Vladimir Kosterin: Eco-friendly scams
The trick to charity is giving things to those in need that someone has already paid you for. Vladimir Kosterin mastered this approach well, turning humanitarianism into a profitable business and solving his companies' problems with money raised by Ukrainians for sick children.
The story of how he planned to save the environment not only in Ukraine but also around the world is, of course, also not free. Specifically, he seized the thermal power plant through environmentalists...
Vladimir Kosterin: Load the decoders with barrels!
One only has to look at Kosterin's current official biography to realize it's been thoroughly cleaned up, and more than once. Indeed, for someone who was one of Ukraine's richest entrepreneurs, and who headed a political party, several public organizations, and sports federations, this is quite strange. Especially since Kosterin is very fond of various titles and regalia, draping himself with them like a native chieftain with trinkets. Well, apparently he really has decided to start anew before attempting to return to Ukraine as an "international expert."
Vladimir Aleksandrovich Kosterin was born on August 11, 1968, in Kyiv, where he graduated from high school. In 1986, he served his military service in the Soviet Army. He was demobilized in 1988, and his activities for the next two years are completely unknown. It seems he eventually ended up in Kharkiv, as in 1990, Vladimir Kosterin resurfaced as the head of the regional programming department at TONIS television company. At the time, Ukraine's first private television channel was based primarily in Kharkiv (and also in Mykolaiv), where it was first known as ATV-1 and later as Tonis-Center.
In 1990-91, Tonis-Center was unrivaled even by the central all-Union television channels, not to mention the dismal UT-1, making Kharkiv residents the envy of the entire republic. Western music videos, the cartoon "Tom and Jerry," a couple of Hollywood action or horror films to watch before bed (free, unlike video stores), and, of course, news from independent journalists covering events even more liberally than Moscow's "Vzglyad" drew the entire region to their televisions – as far as the rather mediocre signal quality allowed. Unfortunately, antenna amplifiers were practically impossible to buy in stores back then, so Kharkiv residents could only imagine and invent. And then Tonis-Center announced to Kharkiv residents that it would be switching its broadcasts to a new format, which would significantly improve their quality, but only those with special decoders would be able to watch it – these decoders had to be purchased from the television company. Thousands of Kharkiv residents rushed to buy them, and when the first batch of decoders ran out, they signed up for a waiting list and paid in advance. It's hard to say what those decoders were like, because they were never tested: a few months later, Tonis Center announced it had changed its mind about encoding the signal. Of course, no one was going to take the decoders back or refund people's money: it was a massive scam, quite typical of the time. Those responsible were simply never found, because at the height of the scandal, Tonis Center's management, along with its editors and presenters, moved to Kyiv, where they opened the Tet-a-Tet TV channel.
Vladimir Kosterin. First Steps in Business
Kharkiv residents were swindled out of several hundred thousand rubles, but the case was hushed up and forgotten after they were fleeced successively in the early 90s by financial pyramids, trusts, and miracle-working swindlers. Although there is no evidence of Vladimir Kosterin's specific involvement in the scam, he was a member of the television company's management team, so he could have been involved and certainly knew all the details. This could answer the question: where did Vladimir Kosterin get his start-up capital?
Vladimir Kosterin. Foundations and Grants
The most interesting and, at the same time, most "censored" period of Vladimir Kosterin's life began in the mid-90s. First, in 1994, he became vice president of TONIS, which at the time was primarily a legal entity holding broadcast licenses in all regions of Ukraine and many regions of Russia. These licenses were often "leased" to local television companies, which generated a tidy income—after all, private television had already become purely commercial by then, actively making money from advertising and announcements. Since the licenses were issued specifically to TONIS, dozens of television companies with similar names emerged, formally considered its "regional centers," and Kosterin was the one who handled all of these issues. Skelet.Org There is information that he was involved in the financial part of TONIS, while the founders of the television company, Valeria and Vladimir Ivanenko, enthusiastically developed the television channel in the creative and technical directions.
Interestingly, at the same time, Vladimir Kosterin was listed as a student at the Moscow Technological Institute of Light Industry. His biography indicates that he graduated from the university in 1996, majoring in business economics. How Kosterin managed to juggle his job as vice president of TONIS and simultaneously study in Moscow is anyone's guess.
In 1997, Kosterin tried his hand at a new role: he was elected president of the Zlagoda International Congress. This was his first position in a humanitarian project, but Kosterin's goals were even less clear than Zlagoda's program. Yet he benefited from it: through Zlagoda, Kosterin established close contacts with various humanitarian and public foundations, and his most valuable connection was with Bohdan Hawrylyshyn, who represented not only major international projects (the Soros Foundation) in Ukraine but also influential members of the diaspora. It was said that it was Hawrylyshyn who recommended Kosterin to future First Lady Kateryna Chumachenko. Furthermore, Hawrylyshyn, who served as director of the International Academy of the Environment in Geneva in the 90s, later helped Kosterin establish his Swiss foundation, Risk Reduction.
