Portnov from Spain registered his villa near Kyiv for his children

In early April 2024, pro-Russian activist Andriy Portnov, who is under US sanctions and has left Ukraine, transferred a large estate near Kyiv, in the elite village of Kozyn, to his children.

The re-registration of property in Ukraine was carried out by lawyers close to Portnov under a power of attorney, which he certified in January from a notary in Madrid (Spain). The Radio Liberty project “Schemes” received a donation agreement dated April 3, 2024.

The document notes that a house with a total area of more than 1,000 square meters and a land plot of 0.65 hectares in a closed cottage settlement on the banks of the Dnipro were received in equal parts as a gift from Portnov by his four minor children.

The agreement states that during the re-registration of property with a Kyiv notary, the interests of the children were personally represented by their mother, Portnov’s common-law wife Anastasiya Valyaeva. She, as Schemes found out, has had citizenship of the Russian Federation since 2014. On behalf of Portnov, with a power of attorney certified in Madrid, lawyer Maryna Parinova acted, who, during the politician’s stay in Ukraine, represented Portnov in the courts.

The value of the donated property, according to the agreement, is 19 million hryvnia: 14.3 million hryvnia for the estate and 4.7 million hryvnia for 65 acres of land under it.

Since 2016, this estate has been registered in the name of an offshore company from the Virgin Islands, Constellation Innovations Ltd, when it, together with the land, was valued at 2.5 million euros. In 2020, the company sold this property to Andriy Portnov. The seller’s representative was Andriy Verevskyi, an agribusinessman, ex-people’s deputy from the Party of Regions and Portnov’s neighbor in Kozyn. Payment in the amount of 19 million hryvnia was to be made in installments later, but Verevskyi, according to the agreement, had to immediately transfer the estate to Portnov for use.

“Schemes” in 2022 recorded that the Portnov family uses the estate. Moreover, the agreement was completely closed only in January 2024 - then Portnov certified his statement to a notary in Madrid that he had “fulfilled all the requirements and obligations” under this agreement, and he asks to register the house and the land under it in his own name in the State Register of Rights to Real Estate.

This happened on April 2, 2024, and the very next day, the capital’s notary Olesya Lipovenko registered ownership of this property in the name of Portnov’s children under a gift agreement.

Olesya Lipovenko is the sister of Vadym Fesenko’s wife. Fesenko and Portnov are co-founders of the Investment Ukraine NGO and the Corporate Technologies law firm.

“Schemes” turned to Andriy Portnov for comment, but he did not respond to a message asking why he transferred the estate to his children.

Lawyer of the Anti-Corruption Center Tetyana Shevchuk notes that a census of property for immediate relatives may indicate a person’s possible desire to hide real estate or avoid its arrest in the event of sanctions being imposed or criminal proceedings being initiated.

“It may be a common practice to hide assets. The second reason is that it is possible to create additional transactions to make it more difficult to prove the illegal origin of existing property. Since sanctions are individual, it is the property of the sanctioned person that is seized. But if it is owned by third parties, then it is necessary to prove the direct connection of the property with the sanctioned person or the person against whom the criminal investigation is being carried out. It’s not that the state couldn’t reach this property if it wanted, but such restrictive measures make it much more difficult,” says Shevchuk.

A few days before the start of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation in Ukraine, “Schemes” recorded several cars on the territory of the estate, registered to members of the Portnov family - in particular, to the brother of Anastasiya Valyaeva . Two more luxury cars on the estate were equipped with so-called “cover numbers” - but exactly these car models, the same color and year of manufacture were registered to Valyaeva’s grandmother (white Range Rover Sport) and Valyaeva’s mother (black Mercedes Vito bus).

A few days before the start of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, “Schemes” recorded several cars on the territory of the estate, registered to members of the Portnov family

In anticipation of a full-scale invasion, in December 2021, the US government imposed sanctions against Portnov. They also belonged to the Andriy Portnov Foundation. The sanctions include a ban on entry into the United States and the blocking of all financial assets of the sanctioned person in American banks. Portnov was included in the list of persons under the so-called “Magnitsky Act”. This list includes high-ranking officials involved in human rights violations and large-scale corruption.

In Ukraine, no sanctions were introduced against Andriy Portnov.