Vadym Novynskyi

Vadym Novynskyi (Вадим Новинський; born 3 June 1963 ) is a Ukrainian (before May 2012 — a Russian ) businessman, priest and former politician of Armenian descent. He is the owner of the Ukrainian Smart Holding Group with an estimated net worth of $1.9 billion in March 2013. He is also a protodeacon as part of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) (UOCMP).

As of 2023 he was one of the wealthiest people in Ukraine. Former member of the Ukrainian Parliament of VII – IX convocations. In 2015-2019 he represented Ukraine in PACE.

Junior business partner of Rinat Akhmetov. The main shareholder of Smart Group, the owner of a blocking stake in the metallurgical holding Metinvest and other assets.

In April 2020 was appointed as a deacon (since 2021 — a protodeacon) of the UOCMP. As of 2023, he was active as a priest in Russian Orthodox Church of the Holy Resurrection, Zürich, Switzerland.

He is one of the largest Ukrainian patrons. The Vadim Novinsky Foundation reportedly provides assistance to medical and rehabilitation centres, as one of the charitable foundations that contribute during the coronavirus pandemic and the Russo-Ukrainian war.

Biography
Novynskyi was born on 3 June 1963 in Staraya Russa (then USSR, now Russia). In 1985, he graduated from the Leningrad Academy of Civil Aviation in engineering management systems.

From 1985 until 1986 he worked for various companies in Russia. Novynskyi worked in Ukraine since 1996 starting with Lukoil North West and then buying Ukrainian metallurgy companies.

In 1999, Novinskyi’s companies established the Smart Group company in Dnipropetrovsk. In early 1999, the Neva Holding company, created by him and partners, acquired a 77% stake in the Bulgarian metallurgical plant Promet at a privatisation tender.

On 29 May 2012 Novynskyi obtained Ukrainian citizenship "for distinguished services to the country" under the order of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych. Novynskyi lives in Kyiv. He also has a residence in Saint Petersburg (Russia).

The general public better known him as a Russian oligarch, who made his major fortune in the "dashing 1990s" on privatization of many Ukrainian enterprises.

Previously as an independent, Novynskyi won the 7 July 2013 by-election in constituency 224 in Sevastopol (located in the southwestern region of the Crimean Peninsula) with 53.41% with a turnout of 23.91%. Before the election Novynskyi had stated he would join the Party of Regions if he won. He did so on 5 September 2013. After the March 2014 annexation of Crimea by Russia Novynskyi was banned from entering the peninsula by the Russian-appointed Crimean authorities.

In the October 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election Novynskyi was again re-elected into parliament; this time after placing 11th on the electoral list of Opposition Bloc.

During 2014-2019 Novynskyi was under criminal investigation for "unlawful imprisonment or kidnapping by a conspiracy" and "abuse of power or authority" for allegedly helping President Yanukovych. On 8 December 2016 parliament deprived Novynskyi of his parliamentary immunity.

In the 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election Novynskyi was reelected in parliament as an Opposition Bloc candidate in single-seat constituency 57 (Donetsk Oblast). Although his parliament seat, along with all his fellow parliamentarians, were suspended during the martial law in effect after Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine started.

On April 23, 2020, it became known that Metropolitan Onufriy (Berezovsky), Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate), ordained Novinsky as a deacon. This was not officially reported; unofficially, the date of the ordination was April 7. Novynskyi served as a deacon for the first time in public at the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra on June 7, the Feast of Pentecost.

During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Novynskyi declared that he would remain in Ukraine and stated that there are no excuses for the Russian attack. In April 2023, Ukrainian domestic intelligence and prosecutors searched his group's offices in Kyiv on the suspicion of tax fraud and supporting Russian interests, and blocked assets worth almost 100 million US$. By 23 April 2023, Novynskyi was reported to work as an Orthodox priest at the Russian Orthodox Church of the Holy Resurrection in Zürich, Switzerland.

Controlled assets
With partner and fellow billionaire, Andrei Klyamko Novynskyi owns Ukraine's Smart Holding Group. In 2006 they united their Ukrainian metallurgy companies into Smart Holding Group. In 2007 they exchanged them for a 23.75% stake in Metinvest, in which they are junior partners with Rinat Akhmetov.

As of 2011 Smart Holding also owned large assets in the oil and gas sector, shipbuilding (the Black Sea, Kherson Shipyard, and Port Ochakiv) development, agriculture (Veres), finance (by controlling Unex Bank and being a minor shareholder in BM Bank, whose revenues in 2011 stood at $14.2 billion ). In 2021, Unex Bank was sold to Dragon Capital, while the BM Bank was liquidated by the NBU in 2014.

As of 2013 Novynskyi had stakes in oil and gas company Regal Petroleum and supermarket chain Amstor.

Wealth
For the first time, Vadym Novynskyi was included in the Forbes rating in 2008, holding the 82nd position. Later, in 2010, he was ranked 73rd with a net worth of USD 950 million.

In 2011, with a fortune of USD 2.7 billion, he gained 37th place on the Forbes list of the 200 wealthiest businessmen in Russia.

In the TOP-100 wealthiest Ukrainians ranking published by Korrespondent journal and the Dragon Capital investment company in November 2012, Novynskyi was ranked third with USD 3.3 billion.

