‘The new beneficiary of the Donbas economy’ How Viktor Medvedchuk, handed over to Russia in a prisoner exchange, amasses his wealth through Donetsk metallurgy, Siberian oil, and Moscow real estate

Until the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Viktor Medvedchuk was one of Ukraine’s most well-known pro-Russian politicians. He led the Opposition Platform — For Life party and often met with Vladimir Putin, who became the godfather to his daughter. Medvedchuk also became known as the Russian president’s main man in Ukraine. In 2021, Ukrainian special services accused the politician of state treason and placed him under house arrest. While Medvedchuk managed to escape, he was again detained in April 2022. In September of that year, Medvedchuk was handed over to Russia in exchange for more than 200 Ukrainian prisoners of war. Since then, Medvedchuk has lived in Russia. The investigative project System, part of the television channel Current Time, discovered Medvedchuk’s three main sources of income: oil fields in Siberia, real estate and plots of land in Moscow, and metallurgy in Donetsk. Meduza covers the investigation’s highlights.

Siberian oil

In September 2023, men armed with automatic rifles, wearing masks and dressed in camouflage, stormed and seized the Dulisma oil company in Russia’s Irkutsk region — just after the facility’s bankruptcy trustees were appointed. The Kayum Oil company in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug was seized in a similarly forceful manner in December 2022.

According to System’s journalists, both seizures were traced back to Viktor Medvedchuk. In Dulisma’s case, Medvedchuk’s lawyer, Alexander Barymov, is reported to have been present while the company was being seized, while Medvedchuk-linked Innovative Oil and Gas Technologies (INGT) was made the new operator of Kayum Oil just one day before the raid took place. INGT was then bought by another company affiliated with Medvedchuk.

On top of his ventures into Siberian oil, he reportedly founded a chain of gas stations in Ukraine and Russia with the help of oil giant Rosneft, and also owns an oil refinery in Russia’s Rostov region.

Donetsk metallurgy

Among Medvedchuk’s main sources of wealth are his ventures into the annexed Donetsk region’s metallurgy. Ukrainian journalists have linked the Donugol company to Medvedchuk, though the enterprise has denied any connection. Shortly before Russia’s full-scale invasion, the company took control of the region’s coal exports.

A new logistics services provider called Florence has also appeared in the Donetsk region, transporting coal, coke fuel, cast iron, and steel, and making up to 17 billion rubles (around $183 million) in revenue in 2022. System’s journalists say the company has several ties to Medvedchuk’s lawyer, Alexander Barymov, who also serves as the co-owner of a company managing one of the Zaporizhzhia region’s largest iron ore producers. The Southern Mining and Metallurgical Complex is yet another company with alleged connections to Medvedchuk.

All this has led journalists to believe Medvedchuk to be “the new beneficiary of the Donbas region,” overtaking former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, who was referred to as the region’s “owner” prior to the full-scale invasion.

Moscow real estate

On top of oil fields in Siberia and metallurgical enterprises in Donetsk, Medvedchuk and his family also own property and land in Russia’s capital. In early 2021, a company associated with Medvedchuk purchased 500-million-ruble (around $5.4-million) worth of floorspace in one of the Moscow City business district’s most expensive skyscrapers. Medvedchuk’s wife, Oksana Marchenko, became the owner of a five-hectare (12-acre) plot of land on the river embankment in Moscow, as well as a four-hectare (10-acre) plot next to ZiL, one of the city’s former automotive plants.

In 2020, Medvechuk’s wife became the co-owner of the Geliymash factory, which develops cryogenic systems for Russia’s Defense Ministry and state space corporation Roscosmos. Medvedchuk’s wife now also owns land near Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium.