Pavel Borisovich Ryabikin
Official biography
Pavlo Riabikin was born on June 6, 1965 in Kyiv.
From 1983 to 1985 he served in the Soviet army.
In 1989, he graduated from the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. In 1989, he graduated from the Faculty of International Relations and International Law, specializing in international law. In 1992, he completed his postgraduate studies at the Kyiv National University.
He did internships at the University of Leipzig and later at the University of Kiel.
Family.
The official’s wife Halyna is an entrepreneur in the restaurant business. She owns the restaurants Mayachok, Sanpaolo, and the cafe Imbyr.
Her daughter, Anna Lazarevych, completed her studies in the UK and is engaged in the restaurant business in Kyiv. She is the owner of the Gimlet gin bar. In one of her interviews, she said that it was important for her to focus on gin because it is what she knows and likes.
Wife:
Compromising evidence
According to rumors, the head of the airport has a law firm in Switzerland. Its main clients are Ukrainian politicians, whom Pavel Ryabikin helps to withdraw funds to banks in this Alpine republic. This scheme started working in the early 1990s.
While working at the Ministry of Transport and Communications, he had an illegal business in Mykolaiv. In addition, he was suspected of personally controlling sand mining at one of the Crimean sand quarries.
As the deputy head of the Kyiv City State Administration, Pavlo Riabikin was notable for allocating land to himself. He also helped the disgraced Serhiy Lovochkin to get possession of the capital’s land, which had previously been in communal ownership.
In 2017, negotiations between the low-cost airline Ryanair and Boryspil Airport were disrupted. The Irish airline canceled a planned flight to Ukraine due to violations by the Ukrainian airport.
In January 2020, the official got into a scandal by declaring half a million hryvnias as his salary. “Ryabikin initially indicated that he received UAH 255,693 in salary at his main place of work, Boryspil Airport. A little later, he declared receiving another UAH 233,400 in salary at the same company.”
Youcontrol analysts note that Ryabikin has close ties with Oleksandr, the son of former Kyiv mayor Oleksandr Omelchenko. Their wives, Halyna Ryabikina and Olena Omelchenko, were the founders of Bonobo and Maietok na Muzeinyi. Under Mayor Vitali Klitschko, according to media reports, the partners managed to obtain ownership of a historic building in the heart of Kyiv and permission to “reconstruct” it. In addition, in 2016 and 2017, Ryabikin’s wife’s company Asymmetry received government orders from the Kyiv City State Administration worth more than UAH 300 thousand.
As Deputy Minister of Transport and Communications, Ryabikin was allegedly involved in a number of corruption schemes. In particular, in controlling sand mining in Yevpatoria and organizing illegal business in Mykolaiv port.
In February 2018, journalists of the Hroshi program reported that Vitali Klitschko’s country house is located in Liutizh, not far from Kyiv. The fenced plot covers an area of about 10 hectares of forest and covers several hundred square meters of the coastal zone. The house is subleased to Vasyl Melnyk (his full namesake was the head of the Vyshhorod District Council in 2014). Vasyl Melnyk leases this land plot from Vyshgorodsilbud LLC. The company’s founders are Northern Investment Group LLC and School of Captains LLC, the latter owned by Ryabikin until June 2017.
Kherson Commercial Port
Shortly before his dismissal from the post of Deputy Minister, Ryabikin agreed on a joint venture agreement No. 18/TX dated July 28, 2006 between the Kherson Commercial Sea Port, the Austrian Allgemeine Beteiligungsverwaltungs-und Handels GmbH (ABH GmbH) and the private enterprise Stevedoring Company Kherson Sea Terminal (Kyiv).
The purpose of the joint venture agreement was to combine the contributions of the parties without creating a legal entity for a period of ten years. Within a week after the state registration of the agreement, the port had to transfer about 90% of its assets (portal cranes, warehouses, transshipment complexes, land use rights, etc.) as a contribution. The value of the port’s property was estimated at UAH 27.779 million. Other parties to the agreement were to invest UAH 41.152 million. And in four stages. Within two months — UAH 505 thousand, by the end of 2006 — UAH 2.02 million, in 2007 — UAH 15.150 million, in 2008 — UAH 23.477 million. In fact, it was a hidden privatization of the port.
But this is not all the “cherry on top” of this agreement. Immediately after the agreement came into effect, the private operator began to receive 60% of the profits. That is, even before the planned $8 million investment was made.
As the weekly Komentarii wrote at the time, ABH GmbH was registered in Vienna in 2001 with a registered capital of 70 thousand euros. The founders are Julius Schlossman (25.2 thousand euros), Boris and Tamara Podolsky (22.4 thousand euros each). In 2003-2004, ABH GmbH restored the filter paper factory of the destroyed Kherson Pulp and Paper Mill, modernized production, and revived the production of technical filter papers for oil, fuel, and air filtration.
