Zelensky's cronies caught
Nuclear-scale corruption. 'Carlson' escapes to Israel, 'Che Guevara' apprehended. Russian mafia boss Mogilevich?
Not a week goes by, and another cataclysmic corruption scandal.
The western media calls it Zelensky’s greatest corruption affair.
The organizer of the scheme, an old friend of Zelensky’s from the world of show business, funneled away a hundred million dollars by skimping on protection for the country’s nuclear energy system — which provides for 50-70% of the country’s electricity needs. Meanwhile, Ukrainians live through 10 to 12 hours daily blackouts.
The FBI is involved, and a number of Russian traces have been uncovered.
The Zelensky clique must give in, declare in unison Western-funded ‘civil society’ and its parallel justice system.
The key figures involved in the scheme made off to Israel before the early morning Monday raid.
Events in Ukraine, what can I say.
And while all this is certainly quite entertaining, I have to say that I fail to share the confidence of those predicting Zelensky’s imminent demise. Let’s examine the case in more detail, whose own construction is just as cynical a piece of show business as Zelensky’s own governance.
Enjoy the show
Before we get into the sordid details of the actual corruption, let’s take a look at the chronology of its presentation.
We have two main authors here, one might call them literary geniuses.
First, Ukrainska Pravda, the media publication set up in the early 2000s on USAID money. Ukraine’s most influential liberal nationalist outfit, owned since 2021 by Tomas Fiala, the Czech financier partnered with the great George Soros.
Coincidentally, 25 years ago the founder of Ukrainska Pravda, Georgiy Gongadze, was decapitated. Shadowy figures in Ukrainian law enforcement leaked tapes implicating the president in the affair. Said president was at the time drifting towards even closer relations with Russia. The source of the leaks then fled to the USA.
And today, we will be taking a look at another explosive set of leaked conversations spread by Ukrainska Pravda.
And just as in the early 2000s for the killers of Gongadze, the most likely outcome of all this is that those involved receive no punishment.
Anyway, our second actor here are the anti-corruption organs NABU (National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine) and SAPO (Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Organ). Both set up in 2014 on USAID, EU, and Open Society Foundation funding.
These organs are considered the great achievements of Ukraine’s 2014 ‘Revolution of Dignity’. Though, as I wrote here and here, this achievement is more symbolic than anything. The NABU’s real goal, one it performs with relative success, is to keep the Ukrainian elite under threat, primed to listen to the advice of the ‘western partners’.
Besides that, the anti-corruption ecosystem is also quite an enviable niche for certain upwardly mobile Ukrainians. Being a member of such an NGO or journalistic group provides money, political aura, the ability to travel abroad, and generally the privilege of avoiding mobilization.
Now, what I will call broadly the ‘anti-corruption ecosystem/warriors’ have always been negatively disposed to Zelensky. They viewed him as an insufficiently neoliberal populist. They feared that he would fulfill his election promises of bringing peace to Ukraine at any cost. Hence, in 2019 the collective anti-corruption ecosystem presented its famous ‘red lines’ that Zelensky must not cross - no peace with Russia at the cost of abandoning Ukraine’s integration into NATO.
Zelensky’s repression of pro-peace politicians from 2021 onwards was certainly met with praise by the anti-corruption warriors. But they never really liked him. Though Zelensky occasionally gave some sinecures to prominent representatives of the anti-corruption world, they would generally be removed. This was true of Zelensky’s first, highly atlanticist cabinet in 2020, ruthlessly purged within a few months. And the same thing occurred after 2022, when Zelensky temporarily put a few anti-corruption warriors in key positions.
Over the course of 2024, Zelensky increased the pressure on a number of key anti-corruption warriors. They were raided by Zelensky’s Security Services (SBU), which also released videos of said warriors consuming narcotics.
The anti-corruption community also began complaining that Zelensky was trying to mobilize them for war. They claimed this was punishment for their brave reporting on corruption in Zelensky’s government. It should be noted that these same anti-corruption warriors have always condemned attempts by ordinary Ukrainians to protest against mobilization.
This struggle continued throughout 2025, until the grand showdown of late July. Zelensky’s security services first raided the NABU for ‘ties with Russia’, then pushed a law through parliament that would remove the ‘independence’ of the NABU and SAPO, placing them under the control of Zelensky’s general prosecutor. Following EU threats that they would further cut financial aid, Zelensky did a 180 and backed down.
Beginning a dramatic purge and then instantly backing down upon pressure is an excellent way to encourage one’s enemies. Zelensky’s weakness showed the anti-corruption community that while he preferred to get rid of them, he also lacked the willpower to actually do so.
Since then, Zelensky has half-heartedly tried to assert control over the increasingly confident anti-corruption warriors. Zelensky’s SBU extradited a ‘pro-Russian’ parliamentarian from the UAE in early September, and there were many rumors that he would be forced to testify on the supposed Russian ties enjoyed by the anti-corruption community.
Indeed, both sides have been accusing each other of being Russian spies in this grand struggle. When Zelensky’s SBU raided NABU detectives in late July, they accused one important detective of selling marijuana hemp to the Russian region of Dagestan. They also tried to claim he was himself Dagestani, though his appears to be a ‘misinterpretation’ of the fact that is from the country of Uzbekistan.
Said detective, Ruslan Magamedrasulov, remains incarcerated, along with his elderly father. The anti-corruption community remains outraged, and often brings up their belief that the case against him was fabricated.
The sorry fate of Magamedrasulov actually leads us onto this week’s affair.
