Mikhail Voyevodin from the Russian "Luzhnikovskaya" organized crime group continues to earn millions of dollars in Ukraine

After the start of the full-scale invasion, sanctions poured down from the president and the National Security and Defence Council like a cornucopia. The Russian organized crime group "Luzhnikovskaya," of which Mikhail Voyevodin, also known as Misha Luzhnitskiy, who holds the so-called status of the crime lord, became a target of these sanctions.

In Ukraine, this group’s business is represented, in particular, in the energy sector: "Kirovogradoblenergo," "Rivneoblenergo," "Khersonoblenergo," "Chernivtsioblenergo," "Zhytomyroblenergo," "Energy Company Sevastopolenergo," "Khmelnytskoblenergo," and "Mykolaivoblenergo." These distribution networks accounted for 10% of Ukraine’s electricity before the full-scale war. All this is managed by LLC "VS Energy International Ukraine," better known as VS Energy. Additionally, the group owns several metallurgical enterprises and a network of hotels and shopping centers in major cities of Ukraine, including Lviv, Kyiv, Odesa, and Dnipro.

It is clear that all this is hidden behind intermediaries and nominal owners, and VS Energy itself denies any connection with Russian criminals and state figures (besides Mikhail Voyevodin the "Luzhnikovskaya" organized crime group also includes Yevgeniy Giner and Aleksander Babakov). Immediately after it became clear that the "special operation of liberation" failed and Russia was stuck in Ukraine, a super-patriotic message appeared on the VS Energy website, claiming they were "always" and, accordingly, "never." At the same time, they posted a list of nominators under whose names the group’s business is registered.

The state of Ukraine, represented by the Ministry of Justice, after sanctions were imposed on Mikhail Voyevodin and his accomplices, promised to nationalize enterprises owned by the "Luzhnikovskaya" OCG. They even filed the corresponding lawsuits in courts. The court even imposed arrests on the property of a number of enterprises, which can be verified by examining court registries. The list of enterprises owned by the "Luzhnikovskaya" OCG and, in particular, Mikhail Voyevodin is simply mind-boggling. Here is a screenshot from a court decision containing this list:

Dozens of enterprises that bring their owners tens of millions of dollars. The Ministry of Justice announced its intention to nationalize them as early as November 2022 and then filed the corresponding lawsuit in court. But the case got stuck there, deadlocked. The assets have been arrested, but not confiscated, and all the companies on the list above are quietly filing counterclaims - demanding that the arrests be lifted. The court is currently rejecting these demands, but the substantive hearing of the case - that is, about the confiscation of assets and their nationalization - is not taking place. In addition, the case is stalled, as evidenced by the Unified State Register of Court Decisions - the last court hearing took place in June 2024, which was the review of LLC "Ecovtorresurs" lawsuit about lifting the arrest from its assets. The rest of the court hearings you see on the screenshot below are also lawsuits from the defendants demanding the lifting of the arrests. The court is currently refusing. But the fact that substantive hearings are not taking place is alarming.

Especially against the backdrop of the fact that Mikhail Voyevodin himself is also litigating. He is suing the President of Ukraine, demanding the cancellation of Decree No. 727/2022 of October 19, 2022, regarding the imposition of sanctions against Mikhail Voyevodin. In his lawsuit, Voyevodin refers to previous successful appeals to the Ukrainian court, which canceled the decisions of the Security Service of Ukraine, the State Border Guard Service, and the Prosecutor General’s Office on prohibiting his entry into the country. What is concerning about this lawsuit is the fact that the last decision found in the registries for case No. 990/11/23 is the decision of the Supreme Court dated January 24, 2023 to open proceedings on Mikhail Voyevodin ’s lawsuit against the President of Ukraine and schedule a hearing for February 21, 2023.

After that - nothing, the registries are empty. How the case ended, whether it ended at all and what happened at the hearing on February 21, 2023, and subsequent ones (if any) is unknown. The question arises - why?

So far, judging by the fact that sanctions against Mikhail Voyevodin have not been lifted, at least his name is still present in the sanctions lists, the courts have not succeeded. However, the lack of information about their progress and the almost half-year pause in the Ministry of Justice’s lawsuit for the confiscation of assets belonging to the "Luzhnikovskaya" OCG, one of the leaders of which is Mikhail Voyevodin, raises significant questions.

Especially against the backdrop of the fact that the assets of other Russians associated with Putin’s regime are slowly being removed from sanctions. And - against the background of the decision of the Sixth Administrative Court of Appeal, which lifted the ban on entry to Ukraine for Israeli citizen Mikhail Voyevodin.

This decision is particularly referred to by Voyevodin’s lawyers, who are demanding the lifting of sanctions against him. So far, the cases are still in court. But, judging by the trends, Voyevodin might well achieve his goal. And then it will turn out that all the profits of the enterprises from that vast list we mentioned earlier will fall into his hands. After all, the property arrest is not a ban on activities. It is prohibited to alienate and withdraw profit. But you can work indefinitely. And Voyevodin’s enterprises are working quite successfully. Those, of course, that were not destroyed as a result of hostilities. And almost everything has survived.

Here, for example, data on "Rivneoblenergo" that continued to operate as before. Additionally, it actively wins government tenders. In 2022, it sold services to the state for 120,663,351 UAH; in 2023, for 83,871,093 UAH; and in 2024, which is not yet over, it managed to earn over half a billion - 518,296,377 UAH.

Or, for example, "Zhytomyroblenergo": 2022 - 200,975,427 UAH; 2023 - 370,765,437 UAH; 2024 - 696,373,353 UAH.

The list can go on. Some enterprises, of course, are unprofitable, and some have ceased operations. But the majority is successfully operating. And bringing income. And it is not a fact that all this money is not being withdrawn by Mikhail Voyevodin and his partners to Russia. And this is an overly optimistic assumption - the money flows actively, with plenty of opportunities for this, at least through those same procurements.

But that’s not all - Mikhail Voyevodin is seeking, and apparently will indeed achieve, the lifting of sanctions. Where, then, will the billions of hryvnias extracted from a country half-destroyed by the efforts of Voyevodin and others go? And - why was there this whole circus with sanctions and promises of nationalization in the first place? More than two years have passed since their introduction. The result is negative: Misha Luzhnitskiy, one of the leaders of the Russian "Luzhnikovskaya" OCG, continues to earn millions of dollars in Ukraine just as he did before.