More oligarch toys: Villas and vehicles of the wealthy

Editor’s Note: The first installment of the “Oligarch Toys” series ran in the Kyiv Post on Aug. 13. Read this story here. 

If Ukraine is trying to reduce the power of its oligarchs, it has its work cut out for it.

Since they seized control of Ukraine’s biggest state enterprises in the 1990s, these tycoons have had decades to consolidate their wealth and power.

A new law pushed by President Volodymyr Zelensky would ban political donations from oligarchs and force them to report all communication with public officials. Oligarchs would be banned from buying state property, something that enriched them in the first place.

The lawmakers approved the bill in the first reading on July 7. The final vote is expected in September.

In the first installment of the “Oligarch Toys” series, the Kyiv Post reported about the real estate, vehicles and other luxuries owned by Rinat Akhmetov, Victor Pinchuk, Ihor Kolomoisky, Yuriy Kosiuk, and Dmytro Firtash.

Here are five more Ukrainian oligarchs and their most prized possessions:

Kostyantyn Zhevago ($2.4 billion)

Kostyantyn Zhevago is the third-wealthiest man in Ukraine but one would not know it from his asset declaration. When he was a lawmaker, he declared no real estate or cars, just a dozen expensive watches.

His wife, Alina Zhevago, has a 208-square-meter apartment in Kyiv, according to her husband’s e-declaration from 2016. But that is not where Zhevago lives.

In 2019, the Prosecutor General’s Office issued a notice of suspicion to Zhevago for alleged embezzlement of $113 million through Finance and Credit, a bank he used to own. Since then, the oligarch has been on the run.

It’s unknown where Zhevago resides now but London is the most likely destination. He has been looking for the right apartment there for eight years, according to his lawyer’s filing to a U.K. court.

In June 2018, he finally found some suitable digs — a penthouse and a few smaller suites and studios in a residential house in Grosvenor Square in London’s Mayfair district.

He agreed to pay $137 million, in multiple installments. He failed to make the third payment on time and the developer terminated the agreement.

Even though Zhevago hadn’t declared any fast cars or fancy boats, he has a few of each.

According to luxury vehicle watchdog SuperYachtFan, Zhevago has a 65-meter yacht produced in 2014 by Dutch shipyard Amels.

The craft was designed in the U.K., by London firm Winch Design and Hampshire-based Tim Heywood. It can accommodate up to 14 guests and 16 crew.

As of Aug. 26, Zhevago’s Z yacht was cruising along the coast of Monaco in the Mediterranean Sea, according to MarineTraffic, a vessel tracking website.

Zhevago reportedly owns a helicopter and a plane. His private jet is a Bombardier Global Express with the registration number G-XXRS, which costs around $50 million and can accommodate 14 passengers onboard, according to SuperYachtFan.

In 2017, Dzerkalo Tyzhnia, a respected media outlet, wrote that Zhevago recently bought a helicopter Agusta A109 from another influential oligarch. Its registration number is UR-KVZ which might stand for Kostyantyn Valentynovych Zhevago. In Ukraine’s aircraft registry, this plane is listed as property of Finance and Credit Leasing LLC, a company in Zhevago’s business empire.

The same registration number, KVZ, was spotted on the plates of a $2 million Aston Martin ONE-77, a $500,000 Ferrari 599 SA Aperta and an $850,000 SLR McLaren, according to 24tv.ua.

Petro Poroshenko ($1.6 billion)

Petro Poroshenko served as Ukraine’s president from 2014 to 2019 while continuing to run his businesses. He is currently a lawmaker.

Poroshenko lives in a 1,332 square meter house in Kozyn, a village 30 kilometers south of Kyiv. The two-story mansion is labeled the “White House” in Ukrainian media for its neoclassical look. It is surrounded by smaller buildings scattered around the territory. One of them is a private chapel.

In 2012, Poroshenko paid Hr 30 million ($3.7 million) for the property, according to his e-declaration.

In Kozyn, Poroshenko also owns several plots of land with a total area of 4.2 hectares. Additionally, he has a combined 2.9 hectares all around Kyiv Oblast.

His real estate includes a 300-square-meter house near Kyiv, three apartments in the capital, a flat in Vinnytsia, a city 270 kilometers southwest of Kyiv, and a resort in Lyman, a village on the Black Sea coast in Odesa Oblast.

But wait, there’s more. Poroshenko has a 1,254-square-meter villa on the coast of the Alboran Sea in Malaga, a port city in the south of Spain. It is a two-story building with a swimming pool.

