Bihus.Info: The head of the so-called “Derussianization” Department of the Security Service of Ukraine helped a Russian bookmaker to enter the Ukrainian market

Over the last ten years of working as a civil servant, Artem Shilo and his family managed to acquire property worth four million dollars.

The head of the Department of counterintelligence protection of critical infrastructure facilities and countering the financing of terrorism of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), Artem Shilo, managed to acquire almost $4 million worth of property over ten years in the civil service. This information became available as a result of a new investigation of Lesya Ivanova for Bihus.Info.

It is worth noting that the mentioned department was created on the basis of the former Department of economic counterintelligence of the Security Service of Ukraine, which was often involved in investigations of corruption and oppression of businesses.

Employees of the mentioned department form sanctions lists for the National Security and Defense Council, accompany cases on the removal of critical infrastructure facilities from the property of citizens of the Russian Federation and are also engaged in the process of the so-called “derussianization” of the Ukrainian economy. During the war, it became one of the key departments of the Security Service of Ukraine.

The head of the department, Mr. Shilo is considered to be very close to the deputy head of the office of the President of Ukraine, Oleg Tatarov, as well as a person “responsible for the railway.” In addition, it is believed that Mr. Shilo seriously helped the Russian 1xBet bookmaker to enter the market of Ukraine.

In the spring of 2022, right at the peak moment of the Russian-Ukrainian war, TVOYA BETTINGOVAYA KOMPANIYA LLC associated with Mr. Shilo and acting on behalf of the 1xBet brand managed to get an official license to operate in Ukraine.

Interestingly, the owner of TVOYA BETTINGOVAYA KOMPANIYA LLC is a former banker Sergey Tsybin, while the authorized capital of the company is about UAH 30 million. At the same time, the company paid UAH 25 and UAH 117 million for two licenses, respectively.

In addition, Tsybin previously owned the ME-ESTATE company headed by Yuri Lazebnikov, who is a managing partner of the Ukrainian TECHIIA eSports holding. The mentioned holding does not really hide its cooperation with 1xBet and calls the Russian bookmaker its partner.

Roman Rodin holds the position of a lawyer, while his brother Alexander acts as the director of TVOYA BETTINGOVAYA KOMPANIYA LLC.

Another managing partner of TECHIIA is Oleg Krot, who is also a co-owner of DINALINE CONSTRUCTION LLC engaged in the design of an ecotechnopark commissioned by the holding.

Until recently, Sergey Titov was another co-owner of DINALINE CONSTRUCTION LLC. Interestingly, he is Artem Shilo’s godfather.

In addition, the Pricker law agency that was incorporated by Mr. Shilo in 2021 while he still was not in the civil service, is registered at the address of TARASYUK AND PARTNERS JSC, whose owners Sergey Tarasyuk and Anna Brin provided comprehensive support at all stages of the licensing of TVOYA BETTINGOVAYA KOMPANIYA LLC and defended the company in court.

Obviously, the fact of licensing of 1xBet caused a wave of indignation in society because a company owned by Roman Semiokhin, Sergey Karshakov, and Dmitry Kazorin from Russia, would have gained access to the personal data of many Ukrainians, which could facilitate the recruitment process for Russian special services.

At the same time, such a company is the best tool for laundering corrupt Russian money. Of course, in the absence of proper control by the Commission for Regulation on Gambling and Lotteries. In the end, the license was finally revoked.

Interestingly, Mr. Titov acted as the key link between the gambling business and the Department of counterintelligence protection of critical infrastructure facilities and countering the financing of terrorism of the Security Service of Ukraine. In addition to owning a share in DINALINE CONSTRUCTION LLC, he also partially owned AS PARTNERS LLC and TRETYA VOLNA LLC. The wife of the head of the mentioned department, Tatiana Klimchuk, was another owner of the mentioned companies.

It is worth noting that Artem Shilo developed his professional career at the Department of counterintelligence protection of critical infrastructure facilities and countering the financing of terrorism of the Security Service of Ukraine, where he managed to reach the position of deputy head of the department and received the rank of lieutenant colonel as a part of an extraordinary promotion During the mass purges in 2021, Mr. Shilo was fired from the Security Service of Ukraine.

Nevertheless, he immediately found a job as an adviser to the office of the President of Ukraine. At the same time, he became an individual entrepreneur and incorporated the PRICKER law agency.

“Who invited you to the president’s office?”

“This information is classified.”

“Whose advisor were you there?”

“I am not an adviser personally to Andrey Borisovich (Ermak) or Oleg Yurievich (Tatarov). I was engaged in the process of reformation of the Security Service of Ukraine.

