Stolar, Medvedchuk, Dubai, and "Kvartal 95": what connections help the pro-Russian MP maintain his parliamentary mandate
Vadym Stolar remains a Member of the Parliament of Ukraine despite having received his mandate from the now-banned pro-Kremlin party "Opposition Platform – For Life". Neither direct business ties with a state traitor and Putin’s crony nor years of promoting pro-Russian narratives seem to give the current government any reason to revoke Stolar’s parliamentary status and investigate his activities for "working for the enemy". The reason could be the same business in which people close to the President’s Office have recently started appearing.
In October 2024, "ANTIKOR" reported that Vadym Stolar began a construction business in Dubai. There, together with the former Deputy Head of the Kyiv City State Administration Dmytro Davtyan, he registered the company Enso investment, which plans to construct two high-rise buildings in a prestigious area with views of the most significant buildings of this Emirate. The company’s name is similar to the Ukrainian construction company Enso, which is implementing three construction projects in Kyiv, activities on which have not been observed since the start of the full-scale invasion.
Unlike the Kyiv developments, activity has begun on Stolar’s Dubai sites. If a month ago the plots of land were largely empty, now a construction fence has appeared on one of them, which may indicate the commencement of construction work.
On real estate sales sites in Dubai, the first data about Enso’s buildings, including prices, have started to appear. For example, apartments in the Enso Jade project are being sold from 1,450,000 dirhams, which, at current exchange rates, is about 400,000 dollars. It should be noted that this is the price for the cheapest one-bedroom apartment in the Enso building. The cost of a large three-bedroom in the same will certainly exceed 1 million dollars.
Dubai brokerage companies report that the construction of Enso Jade was supposed to start in August 2024 and will be completed in the summer of 2026. Thus, Stolar’s company plans to complete the project and settle the residents within two years.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian Enso projects are not progressing so hopefully. In forums, investors of the "Poetica" residential complex discuss that the buildings of the complex, which are already built, are not connected to water, making it impossible to start renovations.
Officially, the head of Enso in Ukraine is Ramil Mekhtiyev, and on forums, investors actively discuss how much "dough he has poured into paid articles over the last 2-3 months". It is likely that he did not pay for them out of his pocket, as his connections have led journalists on the one hand to Viktor Medvedchuk and Vadym Stolar, and on the other to the President’s Office and "Kvartal 95".
According to registers, Ramil Mekhtiyev is the founder and head of a number of firms and funds. Among them is the Joint Stock Company "Closed Non-Diversified Venture Corporate Investment Fund ’Standard investments group’". From April 2021 to April 2022, the founders of this fund also included Artem Kolyubaev and Elnur Mekhtiyev.
The latter, as one might guess, is the brother of Ramil Mekhtiyev. In December 2023, he was an advisor at the National Securities and Stock Market Commission (NSSMC). The goal of the NSSMC is to "create, through its regulatory and supervisory functions, the conditions for the proper and efficient functioning of the securities market, to provide the monetary capital needed for the country’s economy by creating a mechanism for accumulating, distributing, and redistributing funds from a person with free investment resources to a person requiring such resources for development, to create conditions for the formation of strong domestic investors, and to ensure the protection of investors’ rights." Thus, in fact, Elnur Mekhtiyev is supposed to work on protecting investors who have invested money in the construction by the company Enso, managed by his brother, although this represents a full conflict of interest.
Artem Kolyubaev is a more interesting figure. He is a film business partner of the head of the President’s Office, Andriy Yermak. Together they financed several films before Yermak entered politics.
Since 2019, Kolyubaev was a founder of LLC "Asset Management Company ’Assets Financial Group’". This firm financed some of Enso’s construction projects and has significant ties with Stolar’s company. Kolyubaev remained in the structure of "Assets Financial Group" until January 2024. Alongside him, Oleksandr Devyatko was also a co-founder.
