Zelenskyy approves sanctions against five Ukrainian oligarchs

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has approved a decision made by Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council on 12 February to impose sanctions against businessman Ihor Kolomoiskyi; billionaire Kostiantyn Zhevago; Hennadii Boholiubov, former co-owner of PrivatBank; Petro Poroshenko, the fifth president of Ukraine and a European Solidarity party MP; and Viktor Medvedchuk, a former MP from the banned pro-Russian Opposition Platform – For Life party, who is also accused of treason.

Source: Presidential decree No. 81/2025

Details: Oleksandr Lytvynenko, Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council, has been tasked with monitoring the implementation of the decision. The decree comes into force on the day of its publication.

An appendix to the decree states that indefinite sanctions have been imposed against Ihor Kolomoiskyi, Kostiantyn Zhevago, Hennadii Boholiubov, Petro Poroshenko and Viktor Medvedchuk. 

For reference: Businessman Ihor Kolomoiskyi is suspected of fraud and legalisation (laundering) of the proceeds of crime, as well as withdrawing a total of UAH 15 billion (approx. US$359.4 million) from PrivatBank.

The State Bureau of Investigation is also investigating Boholiubov’s illegal departure from Ukraine. On 7 July 2024, Ukrainska Pravda discovered that Boholiubov had illegally left Ukraine by train from Kyiv to Chełm (Poland) on the night of 23-24 June using forged documents. According to Ukrainska Pravda’s sources, he fled the country because the Bureau of Economic Security was preparing to serve a notice of suspicion against him in the PrivatBank case. 

Boholiubov himself insisted that he had crossed the Ukrainian border legally. According to the businessman's press service, he had legal grounds to cross the border: he is 62 years old and has seven children, five of whom are minors.

Law enforcement officers served Boholiubov and the border guard who assisted him in illegally crossing the border on 24 June with a notice of suspicion in absentia. The authorities said that Boholiubov had left the country using the passport of 67-year-old Mykola Siumak, a resident of Volyn Oblast [the border region in Ukraine’s west where Boholiubov actually crossed the border – ed.]. 

In an interview with Ukrainska Pravda on 10 July 2024, Boholiubov said that he did not know whether he would return to Ukraine. The Pecherskyi District Court of Kyiv ordered his arrest in November 2024.

Billionaire Kostiantyn Zhevago was suspected of embezzling funds from Finance & Credit Bank. On 17 September 2015, the National Bank of Ukraine declared Finance & Credit Bank insolvent. In the course of the investigation, Zhevago and several of the bank's senior managers were served with notices of suspicion of committing criminal offences.

On 27 December 2022, Zhevago was detained at the ski resort of Courchevel in the French Alps at Ukraine’s request.

A court in the French city of Chambéry ordered the arrest of Zhevago for extradition. However, Zhevago posted bail of €1 million and was released from custody. Currently, he is not allowed to leave mainland France.

On 10 November 2023, the French Supreme Court rejected Ukraine's appeal and ruled that Zhevago should not be extradited on embezzlement charges in the Finance & Credit Bank case.

In January 2024, it was reported that Zhevago had won a trial in London relating to charges of embezzlement from the now bankrupt Finance & Credit Bank.

In May 2021, Viktor Medvedchuk was placed under house arrest on suspicion of treason and attempted plunder of national resources (oil and gas) in occupied Crimea. In October 2021, he was further charged with treason and assisting a terrorist organisation through coal purchase schemes in the temporarily occupied parts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts.

Five days before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Medvedchuk's wife Oksana Marchenko travelled to Belarus and posted a video from Moscow. On 21 February 2022, property was removed from Medvedchuk's estate in Kyiv. On 27 February 2022, it was reported that Medvedchuk had escaped from house arrest. However, he was detained by Ukrainian law enforcement.

In September 2022, Medvedchuk – whose daughter’s godfather is Vladimir Putin – was exchanged for more than 200 Ukrainian POWs. He is now in Russia. 

Background:

• In his evening address on 12 February, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced the introduction of new sanctions by the National Security and Defence Council but did not name the individuals concerned.
• Ukrainska Pravda sources close to former president Petro Poroshenko and within the NSDC reported that Poroshenko was among those sanctioned.
• The fifth president of Ukraine called the sanctions imposed on him a "colossal blow to internal unity".
• On 13 February, Ukrainska Pravda sources reported that sanctions had also been imposed on Ihor Kolomoiskyi, Kostiantyn Zhevago, Hennadii Boholiubov and Viktor Medvedchuk.

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