Zelenskyy approves sanctions against Poroshenko, Kolomoiskyi and others
Pravda Ukraine
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy approved the decision of the National Security and Defence Council of 12 February to impose sanctions against businessman Ihor Kolomoiskyi; billionaire Kostiantyn Zhevago; former co-owner of Privatbank Hennadii Boholiubov; Petro Poroshenko, the 5th President of Ukraine and MP of the European Solidarity party; and Viktor Medvedchuk, former MP from the banned pro-Russian Opposition Platform – For Life party who is also accused of treason.
Source: Presidential decree No. 81/2025
Details: The Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council was entrusted with controlling the decision’s implementation. The decree comes into force on the day of its publication.
The decree’s annex states that indefinite sanctions have been imposed against Ihor Kolomoiskyi, Kostiantyn Zhevago, Hennadii Boholiubov, Petro Poroshenko and Viktor Medvedchuk.
For reference: Businessman Ihor Kolomoiskyi is suspected of fraud and legalisation (laundering) of the proceeds of crime, as well as withdrawing a total of UAH 15 billion (approx. US$359.4 million) from Privatbank.
The State Bureau of Investigation is also investigating the illegal departure from Ukraine of former Privatbank co-owner Hennadii Boholiubov. On 7 July 2024, Ukrainska Pravda found out that Boholiubov illegally left Ukraine on forged documents on the night of 23-24 June by train from Kyiv to Chełm (Poland). According to Ukrainska Pravda sources, the reason for his escape was that the Bureau of Economic Security was preparing a notice of suspicion against him in the Privatbank case.
Boholiubov himself claimed that he had crossed the Ukrainian border to leave legally. According to Boholiubov’s press service, he has all the legal grounds to cross the border: he is 62 years old and has 7 children, 5 of whom are minors.
Law enforcement officers served Boholiubov and the border guard who assisted him in illegally crossing the border on 24 June with a notice of suspicion in absentia. The authorities said that Boholiubov left the country using another person’s passport. This is a resident of Volyn Oblast [which is a border region in Ukraine’s west where Boholiubov actually crossed the border – ed.], 67-year-old Mykola Siumak.
In an interview with Ukrainska Pravda on 10 July 2024, Boholiubov said that he did not know whether he would come back to Ukraine. In November 2024, the Pecherskyi District Court of Kyiv ordered the arrest of Hennadiy Boholiubov.
Billionaire Kostiantyn Zhevago was suspected of embezzlement in the case of the Finance and Credit bank.
On 17 September 2015, the National Bank of Ukraine declared the Finance and Credit Bank insolvent. As part of the investigation, Zhevago and several of the bank’s top managers were served with notices of suspicion of committing criminal offences.
On 27 December 2022, Zhevago was detained at the Courchevel ski resort in the French Alps at the request of the Ukrainian side.
A court in the French city of Chambéry ordered the extradition arrest of Zhevago. However, Zhevago posted bail of EUR 1 million and was released from custody, and is not allowed to leave mainland France.
On 10 November 2023, the French Supreme Court dismissed the Ukrainian side’s appeal and ruled that Zhevago should not be extradited on embezzlement charges in the Finance and Credit bank case.
In January 2024, it was reported that Zhevago won a trial in London on charges of embezzling money from the bankrupt Finance and Credit bank.
Since May 2021, Viktor Medvedchuk has been under house arrest on suspicion of high treason and attempted plunder of national resources (oil and gas) in occupied Crimea, and since October 2021 – on suspicion of high treason and assistance to a terrorist organisation through coal purchase schemes in the temporarily occupied parts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts.
Five days before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Medvedchuk’s wife Oksana Marchenko travelled to Belarus and posted a video from Moscow. On 21 February 2022, property was removed from Medvedchuk’s estate in Kyiv. On 27 February 2022, it was reported that Medvedchuk had escaped from house arrest. However, he was detained by Ukrainian law enforcement.
In September 2022, Medvedchuk, to whose daughter Putin is godfather, was exchanged for more than 200 Ukrainian POWs. He is currently in Russia.
Background:
- In his evening address on 12 February, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced the introduction of new National Security and Defence Council sanctions but did not name any individuals.
- Sources from Ukrainska Pravda, close to the 5th President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko, and within the NSDC, reported that Poroshenko was among those sanctioned.
- The fifth President of Ukraine called the sanctions imposed on him a “colossal blow to internal unity.”
- On 13 February, Ukrainska Pravda sources reported that sanctions were also imposed on Ihor Kolomoiskyi, Kostiantyn Zhevago, Hennadii Boholiubov, and Viktor Medvedchuk.
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