Kobolev, Andrey Vladimirovich

Career start

Andrey Kobolev was born in Kiev. In 2000 he graduated from the Institute of International Relations of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv , receiving a master's degree in international economic relations ^[1] .

From 1999 to 2002, he worked in the Ukrainian division of the international consulting group PricewaterhouseCoopers as a management consultant ^[1] .

Since 2010, Andrei Kobolev has been a partner in the private investment banking group AYA Capital ( Ukrainian TOV “EuVeI Kepital” ) ^[1] .

Naftogaz of Ukraine

Since 2002 he has been working at NAK Naftogaz Ukrainy . The first position is the chief specialist of the Department of Economics and Price Policy. In 2006-2007, he was director of the department of corporate finance and pricing policy. In 2008-2010 - Advisor to the Chairman of the Board of Naftogaz of Ukraine ^[1] .

On the night of March 26, 2014 at a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, Andriy Kobolev was appointed to the post of chairman of the board of Naftogaz Ukrainy ^[2] .

October 10, 2014 Kobolev was elected Head of the Supervisory Board of PJSC " Ukrnafta " ^[3] .

From 2014 to February 2018, Naftogaz had disputes with Gazprom regarding the transit of natural gas . As a result, the Stockholm arbitration decided to pay Ukraine compensation in the amount of $ 2.56 billion ^[4] . At the same time, the Court rejected most of the Ukrainian company's claims to Gazprom for overpaying for gas, lowering the price of fuel received by Naftogaz in the second quarter of 2014. Arbitration reduced Ukraine’s contractual obligations to purchase gas from Gazprom to 5 billion m³ per year. Andriy Kobolev called this decision positive for Ukraine ^{[4] [5] [6]} .

On February 27, 2018, the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine fined Andriy Kobolev for a total amount of 8.3 billion hryvnias for violating customs rules. The following reason for the fine was indicated in the published documents: “did not provide the possibility of providing an additional customs declaration with a full package of accompanying documents”. According to the Service, Naftogaz Ukrainy has evaded paying taxes for natural gas supplied from Russia in 2015 ^{[7] [8] [9]} .

In July 2018, the security service of Naftogaz Ukrainy increased the level of security for Andriy Kobolev. To do this, it was decided to purchase an armored SUV Cadillac Escalade instead of the civilian budget version of Toyota Highlander . According to Ukrainian media, for three years at the head of Naftogaz Kobolev has repeatedly received threats to life and health ^{[10] [11] [12]} .

In September 2018, the Shevchenkovsky District Court of Kiev fined Andrei Kobolev 1.7 thousand hryvnias for refusing to provide the deputy of the Verkhovna Rada from the Fatherland Sergey Vlasenko with information about the persons who received bonuses for the Stockholm arbitration. The court found Kobolev guilty of an offense under Part 3 of Article 188-19 (non-compliance with the lawful requirements of a deputy) of the Code of Administrative Offenses ^{[13] [14] [15]} .

In October 2018, Andrei Kobolev during the Economics 2020 forum said that the level of development of Ukraine is below average, and that in order to win global competition, a country needs to create a market with intense competition for capital. “If we remove the emotions, we are a classic file case. Not leaders and not average people. Therefore, the question of how to win in global competition is becoming more and more difficult every year, ”said the head of Naftogaz of Ukraine ^{[16] [17] [18]} .

On March 1, 2019, Andrey Kobolev stated that Naftogaz of Ukraine had won a lawsuit in the Hague Arbitration Tribunal to recover damages from Russia in connection with the loss of assets in Crimea . According to him, the company estimates losses at $ 5 billion. Despite these words, most lawyers specializing in international disputes noted that it is impossible to talk about the victory of the Ukrainian side in this matter ^[4] .

On March 21, 2019, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine extended the contract with Kobolev for another year, obliging Naftogaz to increase its own natural gas production by 10%, to the level of 18.3 billion m³. In 2018, the company produced 16.5 billion m³, and the total gas production in Ukraine was a record in the history of the country - 21 billion m³ ^{[19] [20] [21]} . Naftogaz Ukrainy refused to provide reporters with a copy of the contract of Andriy Kobolev, citing the fact that the document contains personal data ^{[22] [23]} .

According to a public opinion poll conducted in August 2018 by order of the International Republican Institute , Andriy Kobolev took second place in the list of Ukrainian politicians, to whom the Ukrainian population is negatively related. In the first place was the acting Minister of Health Ulyana Suprun with an “anti-rating” of 46%, 20% of respondents expressed a completely negative attitude to Kobolev ^{[24] [25]} .

On October 26, 2018, the primate of the non-canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate Filaret (Denisenko) awarded Andrey Kobolev the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called II degree ^[26] .

In 2016, the salary of Andrey Kobolev increased 17.5 times compared to the previous year - up to 19 323 044 hryvnias ^{[27] [28]} . In addition, Naftogaz’s board members received remuneration in the amount of UAH 50.8 million, of which Kobolev received 19 million ^[29] .

At the end of 2017, board members received 2.5 times more payments in the form of remuneration - 127.7 million hryvnias, including Andrey Kobolev - 47.1 million hryvnias ^[30] . Upon the payment of such bonuses, the Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine opened a criminal proceeding, but in July 2018, Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko announced that Kobolev would not be held accountable ^[31] .

In May 2017, Ukrainian journalists published the data of the employment contract of Andriy Kobolev, which stated that if the Government of Ukraine initiates the resignation of the chairman of the board of Naftogaz of Ukraine for reasons beyond his work, he is entitled to a severance pay “in the amount of 12- monthly average earnings calculated for the last 2 months of work. ” In this case, the size of Andrei Kobolev’s “ golden parachute ” would be from 12.5 to 37.5 million hryvnias ^{[32] [33]} .

In 2018, Andrei Kobolev transferred to the United States his mother Natalya, who has been living in this country since 2006 or 2008, a substantial part of his prize - about 8 billion hryvnia (please check this information. The prize is $ 1 million and sent 8 billion to USA????). He explained this because he was afraid of the arrest of his property because of the numerous administrative and criminal cases opened against him and Naftogaz: “According to the facts related to the work of Naftogaz, a huge number of cases have been opened now - I have a thick folder with these matters, I periodically leaf through them. There is NABU and the prosecutor’s office - everything is there. By themselves, these investigations are a normal process, I take this calmly. But not one of these cases was closed, all of them in limbo. And this creates a significant risk ” ^{[34] [35]} .

In November 2018, Strana.ua journalists found that Natalya Koboleva lives in the northwestern suburb of Washington - North Bethesda (state of Maryland ). She lives in a 180 m² house built in 1998. According to a site evaluating American real estate, the cost of a two-story Koboleva mansion in 2018 was 700 thousand US dollars ^{[36] [37]} .

From December 27, 2003 to 2017, Andrei Kobolev was married to Zoryanoy (maiden name - Kozyak). In the past two years, the couple did not live together and in September 2017, the Kiev-Svyatoshinsky District Court of the Kiev region terminated the marriage. Kobolev left his ex-wife a 2007 Porsche Cayenne car, a house of 275.5 m² and 12 acres of land in the village of Chayki in the Kiev-Svyatoshinsky District ^{[38] [39]} .

Andrei and Zoryana have three daughters ^[40] .

• Profile of Andrei Kobolev at LIGA. Dossier
• Short biography on the website of Naftogaz of Ukraine