Koshlyak Mykhailo Anatoliyovych

Influential Dnipro businessman, sports official, and politician

He began his career in the mid-1990s as a judo coach and later headed a large security company "Leon." In 2020, Koshlyak was elected head of the Judo Federation of Ukraine and elected as a deputy to the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Council from the "OPZZh" party. Despite his public status as a philanthropist and head of the regional Olympic committee, investigative journalists and law enforcement agencies often name him as one of the main "shadow owners" and authorities in Dnipro.

Criminal record and the "Koshlyaky" organized crime group

The most high-profile scandals surrounding Koshlyak are related to the activities of his armed wing. In 2015, he was detained in a joint case with Hennadiy Korban on suspicion of involvement in the murder of an SBU officer. Law enforcement agencies repeatedly conducted large-scale raids against the so-called "Koshlyaky" organized crime group, members of which were detained for a series of violent crimes, extortion of businessmen, raiding, and shootings. Notably, in 2023, a scandal erupted over the fraudulent appropriation of about 1 million US dollars by Koshlyak's associates during martial law.

Agricultural raiding and dissertation scandal

Besides the armed faction, the family business group "Koshlyaky-Astions" (including son-in-law Vasyl Astion) has been repeatedly accused of agricultural raiding and appropriating thousands of hectares of others' land through artificial bankruptcies of enterprises. Additional media resonance occurred in June 2026 when the deputy from the banned "OPZZh" party defended a dissertation and received a Doctor of Sciences degree during the war, raising serious public questions regarding academic integrity.