Reuters reports that authorities in Ukraine have announced the seizure of assets belonging to sanctioned billionaire Vadym Novynskyi, who is alleged to have provided aid to Russia in its invasion of the country. The assets are purportedly worth a total of $96 million US, but a representative for Novynskyi says he is not their owner in addition to denying the charges of aiding Russia.
The Security Service of Ukraine says it seized deeds of ownership to 40 different business enterprises within Ukraine, and 30 natural gas wells. Per its press statement: “The property of pro-Russian oligarch Vadym Novynskyi, who is involved in aiding the aggressor country, was seized.”
Novynskyi says in a statement he supports Ukraine, but his sponsorship of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, suspected by the Ukrainian government of maintaining formally dissolved ties with Russia, placed him on a sanction list.
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Much of the seized property was transferred at some point away from Novynskyi’s ownership, with the Ukrainian government says was done to avoid culpability, but one company spokesman claims the transfers were made before the sanctions were made public in December of last year. There is dispute over when those sanctions were published, as well as whether or not Novynskyi was involved in providing any aid to Russia in its invasion of Ukraine over the last year. He previously characterized the sanctions as “persecution on religious grounds.”
The details of the Ukrainian authorities’ case against Novynskyi hasn’t been made public as of yet, but reportedly includes “pro-Kremlin religious literature” found during some of its searches. Novynskyi, for his part, denies any association with the material.
The Kyiv Post reported that Novynskyi was last seen publicly somewhere in Zurich in the early part of April. He left Ukraine sometime after July of 2022, when he resigned from his position in the Ukraine parliament.