I was consulting individuals in private conversations… Advised Mr. Tatarov on changes in criminal procedure legislation.”

In August 2022, Mr. Shilo was offered to return to the Security Service of Ukraine and head an important department. According to him, the proposal came from the current head of the Security Service of Ukraine, Vasily Malyuk, whom he met in 2021. According to investigators, their acquaintance could have taken place at Tatarov’s birthday party, where they were both present.

In total, Artem Shilo worked in the Security Service of Ukraine for ten years. During this time, the family managed to accumulate a lot of property. At the same time, it is almost impossible to explain the origin of it by using the official sources of income of the spouses.

At the same time, Mr. Shilo owns two three-bedroom apartments in the luxurious ‘Novopecherskiye Lipki’ residential complex. He became the owner of the mentioned apartments in May 2022. The market value of the two apartments is about 720 thousand dollars. However, according to the intelligence officer himself, he bought them for 6.5 million hryvnias ($250 thousand), because “prices have fallen because of the war.” Now the developer wants to get $357 thousand for such an apartment.

His wife Irina owns a two-bedroom apartment worth $270 thousand and 360 sq. m. meters of commercial real estate worth $1.8 million in the same building. At the same time, Irina Shilo also owns 275 square meters in a club house on Tarasovskaya Street in the center of Kyiv. The total cost of the mentioned real estate is about $950 thousand.

Talking about the movable property, Irina owns two Mercedes cars with a total value of $115 thousand, and a Toyota Camry worth $124 thousand.

The family also owns a house in the cottage town of Zoloche in the Kyiv Region.

During a conversation with Mrs. Ivanova, the owner of the property claimed that the apartment registered to his wife belongs to his mother-in-law, while the house near Kyiv belongs to his father. He also mentioned that he earned enough money by building and selling real estate without registering the business because it was “too small.” In addition, his wife is a successful businesswoman and the owner of the network of 365 BEAUTY STUDIOS.

The father of Mr. Shilo worked in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and then in a municipal security company with a low salary.

He was unemployed for several years. At the same time, as soon as his son moved to Kyiv, he became the owner of office space in Kharkiv with a total area of 528 sq. m. Already in 2017, he became the owner of two townhouses worth $74 thousand each, and the house in Zoloche in 2019 (when two townhouses were sold).

The peak of success of the business of the wife of Mr. Shilo also coincided with the marriage. According to official sources, she earned about $1 million in ten years. At the same time, Irina Shilo periodically complained on Instagram about a barely profitable business.

Here is an interesting fact: Before the marriage, she had several unprofitable manicure salons and less than 1 million hryvnias on her individual entrepreneur account. As soon as she entered into the marriage, she started opening one studio after another, and several million hryvnias started to appear on the accounts of the individual entrepreneur.

In addition, Mrs. Shilo got a share in the Alfa-Omega Legal Accounting Center Company. Among other things, the company provided services in the field of IT that were directly related to the activity of the Cybersecurity Department. Another co-owner of the company was the wife of the head of the mentioned department Eduard Kritsyn (he would be replaced by Alexander Klimchuk later).

During six years in business, Irina Shilova received more than UAH 5 million in dividends but never shared information about her income.

As Mr. Shilo, Eduard Kritsyn left the Security Service of Ukraine in 2021 and became the Director of Economic and Information Security of Ukrainian Railways. Here is another interesting fact: A member of the Board of Ukrainian Railways Yevgeny Lyashchenko became the owner of a share of Sergei Titov in DINALINE CONSTRUCTION LLC.

Titov’s shares in AS PARTNERS LLC and TRETYA VOLNA LLC were transferred to the driver of Mr. Shilo, Alexander Skuratov.

He also became the owner of the 365 BAR company.

The mentioned legal entity is responsible for the operation of bars in Irina Shilo’s salons. In addition, he owns a building with a total area of 180 sq. m. meters near Kyiv ($195 thousand), and the following cars: Audi S6 2019 (currently worth $58 thousand), Mercedes GL 63 ($124 thousand), and Mercedes V 300 D (currently worth $90-180 thousand, depending on the configuration).

Mr. Skuratov was the nominal owner since all these cars were driven by members of the Shilo family, and the Mercedes GL 63 was later transferred to Irina. In addition, according to several sources in the State Border Service, Artem Shilo used his Mercedes V 300D to cross the border several times this year. In the same year, Alexander Skuratov was officially hired by Ukrainian Railways.

365 ACTIVE is another company working in the field of real estate and registered to the assistant of Mrs. Shilova and HR-managed her beauty studios, Violetta Bankovskaya. The authorized capital of the company is about UAH 23 million.