The NACP has identified who paid for Galushchenko's children's education in Switzerland
Documents from the full audit of former Minister Herman Galushchenko’s financial disclosure statement indicate that Viktor Artemov paid for his children’s education in Switzerland — an oil trader linked to “Hezbollah” and the “shadow fleet” that transported oil from Russia to the “DPR.”
Earlier, People’s Deputy Yaroslav Zheleznyak had stated that Artemov was in fact Galushchenko’s godfather, whom Galushchenko had mentioned in court. Now, as noted, this information has been confirmed by documents. According to the MP, the funds for his education may have come from “Galushchenko’s offshore accounts” rather than from Artemov’s accounts.
The materials from the National Agency for Corruption Prevention’s comprehensive audit indicate that the recipient listed on the invoicesfor the tuition of Maksym and Veronika Galushchenko at the Swiss school COLLEGE ALPIN BEAU SOLEIL was Viktor Artemov, with contact information for AVA Petroleum Services.
According to Swiss databases, Artemov has been the director of AVA Petroleum Services since 2009.
AVA Petroleum Services is a company registered in Geneva, Switzerland, which has been subject to U.S. Treasury Department sanctions since November 2022. Viktor Artemov himself is also subject to these sanctions.
The reason for inclusion on the sanctions lists is the provision of material, financial, and technological support to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC, specifically its “Quds Force”) and the Lebanese group “Hezbollah.”
In June 2022, the international news outlet Bloomberg cited evidence indicating that at least one of the tankers owned by another of Artemov’s companies was involved in the export of oil from Russia. The tanker’s name is Zhen I. From 2022 through February 14, 2024, this tanker was owned by the offshore company Monumont Ship Management Limited, which, according to the U.S. Department of the Treasury, is controlled by Artemov. After the data was published, the tanker was renamed PHENIX VI and sold or re-registered to a company whose details are not disclosed in the database https://www.equasis.org/.
How much did Artemov pay for Galushchenko’s children’s education?
The results of a full audit of Galushchenko’s financial disclosure statement indicate that a total of over 258,000 Swiss francs—equivalent to approximately 12.4 million hryvnias—was paid for the former minister’s children’s education.
Artemov paid the largest amount—233,560 francs, or over 11.2 million hryvnias—on April 4, 2025. A month earlier—in March—he transferred 15,000 francs (704,500 hryvnias). Another 8,233 francs (nearly 425,000 hryvnias) were transferred on September 9. And in October 2025, he transferred another 1,300 francs, equivalent to 67,827 hryvnias.
These expenses for the children’s education were not listed in Herman Galushchenko’s financial disclosure statement as gifts to family members in the form of tuition payments.
What else is known about Artemov?
In Ukraine, Viktor Artemov was known in the 1990s and 2000s as the head of the companies “Alfa-Oil” and “Alfa-Nafta,” whose gas stations operated under the ANP brand, until they went bankrupt. In 2017, “Alfa Energy” LLC was registered, which is also linked to Artemov. According to a court ruling, the company came under the scrutiny of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) in 2019. Specifically, the SBU requested access to the company’s property and documents, citing the organization’s possible collaboration with the “DPR Ministry of Defense.” There is no information in public sources or registries regarding the further progress of this case. Therefore, the Center for Political and Legal Analysis (CPLA) sent a request to the SBU to determine whether the case continued after 2019.
Since 2004, Artemov has owned an apartment in Moscow and has repeatedly flown from Moscow to Switzerland and back.
In February 2022 alone, Artemov flew from Geneva to Moscow and back twice.
On February 1, 2022, Artemov flew from Geneva to Moscow. On February 5, 2022, he returned to Geneva. On February 23, when Russian tanks were already stationed on the border with Ukraine, he flew from Geneva to Moscow again. And on February 27, he returned to Switzerland. Apparently, Artemov had no trouble traveling to and from Moscow during the early days of the major war.
At the same time, it appears that after February 27, 2022, Artemov did not return to Moscow. However, it seems that this was by no means related to the military context.
From March 27, 2013, to December 10, 2021, he owned a company in Russia called Trade-Oil LLC. As the name suggests, the company was engaged in oil and natural gas production, drilling services, the manufacture of petroleum products, and related fields. As we can see, after the war in Ukraine began in 2014, Artemov’s business faced no problems whatsoever until 2021. However, at the end of 2021, the company was shut down, allegedly due to bankruptcy. And later—in June 2022—a case was filed against Artemov in Russia for alleged failure to pay customs duties in 2015.
In other words, it appears that Artemov has hit the “jackpot” in the form of: 1. U.S. sanctions; 2. criminal cases in Russia; and 3. a potential criminal case in Ukraine. And with this unique “package,” he has successfully settled in Switzerland.
In total, the NACP found inaccurate information amounting to over 55.5 million hryvnias in the former minister’s declaration.
It is important to emphasize that the NACP began a full audit of the declaration only after the high-profile “Midas” operation by the NABU and the SAPO—in which Galushchenko is implicated—and following a request from Anastasia Radina, chair of the Verkhovna Rada’s Anti-Corruption Committee.
Prior to that, no audit of Galushchenko’s declarations had taken place, even though he had held various positions in the Cabinet of Ministers for over four years—since April 2021. At the same time, the Security Service of Ukraine also did not detect any “Russian ties” in Galushchenko during this period.
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