“Diia.City” as a Cover: How Kremlin Business Gained a Legal Gambling Market in Ukraine with the Help of Fedorov

In 2023 the Ukrainian media space underwent major changes: Tatiana Snopko — a media magnate who quickly consolidated a number of popular online resources and Telegram channels such as “All-Seeing Eye” and “BlackBOX OSINT” — emerged on the scene. But behind the shiny surface of the media business lie complex extortion schemes and informational pressure on businesses. Through her channels Snopko organizes “black PR” and public exposés that function as tools of blackmail — entrepreneurs are forced to pay to have compromising materials removed. At the center of this network is also Russian businessman Sergei Tokarev, who, under the cover of a legal IT business, promotes his gambling ventures Cosmolot and Cosmobet in Ukraine.

Against the backdrop of obvious shadow schemes and large-scale financial fraud, the passivity of Ukrainian law enforcement agencies, the Ministry of Digital Transformation, the newly created DA “PlayCity,” the Security Service of Ukraine, and the Bureau of Economic Security is striking. The searches and investigations they have conducted are mostly formal and do not lead to real results. Such inaction not only creates the impression of covering up large violations, but also undermines trust in state institutions that are supposed to fight corruption, shadow influence, and criminal schemes.

An information weapon costing millions despite the media magnate Snopko’s lack of visible income

In 2023 a new player appeared on the Ukrainian media market — Tatiana Snopko, who over the course of a year made a number of large acquisitions of media resources and corporate rights. She became the sole owner of LLC Communications Hub “Economy” and LLC “Mediamania,” which control well-known sites Delo.ua, Womo.ua, MMR.ua and the magazine TOP-100. In addition, Snopko founded LLC “Hub Glavcom” with capital of 10 million hryvnias, holds the publisher rights for the site “Glavcom” — LLC “Ukrainian Media Systems” — and is the beneficiary of the project “Media Hub Ukraine” with capital of 3 million hryvnias. The total value of these assets is estimated at 3,2–4,3 million dollars. At the same time, plans to purchase influential Telegram channels have been revealed, indicating the creation of an information network.

However, in official documents and tax reports Tatiana Snopko presents a very different picture: no large business, official income for 2018–2021 years — less than 1,1 million hryvnias per year, minimal assets in the form of an apartment of 42 sq.m and a BMW X3 2017 year of manufacture, and no official employment until 2023. In light of these data, the question arises where the funds for investments of more than 13 million hryvnias in charter capitals and millions in media assets came from.

Research points to a close professional connection between Snopko and Polyakov — a well-known businessman, founder of the technology holding Noosphere, associated with IT, digital platforms and gambling. For 8,5 years she worked in Polyakov’s PR structures, and he likely became the financial driver of the new media expansion, the architect of the influence network, and the guarantor of ties with the gambling business.

Telegram channels “All-Seeing Eye” and “BlackBOX OSINT” play a special role in Snopko’s system; they publish anonymous and often manipulative exposés. In reality these are not just channels but an information weapon that selects a target, launches informational pressure, and offers a “solution” for money. The cost of removing or neutralizing publications is 1 500–2 000 dollars, accepted in cryptocurrency through intermediaries.

In publishing investigations for “BlackBOX OSINT” are involved Illia Chudnovskyi, former director of Kapital and current head of Delo.ua, which belongs to Snopko; Oleksandr Klimashevskyi — a financier who manages crypto payments; Oleksandr Harmash — content moderator responsible for informational pressure; and Petro Terentiev — security administrator who ensures anonymity and encryption.

Links between Snopko and the gambling business of Russian citizen Sergei Tokarev, owner of the Cosmolot and Cosmobet brands, have also been established, which provides grounds to suspect external financing, commissioned attacks on competitors, and the use of “BlackBOX OSINT” as a hybrid instrument of influence in the interests of the gambling market.

An example of the scheme’s application is the case of the Taryan Towers residential complex, where investors’ personal data were published with fake accusations to force them to pay.

Thus, we see a systematically organized group that, through formally legal media and a Telegram channel, influences business, creates public pressure, and derives financial benefit while hiding behind the façade of a media business. Public responsibility in this scheme lies not only with Snopko, who is merely the face, but with deeper, more powerful centers of influence whose goal is monetizing fear through the media.