In 2013, he gained fifth place in the ranking of the Wealthiest Ukrainians with a fortune of USD 3.273 billion.

According to Ukrainian Forbes, in 2015, Vadim Novynskyi left the ranking of the ten wealthiest Ukrainians. That year, he declared UAH 107 million of income (UAH 73,235 in salary, UAH 1,616,867 of income from the sale of intellectual property rights, UAH 47,980 in dividends and interest, UAH 244 in insurance payments, and USD 5 million obtained from Cyprus sources). He owns two land plots with an area of 2,257 and 50,400 m², three apartments with an area of 667,586 and 136 m², and a garage of 51 m². Novinsky has UAH 6,675 in his bank account; the nominal value of his abroad securities is UAH 6.7 million. The family also owns a land plot of 57,879 m², three apartments (57,171 and 184 m²), and 453 m² of other real estate.

According to the NV periodical, in 2021, he gained 3rd place in the TOP-100 richest Ukrainians ranking; his fortune increased to USD 2.4 billion (a 50% increase compared to 2020).

Having his fortune assessed at USD 3.5 billion in February 2022, by the end of the year, Novynskyi lost USD 2.1 billion: in April 2023, Forbes estimated his fortune at USD 1.4 billion.

On December 2, 2022, all business assets of Vadim Novinsky were transferred to the management of a trust company registered in the Republic of Cyprus.

Peacebuilding initiatives
Since 2014, he has consistently supported the peaceful process in Ukraine. In the spring of 2014, he was a member of a Ukrainian delegation at talks with separatist leaders in Lugansk.

In 2017—2019, he headed the public organisation “Party of Peace”, which proclaimed to intensify the negotiation process between Ukraine and the self-proclaimed republics (the so-called “DPR” and “LPR”) based on the Minsk agreements.

In May 2018, he initiated the international conference “The Balkan experience of achieving peace: lessons for Ukraine” in Zagreb, Croatia. It was attended by well-known politicians and experts from Ukraine, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Austria, Republic of Kosovo.

Religion
Vadim Novinsky is an active parishioner, patron of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), and protodeacon of the UOC.

On April 23, 2020, Metropolitan Onufry (Berezovsky), Primate of the UOC-MP, ordained Novinsky to the rank of deacon. For the first time, Novinsky served as a deacon publicly on June 7  in the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra on the feast of Pentecost.

In the media, he actively defends the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and criticises the religious schism in Ukrainian Orthodoxy. Known for his uncompromising position regarding the persecution of the UOC by the authorities, he has repeatedly entered into public discussions with officials, including Presidents Petro Poroshenko and Volodymyr Zelensky, on issues of confessional policy in Ukraine.

Charity
Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Vadym Novynskyi Foundation has restructured its work to direct all the resources to humanitarian assistance to doctors in saving the lives and health of those affected by the war, the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as well as helping civilians affected by the war. From February to October 2022, the Foundation delivered aid for more than UAH 900 million. In particular, it is implementing a humanitarian project to deliver ambulances with more than 100 delivered.

40,000 food packages were dispatched to different regions of Ukraine. Medical equipment worth UAH 15 million was purchased for hospitals in Zaporizhzhia.

In October-December 2022, the Novynskyi Foundation purchased and imported hundreds of generators to Ukraine to provide electricity to settlements affected by hostilities and rocket attacks.

At the beginning of 2017, the Foundation became a partner of the All-Ukrainian charitable project “Help the Heart Beating”. The Foundation also supports the rehabilitation program for children and young people diagnosed with cerebral palsy and organic nervous system lesions.

Sanctions
On December 25, 2018, Novynskyi was included in the list of persons against whom Russia imposed sanctions. Nevertheless, in July 2019, as part of a delegation of the UOCMP, he visited the Trinity-Sergius Lavra in Sergiyev Posad, Moscow Region. There he met with the head of the Russian Orthodox Church (UOCMP's mother church), Patriarch Kirill. On April 20, 2020, he was excluded from the Russian sanctions list.

Accused of assisting Russia in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, on December 6, 2022, and January 25, 2023, he was included in the Ukrainian sanctions list. Despite condemning the Russian invasion and allegedly actively helping Ukraine, the President’s Office seized his property worth more than USD 1 billion.

A week before the imposition of sanctions against him, Novynskyi, in strict accordance with Ukrainian laws, the European Union and the Republic of Cyprus, transferred the shares of enterprises owned by him to the trust of a company registered in Cyprus. The authorities decided it was done through manipulation, thereafter annulled the agreement and reinstated Novynskyi as the registered shareholder of his enterprises.

In his official statement, Novynskyi accused the authorities of raiding and persecuting him for religious reasons. Currently, the businessman is waiting for the consideration of cases in the European Court of Human Rights.

Criminal proceedings
On December 8, 2016, on the proposal of the Office of the Prosecutor General, Novynskyi was deprived of parliamentary immunity. At the time of voting, the draft resolution on bringing him to criminal liability was not published on the official website of the Verkhovna Rada as required by the Ukrainian legislation.

Afterwards, the Office of the Prosecutor General could not gather enough evidence of Novynskyi’s guilt. He remained a witness until the case was closed, and no formal charges were brought against him.

Family
Novynskyi is married and has four children.

Awards

 * Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem: Golden Cross of the High Taxiarch of the Knights of the Most Holy Sepulcher (January 2019)