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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
Member of Parliament of the VII-IX convocations, founder of the financial-industrial group Smart-Holding, under sanctions Vadim Novinsky, with 24 on August 2023, is in Croatia. In this Balkan country, the former Ukrainian politician is under temporary protection. The specific protection is not detailed in the court rulings reviewed by Glavkom.
From the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court ruling dated 17 September it became known that Novinsky attempted to suspend the operation of several kinds of personal sanctions applied to him in Ukraine since January 2023. In particular, the former deputy petitioned the court to partially suspend the effect of the NSDC decision from 24 January 2023 (entered into force by presidential decree on the same day) in the part of imposing sanctions on him as asset blocking; trading restrictions (total prohibition); restrictions, partial or full arrest of transit of resources, flights and transportation within Ukraine (total prohibition); suspension of fulfillment of economic and financial obligations.
During court sessions, Novinsky’s lawyers insisted: “the sanctions imposed on the plaintiff are aimed at a complete blocking of the basic vital needs of any person.”
In addition, the ex-deputy’s lawyers claimed that their client, who is also suspected in Ukraine of treason and incitement of religious enmity and hatred, supposedly is ready to come for questioning to the investigators of the State Bureau of Investigation (DBR). However, they explained that Novinsky should have the opportunity on Ukrainian territory to “provide for his living and to realize fundamental rights.”
In the end, the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court refused Vadim Novinsky partial suspension of the NSDC decision, because, in the court’s view, the chosen plaintiff’s means of ensuring the claim essentially amounts to suspending the act of the President of Ukraine and establishing a prohibition on actions arising from such a decision.
It should be added that in 2023 year Novinsky filed two lawsuits against President Zelensky regarding lifting sanctions. The cases are still pending.
In Ukraine Vadim Novinsky is subject to 15 types of sanctions for the term up to June 2029. In September 2025 Ukraine declared the ex-deputy wanted. The basis for the wanted list, as stated on the Interior Ministry’s website, was the announcement of suspicion against the oligarch as early as January 2025 under articles “Treason” (part 1 of Art. 111 of the Criminal Code) and “Incitement of religious enmity and hatred” (part 2 of Art. 161 of the Criminal Code).
According to the investigation, no later than 2018 year Vadim Novinsky, acting in coordination with Patriarch of Moscow and head of the Russian Orthodox Church Kirill, began disseminating information in support of Russia’s policy aimed at weakening Ukraine’s independence and spreading narratives of the ideology of the “Russian world.” In particular, he did this in numerous interviews and in his posts on social networks in the style of Russian propaganda.
Also, the ex-deputy made statements about the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, “characterizing them in negative and stigmatizing expressions that could be interpreted as incitement of hatred and enmity on religious grounds.”
Moreover, in the DBR release, Novinsky was named the “curator” of the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine. It is also noted that the oligarch stood in hierarchical subordination to Patriarch Kirill and communicated closely with him. Such a connection Novinsky did not even hide, but rather, on the contrary. The billionaire is a cleric of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) and has a direct channel to the head of this branch of the Russian Church in Ukraine, Metropolitan Onuphriy (open sources indicate that the hierarch also holds a Russian passport. After that the President terminated Onuphriy’s Ukrainian citizenship).
Earlier, at the request of the Office of the Chief Investigator of the State Bureau of Investigation, the court seized Novinsky’s property (an apartment of 666,7 sq m in central Kyiv; two plots of land totaling 0,2 ha in Kozyn near Kyiv) and his Mercedes-Benz V250 d, year 2017 of manufacture.
Also under arrest was 8 million UAH of bail that in the autumn 2016 year Vadim Novinsky paid for the former deputy head of the Odesa Regional State Administration Oleksandr Orlov, suspected of involvement in mass disturbances in Odesa in February 2014.
In July 2022 year the Verkhovna Rada terminated Vadim Novinsky’s deputy powers ahead of schedule, after which the oligarch decided to engage in humanitarian and ecclesiastical matters. After losing his mandate, the oligarch left Ukraine. Social media users noticed Novinsky vacationing in Croatia; at a Sunday service at the largest Russian Orthodox church in Zurich; in Jerusalem with the Holy Fire.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Новинський перебуває під тимчасовим захистом Хорватії. З’явилися нові деталі про екснардепа-утікача". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: ZmiOne.
