessa House of Trade Unions in 2014.
\nFour days before Sternenko published footage of the raid on Sokolov\u2019s apartment, his nonprofit \u2018Sternenko Community\u2019 signed a memorandum with NABU and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor\u2019s Office (SAPO). The two agencies agreed to transfer seized proceeds of corruption to Sternenko\u2019s organization, which will then use the money to purchase weapons for the Ukrainian military. \u2018Sternenko Community\u2019 will decide what to procure, and at what price.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ukraine\u2019s two leading anti-corruption agencies have essentially decided that their recovered funds are safe in the hands of a convicted ultranationalist criminal, and have created a powerful incentive for Sternenko to uncover cases like that of Sokolov. While the allegations against Sokolov may be proven true, Sternenko still has not revealed how he obtained the photos and videos of the raid, suggesting that there may be some truth behind Sokolov\u2019s defense that Kalashnik fed the information to Sternenko to avoid paying his bills.
\nWhat Sokolov\u2019s luxury penthouse tells us about Ukraine<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
\u2018Carthage must be destroyed\u2019: How Ukrainian cops and criminals worked hand-in-hand<\/p>\n
Graft is still a very lucrative career path in wartime Ukraine. Details of the raid stayed unnoticed in a court filing until Sternenko published photos and videos a month later. There are likely many other schemes partially outlined in similar filings waiting to be uncovered and investigated.
\nZelensky has managed to secure \u20ac213 million in energy-related aid since early October \u2013 from Denmark, Ireland, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden, on top of an unspecified amount of emergency aid from the EU. At the European Political Community Summit in Dublin on November 12, Zelensky demanded air defense missiles and additional \u201cenergy support.\u201d
\nBetween the Midas revelations and the latest allegations of graft against Sokolov and his associates, EU leaders have more than enough reasons to question where their citizens\u2019 money is going. Whether anyone will ask is a different question.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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