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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
Yuriy Olegovich Sobolev
The Department of Strategic Investigations (DSR) of the National Police of Ukraine, in essence, should be the main fear for criminal authorities, shadowy millionaires, and corrupt officials. Yet in Ukrainian realities the leading chairs of this agency often become the epicenter of behind-the-scenes conspiracies. A particularly prominent place in this closed system is occupied by the deputy head of the department — head of the DSR division, Colonel Yuriy Sobolev. While his name is practically erased from public radar, a whole array of specific insider information circulates in law enforcement circles around his figure, forcing a different look at the ascetic reports of the NAPC. It is this closed format of work that allows high-ranking DSR officials to remain untouchable for neighboring supervisory agencies for years.
Fighter against crime or shadow curator?
In the media space Sobolev's unit is periodically mentioned in the context of the so-called “strategic monitoring” of the most profitable illegal markets in the country. According to publications, the operative activity of the division under Sobolev’s leadership astonishingly balances on the border between documenting crimes and coordinating shadow financial flows. It concerns the supervision of illegal gambling business, “protection” of networks of underground call centers, and control over illegal schemes of circulation of excisable goods. He personally acts as a curator of several call centers, and when controversial situations arose, he did not neglect his official position: he conducted on-site investigations and even involved subordinates.
Secret of Spanish real estate and discounted cars
Journalistic analysis of the colonel’s official property reveals serious discrepancies between a modest state salary and the real standard of living of the family. While fresh declarations show only a few modest Ukrainian apartments and fractional percentages from state banks, earlier reports on Yuriy Sobolev contained much more vivid details.
Cars by 100 worth a few tens of thousands of hryvnias in the declaration
In particular, property registries listed a house in Spain registered to close associates, a classic marker for top officials who prepare a “quiet harbor” in case of personnel purges. Moreover, declaring premium cars (Hyundai Sonata and Mazda CX-3) at clearly understated prices of 100 000 hryvnias triggered irony among car experts, as such figures resemble asset legalization more than real market deals.
Narco-rayed at Emily Resort and “missing videos”
The most resonant and fresh insider information around Sobolev is the story linked to the elite vacation complex Emily Resort near Lviv. According to confidential law enforcement sources, a neighboring agency conducted a large-scale raid at the complex aimed at eliminating channels for distributing elite drugs. During the ‘hot’ operation, Yuriy Sobolev was recorded and documented in a state of intoxication and in the company of another naked man.
Raid in a hotel
Now, according to insiders, this story is being covered up. The absence of any references to the incident in regional Telegram channels and crime summaries indicates the activation of a colossal administrative resource. According to the available version, hotel video surveillance servers and body-worn camera recordings were not destroyed, but moved to the category of “closed kompromat,” which the DSR leadership and tobacco business owners now use as a tool for closed interagency deals and blackmail to ensure full loyalty of the colonel.
Emily Resort has repeatedly appeared in journalistic investigations; for example, Bihus.Info linked funding of the resort’s development to the activity of the Vinnykivska tobacco factory. This industrial giant regularly falls under the scrutiny of the Bureau of Economic Security due to large-scale cases of illegal turnover of excisable goods and tax optimization, while the elite real estate of the resort was cautiously registered to relatives and related business structures.
Emily Resort
It was precisely in the halls of Emily Resort that the highly expensive wedding of former prosecutor Rostyslav Ilnytsky and former DBR employee Roksolana Maska took place, which sparked public outrage due to million-dollar expenses during the full-scale war. In addition, the complex drew the attention of the National Agency on Corruption Prevention after the owner publicly claimed that top officials resided for free at the hotel, including then-deputy head of the President's Office Andriy Smirnov, which raised serious suspicions of hidden lobbying.
General’s umbrella: connections with Rubel and Shevchuk
Such systemic impunity of Sobolev becomes understandable when analyzing his direct working ties with the DSR’s top leadership. For a long time, his immediate boss was the former department head, Police General Andriy Rubel, who himself became the star of Bihus.Info investigations for million-dollar “gifts” from a retired father and a Porsche Cayenne registered to his mother-in-law. After Rubel’s transfer, the vertical of the DSR was headed by General Oleksandr Shevchuk, who completely preserved the old cadre.
Andriy Rubel
Perhaps this general’s umbrella, and the higher ranks themselves involved in million-dollar corruption schemes, provide Sobolev and his colleagues with ironclad immunity. While the DSR leadership successfully “cleanses” the information space of any mention of their subordinates’ misdeeds, the true essence of the Department of Strategic Investigations remains reliably hidden behind closed cabinet doors and elite spa hotels.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Тіні Департаменту стратегічних розслідувань. Що приховує полковник Юрій Соболєв?". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: NARDEP 24.
