Oleksiy Vladimirov, owner of the Kyiv restaurant Saperavi, used the Shlyakh system to go on holiday abroad and last year bought a luxury sports car, a Lamborghini Huracan, and a Range Rover of the latest model. He hosted Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko and a representative of a state-owned company that buys weapons abroad, according to the UP investigation.
Vladimirov's luxury car was recorded while leaving the KCSA. He actively filmed his cars and posted them on social media.
"Over the New Year holidays, he left the country as a volunteer for two months on holiday in Thailand, Dubai and Monaco," said journalist Mykhaylo Tkach.
Vladimir also did not hesitate to post his holiday on Instagram.
The journalists found out that Oleksiy and his family have no profitable business or real estate. His restaurant is unprofitable. Vladimirov actively posted photos with Kyiv mayor Vitaliy Klitschko, but now the number of photos of them together has significantly decreased after the businessman learned about the journalists' preparation of the material.
According to UP's sources, Vladimirov earns money from "state construction contracts in the capital and, thanks to his friendship with the mayor, can help to get any contract and in the defence sector - thanks to his father's friendship with Oleksiy Petrov, the head of the state arms export company of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine."
Vladimirov uses the premises of his restaurant, which is rarely visited by customers, for his own leisure. In particular, with his friend Dmytro Polovko, whose mother recently became a co-owner of the State Employment Service (SES) construction company. After the full-scale invasion began, the company started winning tenders in Kyiv. And Dmytro and his wife started travelling around Europe, including to Monte Carlo.
Since June, Dmitriy and his wife seem to be living on the French Riviera in France. Meanwhile, his mother's company is arranging parks, paths and bomb shelters in Kyiv. Last year, the firm won tenders worth UAH 50 million, and in the first half of this year, another UAH 50 million.
In December, journalists filmed Polovko and Vladimirov and Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko at the Saperavi restaurant. At the same time, Klitschko was not in the restaurant, but in another room. During this time, Vladimirov and his friend were not at the table. Klitschko left the restaurant at 10:33pm, and an hour later, Polovko and the Kyiv mayor's spokesperson and Vladimirov left.
Polovko told reporters that he did not know how his mother's company had won so many tenders in Kyiv. He said that he had met Klitschko twice, but that his mother's company's success in tenders in the capital was a "coincidence". Polovko confirmed that he currently lives in France, and he left as a father of many children. He allegedly earns his living as a lawyer and doing repairs "in honest universities". According to him, he is friends with Vladimirov, and has no business issues.
The journalists checked Polovko's income and found that his only source of income was his mother's company, which he denied any involvement in. This is UAH 213,000 from the SES. They also refuted Polovko's claim that he did not work with budget funds: he was the commercial director of SES when the firm started winning tenders for reconstruction in Kyiv.
Klitschko did not respond to a request for comment on his relationship with Vladimirov.
According to journalists, in the winter of 2024, Vladimirov travelled abroad for two months under the guise of a volunteer, in particular to Dubai, where he was on holiday. The journalists found Vladimirov in Warsaw in February. During his two months abroad, he brought back two Mavics and several boxes of biscuits. All of which can be purchased in Ukraine. According to the sources, Vladimirov travelled abroad three times during the full-scale war, and in total he was away for more than three months.
Most of UP's sources in the Ministry of Defence and the Defence Intelligence Service could not confirm Vladimirov's defence earnings. However, journalists recognised his close associates as Mykhaylo Sochko, who they said was an "active member of the Khimprom drug gang". In 2019, he was convicted of creating a criminal organisation, drug trafficking and money laundering. But he was released before the full-scale invasion.
Eventually, journalists gained access to a conversation with Vladimirov, where he talked about "calculation" and "cashback" and procurement. In this conversation, he mentioned Oleksiy Petrov, who heads Spetstechnoexport, a company run by the DIU. Vladimirov called Petrov a close friend with whom he "makes money".
Vladimirov also spoke about kickbacks.
In a conversation with Tkach, Vladimirov said that he "unfortunately does not make money on his friendship with Petrov" and that he has nothing to do with him. According to Vladimirov, he is connected to the mayor of Kyiv by friendship, but not by work. They are also "friends" with Mykhaylo Sochka, he said. Vladimirov named the Saperavi restaurant as a source of income. He also claims that he had bought the car earlier and it was just sitting there.