The Head of the Kyiv Metro Was Given a Chance to Escape
Braginsky can be considered one of the city’s municipal enterprise leaders who was among the closest to Mayor Vitali Klitschko. Only the former head of "Kyivpastrans," Dmytro Levchenko, could rival him for proximity to the capital's top figure.
1 For ten years, Braginsky "sat on the throne" of the Kyiv Metro. As soon as Klitschko took up the mayoral baton in June 2014, he appointed Braginsky as the head of the capital's subway the following month, in July. He entrusted someone who had never worked there a single day to lead an incredibly important transport enterprise with colossal budgetary funds. Prior to this, Braginsky headed the regional branch of "Ukrposhta."
One of Their Own
He felt quite confident on this "throne." His transport operation was largely untouched by various audits and inspections, and if there were any exceptions to the "rules," they were merely for show. At least on the page of the Department of Internal Financial Control and Audit of the Kyiv City State Administration, we did not find documents of a comprehensive audit of the metro for 2023-2024. Representatives of the city prosecutor's office expressed surprise at the auditors' overly lenient attitude towards this enterprise.
In particular, last year, the first deputy head of the Kyiv City Prosecutor's Office, Maria Vdovichenko, claimed that some large enterprises receiving substantial budget funds were not audited at all. Between 2015 and 2022, the Department of Internal Financial Control and Audit of the Kyiv City State Administration conducted only five (!) audits of the metro, despite the enormous budgetary funds allocated to this carrier. So what was in the audit files? Only minor sums of financial violations.
Of course, Braginsky felt quite secure. The mayor publicly did not criticize his work, following the promises that Braginsky heavily touted regarding the pace of tunnel construction for the metro in Vynogradar.
Braginsky's confidence was bolstered by the fact that he was a deputy of the Kyiv City Council from the political party "UDAR." He was elected in 2020 (he was second on the party list in the Podilskyi district). During the election campaign, he fully utilized the metro for campaigning for himself and other party members. This is another explanation for why Braginsky was among the "insiders." Such services are not forgotten.
Gaining Fat
Over the years, the ruler of the subway amassed financial power—personally—while the metro remained unprofitable and "drained" hundreds of millions of hryvnias from the city budget. In short, Braginsky was gaining fat. This was already evident from his income declaration for 2019, which showed cash savings exceeding five million hryvnias.
2 Last year, journalists from BIHUS.info reported that two two-bedroom apartments in the business-class residential complex White Lines were registered in Braginsky's mother's name, purchased in January 2024.
“Each of them costs at least 10 million hryvnias, but the woman refused to explain where she got such money and insisted that her son did not provide funds for the housing. At the same time, the ex-wife of the protagonist of the story, Olga Braginska, purchased a two-bedroom apartment in the "Richmond" residential complex in the Pechersk district for three million hryvnias, next to a one-bedroom apartment belonging to Braginsky himself. In a conversation with journalists, Olga assured that she divorced her husband more than 10 years ago, and because they have children together, they bought apartments nearby.”
Olga Braginska is building a summer house in the elite village of Kozyn (the plot costs 760 thousand dollars). The sister of the metro chief bought a plot from him in Kyiv region at a significant markup (for two million hryvnias, although the land was worth ten times less).
However, some interesting details have emerged.
“In a conversation with a lawyer who works for Viktor Braginsky, it turned out that Olga and Viktor Braginsky still live together. Moreover, Braginska owns a plot worth 760 thousand dollars in the elite village of Kozyn…”
Braginsky's ten-year tenure as head of the capital's subway was very "profitable" for his family—relatives "gathered" assets worth nearly 1.5 million dollars.
Earlier, Kashтан NEWS also reported on Braginsky's considerable wealth.
Flooding of the Tunnels "Soiled" Shadow Schemes
The metro chief would have continued to stuff his pockets if not for the accident in the metro tunnels on the route between "Lybidska" and "Demiivska" in 2023. The flooding was caused by improper tunnel operation and inaction of officials who did not check the condition of the structures. Law enforcement agencies launched an investigation.
3 It is clear that journalists took a particular interest in Braginsky, delving into the investigation of various contracts that were hidden from the territorial community. In particular, BIHUS.info "uncovered" that the metro had entered into agreements worth hundreds of millions of hryvnias with firms close to Braginsky himself. Details of some contracts were classified.
It turns out that a shadow figure with a deputy mandate was facilitating the diversion of large sums from the city budget. He was probably more than confident that no one would touch him with an investigation.
Journalists found firms linked to Braginsky's sisters, his long-time business partner Kyrylo Kryvets, and a ballerina—likely Kryvets' mother-in-law. According to media reports, the Braginsky family's accountant won tenders from the metro worth 17 million hryvnias, while the ballerina's firm received more than a billion hryvnias from this municipal enterprise. The details of this particular contract were classified.
About "Rabbits" and Double Bottoms
Perhaps only after the publication of these facts in 2024 did Braginsky feel that his personal "golden train" was coming to a halt, and it was time to prepare to disembark as soon as possible. The revelations became too resonant, and the shadow schemes were striking.
In March 2024, Mayor Klitschko, commenting on the scandal involving his subordinate Braginsky on social media, wrote:
“Philosophically speaking, you can't look into everyone's soul. But when they lie to your face and pull rabbits out of a hat behind your back—it looks very bad. And not just in relation to me personally, but in relation to the people of Kyiv.”
Lies to the face for a decade! Isn’t that too long? Especially considering that the metro chief had curators—the relevant deputy head of the Kyiv City State Administration, the head of the Transport Infrastructure Department. Did they suspect anything about the metro chief's double bottom?
Prolonged Investigation
Braginsky was dismissed from the municipal enterprise at his own request on March 20, 2024. He resigned his deputy mandate. By the way, the "UDAR" faction in the Kyiv City Council has not publicly expressed its outrage over the escape of the former party comrade.
It is obvious that even then, the ex-head of the subway began preparing to flee abroad.
4 In July 2024, two metro officials were notified of suspicion of negligence. Law enforcement stated that they had failed to inspect the technical condition of the metro tunnel, which led to water entering the section between the "Demiivska" and "Lybidska" stations. Later, the court imposed preventive measures on the acting chief, chief engineer of the KP "Kyiv Metro," Viktor Vihivskyi, and the head of the track, tunnel structures and metro buildings service, Volodymyr Sydorenko—24-hour house arrest.
In June 2024, Braginsky was declared wanted since he did not appear for the investigator's summons.
In the search database of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the date of disappearance is noted as June 20, 2024. According to law enforcement, that was the last day Braginsky was seen in Kyiv.
A series of questions arise. Did he have the right to leave the country? No, as he was considered liable for military service. However, such clever individuals know how to obtain a fake certificate for border crossing. But for Braginsky, a simple "fake" was probably insufficient. For guaranteed departure,