A former military man from Russia, who, according to him, worked in distant hot spots back in the days of the Soviet Union, Alexey Kosmin has headed the State Property Fund in the Odessa region since 2011 and still does, reports “Ні корурції!”.
Throughout this time, as a member of the Odessa City Council, he actively implemented and oversaw a program to preserve and develop the Russian language in the city. And despite the Revolution of Dignity, the law on cleansing the government, and the war unleashed by Russia in Ukraine, Kosmin, a native of Rostov, remains afloat and holds such a responsible position in the region.
A RUSSIAN INTELLIGENCE OFFICER IN UKRAINIAN ODESSA
"I came to Odessa in 1985. But I still had to travel abroad for four months a year on particularly important business... The second half of the 1980s, perestroika, the acceleration of glasnost, cooperatives... People started doing their own things, making money. And we sat in a different dimension, in another world, behind our secret fences, conducting reconnaissance, going on missions, bringing back sacks of material... And the work was very serious: we determined the time and location of bombing strikes down to the minute. It was very interesting," Alexey Kosmin recounted his biography several years ago in an interview with one of Odessa's television channels, sharing, in particular, that he had participated in the first war in Iraq, known as "Desert Storm," for which he had even received an award.
In the same interview, Kosmin admitted that while still in uniform, he enrolled in an Odesa university. He didn't explain why the Russian intelligence officer from Rostov decided to settle in Odesa; he was likely sent there by his superiors. The head of the Odesa State Property Fund also made no secret of his acquaintance with Russian President Putin, whom he "shaked hands with, drank a glass of vodka, and chatted with" after bringing veterans from Odesa to the 2000 Victory Day parade.
Alexey Kosmin. Video screenshot
"I went to work at a bank as an economist, knowing absolutely nothing about economics," Alexey Kosmin emphasized, describing how his life unfolded in Odessa.
How he came to this position and how he rose to the position of deputy director of the Odessa branch of Bank Ukraina (the bank ceased operations back in 2002) in just five years remains an open question. An even more successful career awaited the former intelligence officer: in the late 1990s, he became the general director of Marine Transport Bank, now known as Marfin.
In the early 2000s, Kosmin worked in Kyiv at Ukrnaftoprodukt, later at Sintez Oil, a joint-stock company. He also served as chairman of the supervisory board of Eximnefteproduct, an oil transshipment company. Thus, the former intelligence officer oversaw strategically important sectors of the Ukrainian economy.
Since the late 90s, Alexey Kosmin has been firmly entrenched in the city's government, for example, under the mayor of Odessa Vladimir Bodelan He served as his deputy, was a city deputy from 2002 to 2015, and in 2010 he was elected secretary of the Party of Regions faction in the Odessa City Council.
While serving in the Odessa government, Oleksiy Kosmin consistently pursued a pro-Russian policy. For example, it was under his leadership that the "Program for the Preservation and Development of the Russian Language" was developed and adopted in Odessa, resulting in a sharp increase in the number of classes with Russian as the language of instruction. Moreover, funding for the program was allocated from the city budget until 2015—over the course of 14, the city contributed 971 hryvnias to the program overseen by Kosmin. The corresponding order was signed by Oleg Bryndak, acting mayor of Odessa and now a member of parliament from Trukhanov's "Trust Deeds" party.
"The funds are primarily spent on purchasing Russian-language textbooks for schools. We also develop Russian culture in the city. Every year, we publish a literary magazine, 'Southern Lights,' which features works in Russian by contemporary Odessa writers," commented Alexey Kosmin.
But Kosmin did not explain why all Odessans had to pay for the popularization of the Russian language.
The former Russian intelligence officer also founded the public organization "Odesa-Rostov" in the city, which continues its work to this day. The activists, whose apparent goal is to promote relations between the two cities—Odesa, Ukraine, and Rostov-on-Don, Russia—which Kosmin initiated as sister cities, were allocated 150 square meters of space in the prestigious Primorsky district at 46 Marazlievskaya Street in 2010. However, Kosmin failed to pay rent. In 13, the Odessa City Council's Department of Municipal Property filed a lawsuit against the organization, winning the case. It is currently unknown whether the official paid the city rent or vacated the space.
At the same time, since 2011, Alexey Kosmin has headed the State Property Fund of Ukraine in the Odessa region, managing lucrative assets that are, among other things, subject to privatization.
PUBLIC LUSTRATION HAS FAILED
Patriotic activists have repeatedly raised the need to remove the Yanukovych-era official, who has close ties to the aggressor country. Last summer, for example, Odesa activists staged a so-called "garbage lustration" against the civil servant, placing him in a trash bin, dousing him with flour, and spraying him with green paint. Their main demand is the dismissal of this official, a legacy of the previous government and working in the interests of the Russian Federation:
"He was purged by all the Maidan organizations, and there are many of them. Odesans have repeatedly complained to the police about this man holding such a high position—the head of the state property fund—while working in the interests of a foreign state, specifically the Russian Federation, and there is ample evidence of this. This man is effectively an agent of influence for the Russian Federation, and this is evident in the city council's decisions over the past six years. He initiated all the decisions to cancel the monument to Ataman Petro Kalnyshevsky, to effectively ban the study of the Ukrainian language under the guise of protecting Russian, and to rename Ivan and Yuriy Lyp streets," activists reported at the time.
Kosmin's "Garbage Lustration." Photo from open sources
But the central government failed to respond, and the scandalous official was never dismissed in accordance with the cleansing law. He still oversees the preparation and privatization of the Odessa Port Plant, the Odessa Thermal Power Plant, the former Orion plant, and other facilities. Perhaps Kosmin has influential patrons?
State Property Fund of Ukraine website
ALL THAT WAS ACQUIRED BY HARD-FAST LABOR
In his e-declaration, the official indicated that he had owned a 3,3-square-meter plot of land in Mykolaivka, Odesa Oblast, since 2006. He also owns a 177,7-square-meter house in Odesa. According to the declaration, it is owned by a third person, Kristina Grabova, who is also listed as a founder of Kosmin's public organization, "Odesa-Rostov."
According to media reports, Grabova is the daughter of an Odessa official. Interestingly, all three share the same address for the founders of the "Odessa-Rostov" organization: Levanevsky Street 12 in the Primorsky District. According to a map, a mansion is located there, possibly belonging to the Kosmins.
Levanevsky, 12. Google map
The head of the Odesa State Property Fund owns a branded watch from Petek Filip. The watch's price on the official website exceeds 10 euros and can reach up to 119 euros.
He also owns two luxury cars: a 2006 Audi, which Kosmin purchased the same year it was manufactured, apparently paying tens of thousands of dollars, and a 96 Mercedes. Even today, the Audi of this make is worth around $20.
Kosmin also owns shares in two companies, Eximnefteprodukt and Kyivgornefteprodukt, which he acquired in 2002.
The head of the Odesa State Property Fund reported only a modest salary of 84341 hryvnias, or about 7 hryvnias per year, as his income. His wife contributed no income to the family. Kosmin keeps $65 in cash, apparently distrusting the hryvnia, while his wife keeps $18.
It's unknown where Alexey Kosmin worked from 2001 to 2011 or how he managed to accumulate such a sizable fortune, as neither he nor his wife, according to their asset declarations, are engaged in any entrepreneurial activity. The most pressing question is when this official with such a dubious reputation will finally be dismissed.
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