Back
Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
Economist Boris Kushniruk urged the state to begin legal procedures for the nationalization of Kyivstar in order to thoroughly remove the Russian property interest from the company. In his view, the operator’s acquisition of new digital services requires special government attention due to risks to Ukrainians’ personal data. He wrote about this in a blog on Censor.NET.
Kushniruk noted that since 8 October a portion of Kyivstar’s subscribers has been paying more for connectivity. The company explains the tariff increases by higher fuel costs, equipment, maintenance, and network restoration. At the same time, the economist said, the group continues to acquire new assets.
"As an economist I understand that expenditures during a war increase. But as a Ukrainian citizen I want to hear an answer to another question: why do Russian oligarchs remain among the beneficiaries of this profitable strategic enterprise? Why does the authorities allow it to scale along with their property interest?" he wrote.
Referring to Censor.NET’s publication about the ownership structure, Kushniruk stated that Mikhail Freidman, Petr Aven and Andrey Kosogov through LetterOne and VEON collectively hold approximately 43,4% of the indirect economic stake in Kyivstar Group.
"Ukrainians pay for mobile communications, and after tariff increases they will give even more. The structure with Russian owners profits and acquires new enterprises. The value of domestic assets where Freidman’s and his partners’ stakes are preserved has the potential to grow further. At the same time, hostile beneficiaries from this scheme have not yet been removed by the state," the economist noted.
Separately he focused on expanding the group beyond mobile communications. According to the blog’s data, the announced total value of the acquisition of 97% Uklon and Tabletki.ua exceeds $300 million. The group also includes Helsi, television, cloud and other digital services.
"In my view, Kyivstar is forming a Ukrainian analogue of the LetterOne model. […] Around the telecom operator, as well, various areas are being gathered under a common corporate umbrella. Telephony, travel, visiting a doctor, ordering medications—more and more essential services fall under a single group," Kushniruk wrote.
In his view, the combination of these business lines creates risks due to the volume and nature of information that these services handle. He reminded that telecom companies process data about calls and geolocation, transport services about routes, and medical services about users’ health.
"If such information falls into the hands of the enemy, it will provide them with a complete map of vulnerabilities of specific people and entire groups: military personnel, civil servants, law enforcement officers, public figures," the economist said.
In Kushniruk’s post he describes a potential risk of data access, but does not provide evidence of data being transferred to Russian beneficiaries.
The economist also cited a Tabletki.ua acquisition presentation, in which, he says, the group discusses synergy with mobile data and advantages of engaging users in several products.
"I do not see justification for a policy in which the state fights Russia while Russian beneficiaries remain in one of its most important enterprises. And they also retain an economic stake in an increasing number of Ukrainian services," he wrote.
Kushniruk called on the authorities to urgently take measures to remove the Russian property interest in the company.
"Legal procedures of nationalization aimed at the complete removal of the Russian property interest in Kyivstar must be launched immediately," he concluded.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Економіст закликав націоналізувати "Київстар" для усунення російського майнового інтересу". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: Gordon.