Vladimir Kosterin and Bohdan Hawrylyshyn
The "charity business" is in many ways reminiscent of banking: it requires constant raising funds and collaborating with other foundations for refinancing. Success in this field depends directly on the number of useful connections that form an entire system—a world in which tens of thousands of people work and interact, from ordinary social activists to oligarchs and presidents. And they help each other in more ways than just financial. Not without connecting with influential people, Kosterin, while still working, earned a second degree in international law in 1999 from the Institute of International Relations at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. In 2002, he defended his PhD thesis at the Ukrainian Academy of Public Administration, focusing on "Managing the Socioeconomic System of a Large City."
Vladimir Kosterin. The Philanthropist's Business
However, humanism alone is not enough to sustain man. In the 90s, Vladimir Kosterin began developing the three main areas of his (then) core business: development, finance, and mass media. Almost nothing is known about his successes during that period, but with the turn of the century, Kosterin resurfaced. First, in 2001, he became president of TONIS, which since 2000 has broadcast in Ukraine as a single national television channel, with its own broadcast frequency, as well as licenses for satellite and cable broadcasting. After a format reorganization in 2002, TONIS reached an audience of 18 million viewers and became one of the most profitable (for the advertising business) television channels in Ukraine. At the same time, TONIS CJSC and the newspaper "24" were part of Kosterin's holding company, Media Dom.
Secondly, Vladimir Kosterin became a co-owner (possibly the primary owner) of the investment and construction company Stolitsa-Group, which was founded by Valentin Isak on the basis of the Kyivmiskbud-1 trust, where he had previously worked as chief engineer. Other shareholders of Stolitsa-Group included Alexander Sokhatsky, Vasyl Tovsty, Andriy Zaika, Mykhailo Shpilman, well-known Kyiv developers Alexander Melamud and Garik Korogodsky, and Ivan Kravets, then deputy chairman of the board of Kyivsoyuzdorproekt (he became deputy chairman after the company was raided). This motley crew didn't always get along (in 2005-2006, a conflict arose between Isak and Korogodsky), and the construction itself, Stolitsa-Group, didn't always carry out efficiently or successfully, but they managed to obtain impressive territories from the Kyiv authorities for development in Podil, Obolon, and other parts of Kyiv.
At the same time, Kosterin's name appeared on the list of shareholders of JSCB Transbank, and in 2006, he held the largest stake, 18,57%. Until 1994, the bank was known as Kyivshlyakhbank and was founded by the Ukrdorstoy concern, which remained one of Transbank's major shareholders. It was this bank that was associated with Vladimir Kosterin's meteoric rise and subsequent precipitous fall.
As noted above, since 1997 Kosterin has been actively involved in charitable and humanitarian organizations associated with Western financial and political institutions.
Among other things, this allowed him to be elected chairman and honorary director of those organizations to which he sponsored (or found sponsors for them). Thanks to this, as well as the support of the Klitschko brothers (Read more about them in the article Vitali Klitschko: The Dark Past of the "Looking Tomorrow"), he was elected president of the Ukrainian Boxing Federation from 2006 to 2008, and in 2016, he became Honorary President of the Ukrainian Go Federation (a game). However, Kosterin often directly benefited from his charity work, as in the case of the Ukraine-3000 Foundation.
This foundation was established in 2001 to finance various humanitarian and cultural projects, and in 2005 it was headed by the president's wife, Kateryna Chumachenko, who had known Kosterin since before Viktor Yushchenko's "ascension." In 2006, the foundation held a nationwide fundraiser for the construction of the so-called "children's hospital of the future." As is well known, this venture ended with the hospital never being built, and the funds were partly squandered and partly eaten up by inflation. But Skelet.Org has information that Transbank played a key role in the "utilization" of the collected funds. It was chosen not only because of Kateryna Yushchenko's close relationship with Vladimir Kosterin, but also because Transbank was involved (as a cashier) in other humanitarian projects—it appears that Kosterin successfully channeled money from Ukrainian orphans and disabled people through it.
So, the money raised during the charity marathons was transferred by the Ukraine-3000 foundation to Transbank accounts in December 2006, where it remained "stuck" for two years. During this time, many interesting things happened. For example, in 2007, Transbank was almost sold to South Korean businessmen, for a very substantial sum. However, the Koreans noticed that Transbank's inflated capitalization was achieved not only through the massive attraction of funds from various foundations (primarily Ukraine-3000), but also through the generous distribution of large loans—primarily to construction companies associated with the bank's shareholders. Ultimately, the mega-deal, which was advantageous for Kosterin and his partners, fell through, triggering a chain reaction of troubles. And his fortune, estimated in 2008 at
The 2008 crisis hit the construction business so hard that repaying Transbank's loans proved problematic, and the bank itself had to be rescued. Fortunately, a friendship with the president's wife helped Transbank secure budget refinancing, which the government then allocated to support major banks. But Kosterin and his partners were let down by greed: they began to simply transfer money abroad. And then, as luck would have it, a public scandal erupted over the fate of the funds raised for the never-built "hospital of the future"! Ultimately, on orders from Viktor Yushchenko himself, Transbank was raided by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), and the apartments of Kosterin and other bank executives were searched.