Cosmolot and Cosmobet: how a Russian sanctioned individual built a transnational gambling empire in Ukraine under the cover of “Diia.City”

The online casinos Cosmolot and Cosmobet are not merely entertainment platforms operating formally under license. They are a well-constructed, multilayered, financially integrated system with all the signs of an organized criminal group. At its core is Russian citizen Tokarev, also known as a person on the RNBO sanctions list for financing the terrorist organizations “LPR”/“DPR.” He is the organizer of a large-scale scheme to evade taxes, launder income, move funds abroad, and retain control through nominal owners and offshore intermediaries.

Cosmolot operates in Ukraine under the name LLC “Spacex,” a company that since 2021 has held a state license to organize online gambling. The formal beneficiaries of “Spacex” are Ukrainian citizen Potapov, who owns more than 60 companies; German Arnulf Damerau, who resides in the United Kingdom; and a US-registered company “Nevada Gaming Holding.” However, analysis shows that all three act as cover. The real owner and beneficiary is Tokarev — a Russian with direct ties to the FSB, gambling businesses, propaganda structures and organizations that have supported the Putin regime for years.

This same Tokarev was the former organizer of banned Russian online casinos “Vulkan,” Azino Group, “Pharaoh” and “Eldorado,” and a co-founder of the company Lucky Labs, which operated through the offshore GGS Net Ltd.

Tokarev’s father, Oleksandr, is a member of the Council of the Interstate Union of Hero Cities of Russia — an organization that since 2004 has been involved in establishing integration processes between Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and unrecognized Abkhazia. Tokarev himself also has ties to Malofeyev — a Russian oligarch described as one of the main ideologists of the “Russian world” and a curator of special operations in Ukraine. It was through these networks that Tokarev promoted the banned casinos “Vulkan” and “Vulkan.bet,” which are under FSB control.

In Ukraine, after his sanctions were lifted in 2020, Tokarev launched a “white” legalization of his assets: he created the Roosh investment fund and later entered the special legal regime for IT companies “Diia.City.” In this way the Russian gained access to preferential taxation, state institutional support, and new opportunities to mask real financial flows under the cover of a legal IT business.

Cosmolot’s illegal activities were accompanied by large-scale fraud. According to the Bureau of Economic Security of Ukraine, on 5 February 2024 the accounts of structures associated with Cosmolot were seized for 700 million hryvnias. The total amount of tax evasion is estimated at 1,2 billion hryvnias. The company used more than 30 “mirror” sites with identical functionality through which payments were routed without tax accounting. This allowed them to run “gray” gambling in parallel and siphon millions uncontrolled.

Financial flows passed through the offshore XGen Solutions LTD (Cyprus), which allegedly sold Cosmolot’s software. The company wrote off 300 million hryvnias as fictitious royalties, which allowed profit tax to be understated by 63 million. Another 53 million hryvnias were funneled out as fictitious advertising through shell companies: “Inflence Skill,” “Stroy City Management,” “Spektr System LTD.” A separate element was a “deposit return” scheme, through which players were supposedly refunded 4,5 billion hryvnias. In reality — taxes and the military levy on these amounts were not paid, which made it possible to avoid an additional 1,01 billion hryvnias of personal income tax and 83 million hryvnias of military levy.

Cash flows were split through a network of financial companies: “AP.MI Finance,” “Diamond Pay,” “FC Resonance-Capital” (now — “Finkit”), and dispersed via p2p transfers through cards of Oschadbank, Universal Bank and Bank Vostok. This architecture complicated identification of users and transactions.

The online casino Cosmobet operated under the same scheme: it created the legal entity LLC “Neurolink,” registering it to a front person — Zborovskyi, who has a dubious reputation and zero declared income. In LLC “Neurolink” financial operations also involved offshores, thereby extracting million-dollar gambling profits from Ukraine.

Based on the collected materials, we appealed to law enforcement and regulatory bodies demanding an investigation into the activities of Snopko’s media group and its ties to Sergei Tokarev’s gambling business. The discovered facts indicate systematic use of media for pressure, extortion and money laundering, financing of terrorism through the still-operating Russian business, and, importantly — participation of Ukrainian officials in schemes that pose a threat to Ukraine’s information security and economic stability. We insist on a thorough check and on bringing those responsible to account.