As journalists previously reported, Oleksandr Devyatko was also a signatory to agreements for the sale of Enso apartments through the "Apeliot" fund of Artem Kolyubaev and the "Evo invest" fund. The latter, from September 2021 to today, is headed by an Estonian citizen Alexey Chulets, through whose firms Viktor Medvedchuk supplied bitumen from Russia to Ukraine.
Previously, the head of "Evo invest" was a certain Oleksiy Prokopenko. He also headed funds "Stream investment" and "Stream invest" (the latter should be remembered as it will be mentioned again. – Ed.). The first is directly registered to Vadym Stolar’s wife Inna Maystruk, the second is associated with his business partner Serhiy Turchynov.
The complex web of connections proves that in the construction firm Enso, the interests of Vadym Stolar and the business partner of the head of the President’s Office, Artem Kolyubaev, are closely intertwined. The Mekhtiyev brothers in this story are likely needed just for the registry entry and influence on the Securities Commission.
Part of the Kolyubaev-Mekhtiyev companies are registered at the address Kyiv, 22 Sribnokilska street. Notably, these are the "Standard investments group" fund, the "Apeliot" fund, the "Goldman" fund, the "Findis" fund (formerly "Kvantor project"), and the LLC "7 PICTURES".
"7 PICTURES", as the name might suggest, is engaged in film production. Together with Kolyubaev, the company is managed by Serhiy Kravets. He is a former executive producer at Studio "Kvartal-95" and the husband of the closest friend of the family of the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy – Olena Kravets.
Thus, in one office in Kyiv, funds investing in Stolar’s construction business, film producers close to the President’s Office, and at least one more company with a direct connection to Viktor Medvedchuk have gathered.
This involves LLC "Akadem-club". Among its founders is the Cypriot Pilawer Limited, which, according to the international group of investigative journalists, belongs to Putin’s crony. "Akadem-club" is a participant in the long-term lease agreement of 40 hectares of land on the Kyiv "Osokorky", where a housing complex is planned. As journalists recently reported, Medvedchuk’s assets in companies leasing these lands have gradually begun to transition to Vadym Stolar, though they should be under arrest by court decision.
If you thought that interests in the 40 hectares of Stolar, Medvedchuk, and unexpectedly the business partner of the head of the President’s Office Artem Kolyubaev ended, it is not so. In May 2024, the Kyiv City Council sent a draft decision on renewing the lease agreement for the Private Joint Stock Company "Kyivrybhosp" of a land plot in the Holosiivskyi district of the capital for review by the Commission. There are plans for the construction, operation, and maintenance of office and entertainment complexes with social and wellness facilities there.
This concerns 66 hectares of land with access to the water body. According to the registers, "Kyivrybhosp" falls within the interest group of the son of the former mayor of Kyiv Leonid Chernovetskyi - Stepan, and one of the former deputy heads of the Kyiv City State Administration, Denys Bass. However, as of the second quarter of 2024, one of the founding companies of "Kyivrybhosp" is the investment fund "Stream invest". Among its managers was the mentioned earlier Serhiy Prokopenko, who also worked in the fund directly belonging to Vadym Stolar’s wife Inna Maystruk.
In fact, the Kyiv City Council, by extending the lease agreement, wants to allow the companies of Chernovetskyi and Stolar to construct office and entertainment complexes on 66 hectares of metropolitan land.
The above-described schemes and connections demonstrate the shared interests of the pro-Russian deputy Vadym Stolar and people linked to the President’s Office and "Kvartal 95". Perhaps this is the reason why Stolar remains a Member of Parliament despite continuing business with state traitor Viktor Medvedchuk. Meanwhile, as a backup airfield for himself, Stolar chose Dubai, where his partner is the former deputy mayor of Kyiv Dmytro Davtyan. Considering the activity on Dubai construction sites and simultaneously making corresponding decisions in Stolar’s interest in Ukraine, it can be stated that his affairs are going very well.
Author: Olena Dobrodiy
16 November 2024 г., 19:24