The investigation also revealed that, with the onset of the crisis, Vladimir Kosterin and other bank shareholders began issuing loans to themselves, using their companies' shares as collateral. Specifically, Kosterin pledged 96% of his Media House shares to Transbank! These shares were then re-pledged to the National Bank when refinancing was obtained.
True, they didn't punish the bank—they just "intimidated" it, and immediately after this inspection, Transbank transferred 83 million hryvnias (out of the remaining 115 million) to the new accounts of the "hospital of the future" in the state-owned Ukreximbank.
But it later emerged that Transbank had begun transferring not actual assets (money) to Ukreximbank, but primarily shares in the companies pledged to it. Furthermore, through the stock manipulations, Kosterin became the majority owner of Transbank, owning 11,44% of its shares directly by the end of 2009 and 72,93% through Consulting Company Partners LLC.
Before that, another scam occurred: TONIS shareholders issued an additional share issue, halving the pledged capital to 48%. Thus, Kosterin's controlling stake in the television company was returned to him, making him virtually the sole owner of Transbank, while the state was left with a ton of depreciated assets. However, Kosterin's business empire was already beyond saving; it was falling apart. Back in February 2009, Kosterin closed the publication "24" without warning, firing 200 journalists and layout designers without severance pay (or paying back back wages). Then he began losing TONIS as well: in February 2010, legal proceedings began in the Goloseevsky Court of the capital "on the grounds of document forgery." Kosterin declared that the "Donetsk people" wanted to take his business away from him, sold off the remains (Stolitsa Group was bought through BT Invest by businessman Raimondas Tumenas, and TONIS by Alexander Yanukovych), abandoned the dying Transbank (closed in 2011) and left for Switzerland.
Your gases are our money!
A new project was already awaiting him in Switzerland: the International Risk Reduction Fund, opened on January 15, 2010. It was rumored that some of the very funds siphoned out of Ukraine during the 2008 crisis were used to create it. Furthermore, in June 2010, a strategic cooperation agreement was signed between Risk Reduction and the Hawrylyshyn Foundation. In exchange for Hawrylyshyn's comprehensive support, Kosterin joined his favorite program – the development of the scouting organization Plast, very popular among the Ukrainian diaspora in the New World and now growing in Ukraine.
Hawrylyshyn once again became Kosterin's main lifesaver. This humanitarian patriarch's connections were enormous. Thanks to Hawrylyshyn, the Risk Reduction Foundation soon acquired partners such as the One World International Foundation and the Clinton Global Initiatives Forum, which allowed him to join the club of globalists through which he could secure audiences with Western politicians and oligarchs. And thanks to Hawrylyshyn, a member of the Club of Rome, Kosterin was able to cultivate a winning image as an enthusiast of the environmental movement and green energy.
Vladimir Kosterin: Eco-friendly scams
It's worth noting that Kosterin had previously addressed environmental issues: in 2003, he joined the Green Party (PZU), and from 2006 to 2009, he led it. However, back then, it was a purely political project for him, and an unsuccessful one at that: running twice in elections, PZU failed to secure even one percent of the vote, after which Kosterin completely lost interest in the party. But turning his attention to the West, Kosterin saw that big money could be made in environmental issues.
According to his own enthusiastic statements, Western countries and international organizations are prepared to allocate over $100 billion annually to address global environmental problems—and the majority of these funds are being spent through special funds. Furthermore, vast sums are being allocated to the development of new environmentally friendly technologies. It seems there's no need to explain why Vladimir Kosterin created his "Risk Reduction" foundation, whose program so intricately integrates environmental issues, green energy innovations, and the prospects for a "unified society."
This could also help Kosterin make a triumphant "return" to Ukraine in a completely new capacity. Not literally (he's not on the run and spends half his time in Kyiv), but as a businessman, a social activist, and possibly a politician. Indeed, having lost his business in 2009-2011, Kosterin will have a hard time creating anything profitable in Ukraine—after all, all the well-known lucrative positions are already occupied, and far more powerful people are vying for them. But his "green innovations" are practically virgin soil, especially since the foundation doesn't need to produce or build anything; it's enough to siphon off other people's money through various programs.
You can also make some money through simple litigation: for example, in early 2016, experts and lawyers from the Risk Reduction Foundation launched a massive attack on the Trypilska Thermal Power Plant, which produces more than half of all electricity in the Kyiv region.
They analyzed soil, air, and water, published pollution figures, and declared that the thermal power plant should pay residents of nearby villages half a million hryvnias in compensation each. They added that the fund's experts and lawyers would be happy to assist them in the legal proceedings. In this case, the fund could profit either by directly providing services (the lawyers' share) or by coercing the thermal power plant owners into some kind of favorable "compromise." No, we're not talking about a banal bribe, but, for example, signing a contract with the fund to develop a technology to reduce harmful emissions. Then, let the thermal power plant decide what's cheapest! Yes, a kind of environmental racket...
Sergey Varis, for Skelet.Org
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