Magamedrasulov was apparently in charge of investigations against a certain Timur Myndich, Zelensky’s old friend and business partner. Myndich, though he has never held any government post, is considered by Ukrainska Pravda to have become the country’s most powerful - and secretive - oligarch.
Myndich has been friends with Zelensky since at least 2008, when he introduced the future president to one of the country’s most powerful magnates - Igor Kolomoisky. Kolomoisky then crafted a president out of the popular comic. Myndich remains the joint owner of Zelensky’s comedy studio, Kvartal 95.
Myndich, a totally unknown figure before 2019, has soared to such heights due to his friendship with Zelensky and his knowledge of Kolomoisky’s business empire.
When Zelensky imprisoned his old boss Kolomoisky in 2023, Myndich became the shadow owner of the magnate’s financial empire. And now, as Ukrainska Pravda writes, there is a little bit of Myndich everywhere. He has his fingers in every pie - drones, the flamingo missile, energy, military supplies, banks, television, the cabinet of ministers… Anyway, I’ll probably write something more detailed about this mysterious man tomorrow.
Back in July, there were a number of speculations that it was precisely the NABU’s investigation into Myndich’s ill-doings that sparked Zelensky’s crackdown on them. Zelensky was also apparently triggered by their investigations into another friend of Myndich’s, vice premier minister Aleksei Chernyshov (below).
Accordingly, representatives of the anti-corruption community churned out exposes on the malicious Myndich and his friends over the course of the past few months. Just last week, I covered reports that Myndich and his friends had a diamond business making money in Russia during wartime. Chernyshov, was also accused of building a complex with four grandiose mansions in wartime. The luxury residential area, speculated to provide refuge for Zelensky’s coterie, had the suitable title ‘Dynasty’.
It must be said that it is sometimes difficult to take all this serious. The parliamentarian Yaroslav Zheleznyak, a representative of Fukuyama’s favorite party, the ultra-neoliberal ‘Holos’, has played a signal role in the manufacturing of the malignant Myndich.
Zheleznyak, who calls himself ‘the Iron Parliamentarian’ (Thatcher-style), releases a new video every day on his youtube about Myndich’s foul exploits:
Zheleznyak, who spends much of his time in Brussels, seems to have the function of releasing the most questionable narratives around Mr Myndich. His constant promises of the soon-to-be-released ‘Mindich Tapes’ has also had (or aimed at) the same effect that ‘release the Epstein files’ has in the US.
Anyway, Zheleznyak’s hype-building exercises came to fruition this week.
The NABU released a number of tapes featuring Mindich and his associates discussing depraved graft operations. So far, they have only put out a few fragments of what they claim is 1,000 hours of wiretapped material.
In it, Myndich, Chernyshov, and their cronies discuss their dirty schemes to rob the Ukrainian state blind. The conspirators gave each other delightful codenames, like ‘Che Guevara’ (Chernyshov) and ‘Carlson’ (Myndich).
Naturally, they are all speaking in Russian. 25 years since the Gongadze tapes, and nothing changes.
And on November 10, the NABU conducted a (failed) raid on Myndich’s house. The very same NABU detectives went on a grand youtube roundtable for Ukrainska Pravda with Zheleznyak.
Because I suppose that’s what law enforcement agencies do in the midst of a crucial ongoing case. It all has a certain amusing similarity with FBI chief Kash Patel and his claims of ‘increasing transparency’ through endless tweeting.
In short, this is obviously a political operation. In their discussion with Ukrainska Pravda, the NABU made clear that at least four government ministers (not all currently serving) were implicated. They highlight dark links between the Myndich network and Russia. Another Ukrainska Pravda article on Myndich from last week highlights that the FBI has been involved in investigating figures adjacent to Myndich.
Mindich supposedly has the role of Zelensky’s ‘wallet’. The ‘unbiased journalists’ at Ukrainska Pravda and Radio Svoboda (the local branch of Radio Free Europe) invite parliamentarians from Zelensky’s party to be interviewed, and constantly ask the same question:
Why isn’t Zelensky’s getting rid of his corrupt cabinet?
In short, don’t expect that anyone is actually going to do any real time for any crimes. This is a political game, where one business clan, more tightly linked with London, the EU, and the Democratic Party (the anti-corruption community), is trying to put their people in power.
They are trying to replace the clan currently in power, whose international support seems to mainly stem from American financial air and their Israeli passports. Myndich and his co-conspirator have already returned to Tel Aviv, their main residence.
And just in case you really have your hopes up, consider the following fact - in early 2019, the NABU uncovered another ‘bombshell corruption case’ in Ukraine’s military sector. It was also highly political, even further lowering president Poroshenko’s popularity in time for elections. And naturally, all the scandalous details of the corruption that Poroshenko’s officials were involved in led to absolutely zero significant prison terms.
Let’s now take a closer look at the actual details of the NABU’s case against the Myndich network. It has been tied to Russian mafia boss of bosses Semion Mogilevich. There are links to Ukrainian spookload Andrey Derkach, who is now a senator in Russia. There are millions of American dollars, freshly delivered from the Fed. There are hilarious dialogues where Myndich, a man with no official post, instructs minister of energy and justice Halyushchenko how to talk with president Zelensky.
In short, there’s just about everything. And this is just the tip of the iceberg of the ‘Myndich tapes’.
I’ll end the article by explaining they political strategy of the anti-Mindich campaign - to replace Zelensky’s government with representatives of the anti-corruption community, leaving the president a powerless figurehead. I’ll also explain why this probably won’t work.