Poroshenko acquired this villa back in 2008 for approximately $5.9 million, according to investigative journalism program Schemes. He didn’t include it in his declaration.

His car fleet includes a Jaguar XF and two Mercedes-Benz S.

Poroshenko has also openly declared owning dozens of art pieces including paintings, sculptures, furniture and carpets. His wife Marina owns branded jewels and furs.

Vadym Novinsky ($1.4 billion)

Lawmaker Vadym Novinsky has an impressive collection of real estate, predominantly in Russia.

There, he owns three apartments and a house, which is still under construction, according to the latest e-declaration he filed as a lawmaker. Two years ago he declared two more apartments of 184 and 172 square meters in Russia, owned by his daughter Victoria. He did not include these in his latest findings.

Additionally, he has four land plots in Russia with a total area of 10.8 hectares.

In Ukraine, he has two apartments of 136 and 667 square meters and a 1,840-square-meter house in Koncha-Zaspa, a historic neighborhood in Kyiv, where the wealthiest people reside.

There in Koncha-Zaspa he also has four plots totaling 4,500 square meters.

His vehicle fleet includes as many as 13 Mercedes Benz cars, a Land Rover and a Toyota.

It is unknown whether Novinsky has any luxury jets and yachts. But he is really into Christian icons. He has over 40, from the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries.

He has also declared various antiques like furniture, clocks and tableware.

Oleksandr Yaroslavskiy ($820 million)

Oleksandr Yaroslavskiy has a luxury 60-meter yacht called Kaiser, according to SuperYachtFan.

Built by a German shipyard Abeking & Rasmussen in 2011, it is worth around $50 million.

Its interior and exterior design was created by two London-based bureaus, Donald Starkey Designs and Bannenberg & Rowell Design.

On one of its decks, Kaiser has a sunbathing pad, a large bar, and a Jacuzzi. The yacht can accommodate up to 12 guests and 15 crew.

Yaroslavskiy’s family spends their vacation sailing the yacht along Turkey’s southwest coast in the Aegean Sea.

On Aug. 7, Marina, the wife of Yaroslavskiy, posted pictures on her Instagram sunbathing on the yacht’s deck near Bodrum, a popular Turkish tourist destination.

The yacht was still sitting in a bay not far from the city as of Aug. 26, according to MarineTraffic.

Yaroslavsky appears to like Bodrum and visits it often. In 2013, he was spotted there together with Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich. The two spent a vacation together on their superyachts, according to Facty news site. Abramovich was sailing his luxury yacht Eclipse.

Yaroslavsky reportedly owns a mid-size private jet, a Bombardier Challenger 350, with the registration number M-CLAB. The 2017 model of such a plane costs $12 million.

On Aug. 21, this plane flew from Bodrum to Kharkiv, a Ukrainian city 480 kilometers southeast of Kyiv.

Yaroslavsky reportedly divides his time between Kharkiv and London.

Viktor Medvedchuk ($620 million)

Viktor Medvedcuk, a businessman and a lawmaker with close ties to Russia’s ruling elite, sails a 93-meter yacht called Royal Romance with a price tag of over $200 million, according to SuperYachtFan.

It was launched in 2015 by the Royal Dutch Shipyard Feadship. The interiors were made by the London company Seymour Diamond while the exteriors feature design by De Voogt Naval Architects. It can fit 14 guests and 22 crew.

Royal Romance has five stories. The elevator can take the guests to the deck where the 12-meter (four meters wide) swimming pool is located.

As of Aug. 26, Royal Romance is sailing in the northern Adriatic Sea near Rijeka, a post city in Croatia, according to Marine Traffic. This yacht is not available for charter.

Medvedchuk also owns another yacht by Italian manufacturer Azimut. According to his e-declaration, he bought this one in 2011.

Medvedchuk’s car fleet includes nine Mercedes Benz, three BMWs, two Toyotas, two Range Rovers, a Bentley, a Lexus and a Renault.

He flies a Dassault Falcon 900EX, a French-built jet with the registration number of P4-GEM, according to SuperYachtFan. Today, such a plane goes for $8 million.

According to his e-declaration, the oligarch has three houses in Kyiv, with dimensions of 2,113, 1,773 and 311 square meters.

His wife Oksana Marchenko has a 371-meter house on the Black Sea coast in Yalta, Crimea, a peninsula Russia seized from Ukraine in 2014.

Decorated with white marble with gilding, Marchenko’s house resembles a palace crowning her 5,620-square-meter plot of land.