Terminated contract with Ryanair
In 2017, while heading Boryspil Airport, Ryabikin said that Ryanair was making demands on the airport regarding flights to Kyiv that did not comply with Ukrainian law.
Then-Minister of Infrastructure Volodymyr Omelyan criticized him for “disclosing confidential terms of the contract” and even insisted on his dismissal, but Ryabikin remained in office.
False information in the declaration
In 2019, false information was found in Ryabikin’s 2016 declaration. As reported on the NACP website, Pavlo Riabikin, when submitting his declaration for 2016, provided false information about a watercraft — the Rapan mooring vessel owned by him and the income he received from leasing the property.
In addition, he failed to declare his own corporate rights and the corporate rights of a family member (daughter), and failed to provide information about non-residential premises and a car owned by his daughter and the income she received from doing business. Thus, the total amount of false information in the declaration for 2016 is more than UAH 10.6 million. Later, the media reported that Ryabikin won the lawsuit against the NACP, but not on the first attempt. He filed a lawsuit with the Kyiv District Administrative Court, in which he asked to declare the decision of the National Agency untrue and cancel it. On August 31, 2020, the DACK rejected his claim in its entirety. Therefore, the head of the customs office filed a complaint, which the Sixth Administrative Court of Appeal upheld and canceled the NACP’s decision.
Abuse of parking lot construction contractors
In October 2020, the Security Service of Ukraine announced that it had uncovered abuse by parking lot construction contractors, in which the offenders overstated the amount of work performed and cashed out money through shell companies. According to the SBU, the scheme allowed cashing out UAH 37 million and generating about UAH 6 million of unjustified tax credit. By the way, in May 2019, the first phase of the airport parking lot was opened. Its construction took seven years. That is, it began 5 years before Ryabikin took over as airport director.
In 2020, the NABU announced that it had stopped a five-year corruption scheme at Boryspil International Airport. According to the NABU and the SAPO, one of the airport’s executives colluded with the “right ‘tenants’” from 2014 to 2019, resulting in Boryspil losing more than UAH 16.5 million. In June of this year, the NABU and the SAPO sent this case to court, which concerns the period of 2016-17.
We are talking to Pavel Ryabikin, we mean: Dmitry Firtash.
As you know, the head of the Ministry of Strategic Industries, Oleh Uruskyi, has resigned. He is expected to be replaced by Pavel Ryabikin, who is being pushed by David Arakhamia.
What do we know about this Mr. Ryabikin? During the years of Viktor Yushchenko, he was Deputy Minister of Transport. In 2014, he managed to be the deputy mayor of Kyiv City State Administration. Then his business went uphill, and in 2017-2020. Ryabikin was in charge of Boryspil Airport. In 2020, he was promoted again: he was given the job of managing customs.
It’s not hard to guess how Ryabikin managed the Kyiv City State Administration, Boryspil Airport, and customs: all three posts are luxury feeders. But he was tired of the life of a simple corrupt official who buys apartments in the fictional Crimea and beyond with the money from bribes, and Ryabikin decided to go all-in.
For all the seeming emptiness, the Ministry of Strategic Industries has several assets at once, the value of which is little understood by ordinary mortals, but is of great interest to those who are in the know and in the game.
The first thing that attracts Ryabikin is the remnants of land and real estate that have not yet been removed from Ukroboronprom. This concern still owns factories and buildings that are very interesting to developers. His patron is David Arakhamia, with whom he became friends during the fight for the 130th district in Mykolaiv.
But there is a second one: UMCC. The Firtash-Lyovochkin tandem has set its sights on it. They had previously tried to buy this asset with money from Russia on behalf of a UK fund, but the tender failed twice. Now, through Ryabikin’s hands, this asset can be managed by them for free. Lovochkin, who is about to lose his Minister of Ecology Roman Abramovsky, should get some portfolio in return, which strengthens Ryabikin’s chances of being appointed.
The former Klitschko deputy received a land plot in Kyiv worth almost UAH 2.5 million.
According to the decision of the Kyiv City Council, Pavlo Riabikin, former deputy head of the Kyiv City State Administration and current CEO of Boryspil Airport, received a plot of land in the protected historical and cultural zone of the capital, according to an article by Maria Zemlyanska for the program “Our Money with Denys Bihus”.
The land under the two-story building was leased to Ryabikin for five years. This decision was made by the deputies on the second attempt on December 12.
It is a 7-hectare plot at 6A Bekhterevsky Lane near the Pokrovsky Monastery. The value of the plot is estimated at almost UAH 2.5 million. In 2007, Ryabikin bought a two-story house built on the plot. It houses the Vedic center of the airport CEO’s wife.
Kyiv City Council members failed in the first vote to transfer the land to Ryabikin. However, during the second attempt, certain changes were made to the relevant document. Thus, while the project originally referred to the “reconstruction of a non-residential building into a residential and office building,” the new version reads “operation of a non-residential building.” In this way, the city council members limited the possibility of building a new building on the site of the existing one.
