Eight years ago, a tragedy on a Ukrainian highway changed the course of one oligarch’s life – and exposed the loopholes in Europe’s residency and citizenship systems. Petro Dyminskyy, a wealthy businessman and former politician once ranked among Ukraine’s richest men, fled the country days after a fatal car accident in which a 31-year-old woman lost her life. Despite being named a suspect in the investigation, Dyminskyy remains beyond the reach of Ukrainian law enforcement, his case suspended indefinitely as his whereabouts remain uncertain.

Recent reporting by OCCRP and its regional partners has revealed how the 70-year-old tycoon rebuilt his life abroad, securing residency in Greece and citizenship in Serbia – all while maintaining ties to lucrative business ventures, including those linked to the Balkan arms industry. The revelations paint a troubling picture of how wealth and influence can secure protection across borders, even as justice for victims remains elusive.

The story begins in August 2016, when a Mercedes Benz collided with another car in western Ukraine, killing a young woman instantly. Photos from the scene showed Dyminskyy present, though it was never confirmed whether he was driving. Ukrainian investigators quickly named him a suspect.

Yet before legal proceedings could advance, Dyminskyy reportedly boarded a private jet and left Ukraine just four days after the incident. Since then, he has avoided returning to his homeland, leaving behind a stalled investigation. A pre-trial inquiry remains officially open but suspended until authorities can locate him.

Interpol briefly issued a blue notice in 2018 – a request for information about a person’s whereabouts – but withdrew it the same year. Ukrainian requests for a more serious red notice, which would have required international authorities to arrest him, have repeatedly been denied, most recently in 2023. Neither Interpol nor Kyiv has explained why.

Not long after leaving Ukraine, Dyminskyy secured a foothold in the European Union through Greece’s Golden Visa program. In October 2016, two months after the crash, he spent 280,000 euros on a duplex in Voula, a wealthy seaside suburb of Athens. That investment automatically qualified him for residency, granting visa-free access across the Schengen zone.

Official records show that Dyminskyy renewed his Golden Visa as recently as November 2022. Curiously, he departed Greece the same day, according to border data. When reporters visited the Voula property in May 2024, it appeared run-down and partly under renovation, suggesting it was rarely used. Greek officials, including the police and migration ministry, declined to comment on his case.

The Golden Visa program, widely criticized for providing a backdoor for the wealthy to access Europe, has often been linked to money laundering and corruption. Dyminskyy’s ability to secure and renew his residency despite being a wanted suspect highlights just how easily the program can be exploited.

Greece was not the only country to extend a lifeline. In November 2017, Dyminskyy and his wife traveled from Athens to Belgrade, where he was granted Serbian citizenship the very same day. Three years later, his wife, Olena, received her own Serbian passport.

Unlike Greece, Serbia does not operate a formal “citizenship by investment” scheme. Instead, the Ministry of Interior justified Dyminskyy’s naturalization by claiming it was in the “state’s interest.” The government did not elaborate further.

Experts in Serbian migration law argue that such cases reveal the political nature of citizenship grants. “The decisions to give citizenship to financially well-off or influential foreigners are often more political than legal,” lawyer Nikola Kovacevic told reporters. At the same time, he noted, asylum seekers from conflict zones or authoritarian regimes face significant hurdles in gaining protection.

Serbia has previously naturalized controversial figures, including politicians from Romania and Thailand who were wanted in their home countries. Dyminskyy’s case fits that pattern, raising questions about the Balkan state’s willingness to offer safe haven to wealthy fugitives.

Before his flight from Ukraine, Dyminskyy epitomized the oligarchic elite: he owned the FC Karpaty Lviv football club, held seats in parliament, and controlled the ZIK TV station. In 2016, Forbes estimated his fortune at $103 million, ranking him 44th among Ukraine’s richest individuals.

In 2019, he sold ZIK TV to Taras Kozak, a politician accused by Kyiv of pro-Kremlin sympathies. The sale, valued at $27.4 million, was executed through a Cyprus-based firm called Ablemark Limited, which was controlled by Dyminskyy’s wife and daughters. Following the acquisition, journalists abandoned the station in protest, and Ukrainian authorities later blocked ZIK in 2021, accusing it of spreading Russian propaganda.

The sale provided Dyminskyy’s family firm with fresh capital – money that would later surface in unexpected places.

Leaked records show that Ablemark began issuing multimillion-euro loans to other companies soon after the ZIK sale. One recipient was Jikinto Limited, a Cyprus-registered firm that, by 2020, obtained Serbian government licenses to export weapons.

In February 2020, Ablemark loaned Jikinto 2.6 million euros interest-free. Within months, Jikinto secured permits to sell more than 10.3 million euros worth of Serbian arms to Uganda’s defense ministry. While the ultimate beneficiary of Jikinto remains unclear, the timing of the loan raises questions about the Dyminskyy family’s indirect role in facilitating the trade.

By November 2020, Jikinto had repaid 1.6 million euros of the loan, but whether the remaining funds were ever returned is unknown.

Such financial entanglements tie the fugitive oligarch not only to Balkan safe havens but also to one of the region’s most politically sensitive industries – the arms trade.

For the family of the woman killed in 2016, the pursuit of justice has become a long and frustrating ordeal. Dyminskyy remains wanted in Ukraine, but without an international arrest warrant, foreign authorities face no obligation to detain him. Meanwhile, his ability to acquire new legal identities in Greece and Serbia has enabled him to continue living comfortably outside Ukraine.

The case underscores how unevenly international systems of accountability are applied. A wealthy tycoon, armed with millions of euros, can navigate Europe’s opaque residency programs and political loopholes with relative ease. Ordinary asylum seekers, however, often face endless scrutiny and rejection.

Dyminskyy’s story is not unique. Across Europe and beyond, Golden Visas and politically motivated citizenship grants have offered cover for businessmen, politicians, and oligarchs escaping justice at home. While governments defend such programs as drivers of investment, critics say they undermine the rule of law and erode public trust in immigration systems.

As Dyminskyy’s case demonstrates, when wealth intersects with political convenience, borders can be remarkably porous. The woman killed in western Ukraine remains without justice, and her family without closure – while the man suspected in her death continues to live in the shadows of Greece and Serbia.

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Source: Weekly Blitz :: Writings