Serhiy Kurchenko

Serhiy Vitaliiovych Kurchenko (Сергі́й Віта́лійович Ку́рченко, nowadays in Russia: Sergey Vitaliovich Kurchenko; born 21 September 1985) is a former Ukrainian, nowadays Russian businessman and founder/owner of the group of companies "Gas Ukraine 2009" specializing in trading of liquefied natural gas.

Kurchenko is also the former owner and president of FC Metalist Kharkiv and the Ukrainian Media Holding group.

Kurchenko was born 21 September 1985 into a low-income family in Kharkiv, Saltivka residential neighborhood.

From 1992 to 2002 he attended secondary school number 122.

From 2002 to 2006 he attended National Technical University Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute studying Economics and Entrepreneurship.

Kurchenko left Ekspogaz and started his own business in 2005 at the age of 19 years.

His official biography on "Metalist" states "The experience and attracted financing allowed him to carry out a few successful investment projects in the primary market building and the land market in the Kharkiv region. From 2005 to 2008, prior to the 2008 financial crisis, prices on the real estate market in Ukraine rose more than 30% per year."

The biography does not mention any projects or the name of his firm.

He graduated with a Bachelor in Accounting and Auditing, followed by studies in "Intellectual Property" from 2006 to 2008 resulting in a master's degree.

From 2009 to 2011 he attended National University Yaroslav the Wise Law Academy of Ukraine graduating with a law degree.

Teachers and classmates described him as a closed and restrained person.

Employees described him as communicable, but not striking.

Kurchenko started working as a courier for Naftogaz, Ukraine's national oil and gas company, when he was 16.

Per his official biography he advanced to deputy commercial director, by reorganizing the wholesale of liquefied gas within two years.

Implementation of his projects increased Ekspogaz's profits.

In 2009, Kurchenko founded a group of companies named "Gas Ukraine 2009".

The group includes 55 companies of diverse activities, and all are registered in Kharkiv region and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.

The group's main activity is the sale of petroleum products, implementation of liquefied gas and public procurement.

According to Yuriy Syrotyuk, the deputy of Svoboda party, Gaz Ukraine 2009 monopolized the Ukrainian liquefied gas market and smuggled gasoline with interrupted transit and fake exports schemes in 2009.

Until the end of 2012 information about Kurchenko was scarce and it surfaced with a scandal around the sale of FC Metalist Kharkiv.

In December 2012, Oleksandr Yaroslavsky sold the football club FC Metalist Kharkiv to Kurchenko.

The sale appeared hurried and was realized against the background of the conflict between the government of Kharkiv and the former co-owner of the Metalist stadium.

Per the FC Metalist press-office Kurchenko met with head coach Myron Markevich, General Director Sergei Volik and Sport Director Eugene Krasnikov on 30 December 2012, in the office of Gas Ukraine 2009 in Kyiv.

Ivan Savvidis, the controlling shareholder of Greek FC PAOK, suggested that Kurchenko was not the owner of FC Metalist.

When a journalist for The View newspaper asked about a game of chess with the owner of Metalist, Savvidis responded that he plays only with the real owners.

He said, "Who is the true owner of Metalist? Come on, I know a little more than you think."

On 22 February 2013, the press-service of the group of companies "Gas Ukraine 2009" announced the formation of a new group of companies "East European Energy Company."

(VETEK) consisting of two major companies LLC "VETEK" and LLC "VETEK."

and others, with Kurchenko controlling the development strategy of the new group.

On 26 February 2013, the VETEK group of companies bought 99.6% of the Odesa refinery's shares from Lukoil.

Despite the plant's opening ceremony on 29 March 2013 it has not been operating.

On 21 June 2013, VETEK group announced the purchase of Ukrainian Media Holding (UMH group) which manages more than 50 media brands in Ukraine, including Forbes, Vogue, Reporter, Focus (Ukrainian magazine), Telenedelya (TV week), i.ua, bigmir.net (Ukrainian web portal), football.ua, Retro FM, radio, Europa Plus, AvtoRadio, Arguments and Facts, Komsomolskaya Pravda in Ukraine and others, with 4,000 employees in 42 offices in Russia and Ukraine at a 2011 revenue of $138 million.

On 23 August 2013, Kurchenko met with the editors of Ukrainian Media Holding and presented a new structure named VETEK Media.

Kurchenko left Ukraine in February 2014 for Russia.

Since March 2014 Kurchenko has been on the international wanted list, and his property and other assets have been arrested.

Although the founder of UMH, Boris Lozhkin, declared that the transaction was of a commercial nature, some commentators suggested that the information field for 2015 would be cleared for the benefit of the VETEK group.

The chief editor of Forbes Ukraine, Vladimir Fedorin, suspected that the sale of Forbes Ukraine would end it in its current form and that the buyer intended to silence journalists before the presidential election, to whitewash his own reputation, or use the edition to resolve the issues that do not have anything to do with the media business.

In October 2017, a Ukrainian court confiscated Metalist Kharkiv from Kurchenko and placed it under state property.

Nowadays Kurchenko lives in Moscow and handles from there his businesses in Russian occupied regions of Donbas and Crimea under the auspices of the FSB.

Early October 2017, a Ukrainian court confiscated Metalist Kharkiv from Kurchenko and placed it under state property.