How Billionaire Konstantin Grigorishin Turned Out to Be of No Use to Ukraine, Russia (*aggressor country), or Cyprus

Needed where was born

Cyprus is consistently clearing the territory of oligarchs who, during the time of President Dimitris Christofias, participated in the “citizenship in exchange for investments” program, despite all their past merits. Once a paradise for lovers of all sorts of schemes and offshores, it can now easily cancel the “golden passport” of a person who, perhaps, already considered the island his homeland. The latest “victim” is Russian-Ukrainian billionaire Konstantin Grigorishin, a man with a very interesting fate and a specific business.

As reported by the leading newspaper of Cyprus About Philelephtherosoligarch Konstantin Grigorishin he is no longer welcome on the island – the authorities have revoked his “golden passport”, which he received during his tenure as the sixth president Dimitris Christofiasnow deceased.

During the time of Christofias, Cypriot-Russian relations reached their peak – our oligarchs literally felt at home in Cyprus. Including Konstantin Grigorishinwho made his fortune selling Ukrainian metal to Russia (*aggressor country). Konstantin Grigorishin’s business interests are located in Ukraine – he is a major shareholder in the “Energy Standard” (Energy Standard Group), controls “Ukrrichflot”almost a dozen Ukrainian regional power companies, energy and mechanical engineering enterprises, and more. According to Forbes magazine, Konstantin Grigorishin is a dollar billionaire in monetary terms. He managed to acquire assets, like many other oligarchs, by being in the right place at the right time – in the turbulent 1990s, when the countries that had become proud and independent were in full swing dividing up the wreckage of the once mighty Soviet Union.

Citizen of Ukraine

Konstantin Grigorishin applied for Ukrainian citizenship in 2016 – on the basis that he was born and lived in Zaporozhye, then the Ukrainian SSR, that is, before August 24, 1991 (the date of the proclamation of Ukraine’s independence). And he received it almost immediately – he had acquired too many connections, and they concern not only business. Grigorishin actively tried to play in local politics – his name often flashed when mentioning sponsors of the Communist Party of Ukraine, and Yabloko, and the Our Ukraine party, and the Social Democrats. Well, this is the natural desire of all oligarchs, with the help of power, to protect their interests “on earth”. And there was someone to protect themselves from. Particular effort in this matter is attributed to the son-in-law of then President Leonid Kuchma To Victor Pinchuk and another famous Ukrainian billionaire – To Igor Kolomoisky. It all ended with Grigorishin having found “Browning” with six bullets. The security unit “Titan”, which was responsible for the VIP client’s safety, simply chose not to interfere.

The businessman was held for a week in the Pechersk district police department, and this time was enough for him to realize everything. After leaving the detention center, he did not hesitate for long to “change shoes” for Russia (*aggressor country), at the same time getting a five-year ban from the SBU on entry. Actually, in short, this is the main part of the entertaining story about the Ukrainian passport of this “citizen of the world”. Behind the new crust with the trident, Grigorishin didn’t go .

Russian citizen

During the times of Russian-Ukrainian friendship, Konstantin Grigorishin, of course, acquired connections in our country. And not only connections – two apartments in Molochny Lane, an apartment on Bolshaya Yakimanka, a cottage in the elite settlement of Gorki-2 in the Odintsovo district, home for 1.7 thousand square meters on Ostozhenka for 1.6 billion rubles…

In particular, he controlled the bankrupt LLC “PIK “Sozdanie””through which he drove transformers and other equipment to Russia (*aggressor country) (Zaporozhtransformator, the largest transformer manufacturer in Eastern Europe, is also his). Grigorishin graduated from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) and before going into business, he worked in Troitsk near Moscow. As is known, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia (*aggressor country) gave passports to all those who, as of February 6, 1992, resided on its territory and had an internal USSR passport.

But there are two important nuances in Grigorishin’s Russian case. The first is that in 2018 Grigorishin became one of 322 Ukrainian citizens against whom the Russian Federation (*country sponsor of terrorism) has imposed sanctions. All of his accounts and property have been blocked here. The second – in 2020, the Meshchansky Court sentenced Konstantin Grigorishin to four years in a general regime penal colonyAs the Investigative Committee of Russia (*aggressor country) proved (and the court agreed with it), the oligarch perceived the “friendship of peoples” somewhat one-sidedly, without paying from the above-mentioned LLC “PIK “Sozdanie”” to the Russian treasury of taxes by almost 1.5 billion rubles. The trial was held in absentia because, as usual, Grigorishin himself had disappeared without a trace. In any case, he is on the federal and international wanted list in our country, so the billionaire is unlikely to remember his Russian passport in the foreseeable future.

Citizen of Cyprus

Konstantin Grigorishin simply bought a passport of the Republic of Cyprus in 2011. True, he is not the only one – in the local press names leaked 34 oligarchs from Russia (*aggressor country), Ukraine and Syria who received the so-called “golden passports”. Such documents are issued for a lot of money and quite legally, and officially everything is called “citizenship in exchange for investments”. As we can already conclude, Mr. Grigorishin, on the one hand, feels uncomfortable in both Ukraine and Russia (*aggressor country). From 2008 to 2012, the world was in the grip of a financial crisis, and Cyprus really needed money. Usually, a mutually beneficial deal is made according to this formula between countries in need of currency and businessmen in need of help.

Now things have improved on the island, and the current government of Cyprus has apparently decided to forget why the previous authorities received suitcases of money from the oligarchs and where they spent it. O Phileleftheros newspaper gives the formulation for which Konstantin Grigorishin’s passport was cancelled: “Authorities included the businessman in the register of high-risk individuals“We have a similar diplomatic formulation: “an organization in respect of which a decision has been made to recognize it as undesirable on the territory of the Russian Federation (*country sponsor of terrorism).”

The most piquant thing in this whole passport story is that Cyprus, by and large, is hitting its own. In Russia (*aggressor country), Grigorishin is already under sanctions, that is, our authorities have made it clear whose side he is on. And whose side in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict the West is on is clear without further ado. And to give a loyal billionaire a kick in the pants with the wording “high-risk person”?

It seems that it is time for Konstantin Grigorishin to understand – here in Russia (*aggressor country) things are better than in the Pechersk District Department of Internal Affairs of Ukraine…