Koba Kateryna Oleksandrivna
Belarusian former model, TV presenter
Russian oil oligarch and avant-garde collector under Ukraine's sanctions; Pandora Papers figure seeking Portuguese citizenship
Born on November 23, 1971, in Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg). Built his fortune in oil: in the 1990s, through "El-Nafta"/"Magistral", became one of the largest jobbers for TNK, and later earned, according to Forbes' estimates, about $900 million from the sale of TNK-BP assets (later acquired by the state-owned Rosneft). Featured in Forbes rankings with wealth around ~$600 million; Público in 2023 estimated his assets at €547 million. One of the largest collectors of Russian avant-garde (Malevich, Lysiatsky, Goncharova). Mentioned in the Pandora Papers documents.
Sanctions and connections with Russia
Included in Ukraine's sanctions list as a Russian businessman due to the Russian invasion. According to media, he is accused of supporting Putin and providing financial assistance — notably as one of the main shareholders of Stavropol Prombudbank. Together with partner Oleksandr Kaplan (former vice president of TNK-BP) — co-founder of Moscow's "Sanora-Rus".
Portuguese citizenship
According to Público, since 2020 Smuzikov and Kaplan have been pursuing Portuguese passports under the "Sephardic law" (for descendants of expelled Sephards): they hold certificates from the Jewish community of Porto and have received positive conclusions from the judicial police. The law was repealed at the end of 2022.