Ryabikin had already tried to get the land when he was deputy mayor of Kyiv. Back then, he sent an application to the Kyiv City State Administration to transfer the land to him for the reconstruction of a non-residential building into a residential and office building. Ryabikin himself signed this application and also approved the submission of the Kyiv City Council’s draft resolution on the land transfer.
However, neither Ryabikin nor the Shevchenkivskyi Court of Kyiv noticed a conflict of interest in such actions. Therefore, the case of administrative violation was closed.
Earlier it was reported that the Sovski Ponds cooperative, controlled by Pavlo Riabikin, plans to build up Zhukiv Island in Kyiv. They want to build two palaces with their own moorings and a closed recreation center on the site, where it is forbidden to build private residential buildings.
In particular, we are talking about 15 hectares of land on Zhukovyi Island next to the yacht club and restaurant complex Mayachok, which are owned by Ryabikin. «Sovskie Stavky received the land for free in 2010. The cooperative became the owner of 10 hectares, and Sovskie Stavky leased 5 hectares for 25 years. Until 2019, the territory was fenced off. However, last year, the cooperative received urban planning conditions and restrictions on the development of the site from the Kyiv Department of Urban Planning and Architecture. On December 12, 2019, the Kyiv City Council also transferred another 1.3 hectares on the island to Ukrryatvod, a company associated with Ryabikin.
A video that explains in more detail the topic of land theft on Zhukovyi Island:
“For a few hundred million from Russians,” the head of the customs bought an enterprise
The head of the State Customs Service, Pavlo Riabikin, has bought a company from a Russian businessman. The purchase was announced on his Facebook page by political expert Kyrylo Molchanov, Ukrainian News reports.
Declaration
According to the declaration, Pavlo Riabikin earned UAH 138 thousand 40 in 2020 as the head of the State Migration Service. Another UAH 7 million 28 thousand 955 was the salary as director of Boryspil Airport, UAH 2 million 749 thousand 625 was income from leasing property to the Israeli Embassy, UAH 999 thousand 19 was repayment of domestic government bonds, UAH 686 thousand 981 was income from leasing property, UAH 43 thousand 367 was interest from the bank, and UAH 2 million 260 thousand was income from the alienation of movable property.
In 2020, his wife Halyna earned UAH 24,810 from Asimenia LLC, UAH 978,524 in income from business activities, UAH 2,828,781 in income from the alienation of movable property, UAH 24,000 in income from leasing property, UAH 23,217 in interest from the bank, and UAH 357,459 in fines.
Ryabikin kept 3 million 331 thousand 294 hryvnias, 28 thousand 721 dollars and 19 thousand 837 euros in his bank account, and 700 thousand dollars and 45 thousand euros in cash. His wife had UAH 264,177 and $20,000 in cash in the bank.
Ryabikin also lent 10 million 293 thousand 123 hryvnias and 17 thousand 605 dollars to third parties, and his wife indicated in the declaration 7 million 684 thousand 676 hryvnias as a security payment under a preliminary purchase and sale agreement and has 1 million 472 thousand 289 hryvnias of financial obligations to OTP Bank.
Ryabikin owns two parking spaces (21.3 sq. m), five non-residential premises (total area 1092.1 sq. m), an apartment (75% of rights; 189.9 sq. m), and two more apartments (total area 345.2 sq. m) in Kyiv. Also, three parking spaces (total area 53.7 sq. m) in Kozyn (Obukhiv district, Kyiv region).
His wife owns an apartment (120.3 sq. m) in Sevastopol, non-residential premises (211.7 sq. m), a land plot (571 sq. m), an apartment (50.7 sq. m) and two garages (24.6 sq. m) in Kyiv. He also owns a land plot (798 sq. m.) and a house (116.9 sq. m.) in Romankiv (Obukhiv district, Kyiv region).
Pavlo Riabikin owns a BMW 730D (2014), a Mercedes Benz SLK230 (1997), an AUDI Q8 (2019) and a RANGE ROVER VOQUE (2020, purchased in 2020 for UAH 4 million 903 thousand 781) and 6 watercrafts. His wife owns a Jaguar I-PACE (2018).
His wife also owns corporate rights in Lyongroup LLC, Sofia Art, Verona Art, Asimenia, Crassula Nova, and Rhythms of Life Publishing House.
According to his declaration, in July Ryabikin purchased movable property for UAH 14 million. He also declared UAH 37 million 717 thousand 440 in income from the alienation of real estate, borrowed UAH 2 million 806 thousand 420 and spent UAH 419 thousand 847 on travel services.
Summary.
Pavlo Riabikin, using his position and serious connections, is stealing Kyiv’s protected lands, creating new corruption schemes and actively buying up real estate. Thanks to Vitali Klitschko, Petro Poroshenko and other prominent people for helping Ryabikin to get “bread and butter” positions and get richer by leaps and bounds.