The year of the “Kaufman deal”: how Odessa lost its airport for the second time
19 February 15:40
On February 18, 2025, the SAPO prosecutor concluded a plea agreement with the defendants in the Odessa Airport case . The document was approved on the same day by SAPO head Oleksandr Klymenko. Today marks exactly one year since those events. On this occasion, former SAPO prosecutor Stanislav Bronetsky publicly disclosed details of the proceedings and the plea agreement with the investigation, noting that the airport remained under the control of the same individuals, while the city “essentially received nothing,” according to "Komersant Ukrainian".
Former SAPO prosecutor Stanislav Bronevitsky
In a series of posts on the Telegram channel “Bronik,” Stanislav Bronetsky describes the consequences of the SAPO agreement with the figures involved in the proceedings regarding Odessa Airport as follows:
“As a result of this agreement, Odessa Airport has effectively remained under the control of the figures involved in the criminal proceedings, while the Odessa City Council has received essentially nothing.
According to the terms of the agreement:
– the airport land plot is leased to a company associated with the defendants;
– the runway is in long-term use by the same LLC;
– 75% of the premises of the new terminal are controlled by the same LLC.
A billion-dollar deal
After the SAPO agreement with the individuals involved in the Odessa airport case, the public perception was that the individuals had “compensated Odessa with 1 billion hryvnia.” However , Bronevitsky calls this manipulation.
“In order to avoid unnecessary questions about the agreement, attempts were made to create the impression that Kaufman and company compensated Odessa with 1 billion hryvnia specifically in the airport case.
This is untrue and manipulative,” the prosecutor claims.
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According to him, the initial suspicion in the airport case concerned much larger amounts, which included both the cost of the asset itself and the income from its activities.
“At this stage, it was established that Kaufman B.R. and company took possession of the property of Odessa International Airport in the amount of 118,350,549 hryvnia (…)
During the investigation, we established that over the entire period of its operation, the airport generated more than UAH 2.5 billion in net income from the provision of services.
This income should have been received by the community of Odessa, represented by the Odessa City Council.
It is clear that it did not go there,” he explains.
, when talking about the agreement, Bronetskyemphasizes that the SAP actually removed the episode about the airport’s income from the indictment.
“In order to conclude an agreement that would be ‘least painful’ for Kaufman and company, Klymenko (head of the SAP, ed.) did two things:
- He illegally and unjustifiably combined the airport case with another case…
- He closed the proceedings against Kaufman and Borukhovich in the airport case regarding the appropriation of income from airport activities in the amount of over UAH 2.5 billion,” the former prosecutor claims.
The result of this decision was a radical reduction in the “price of the issue” in court.
“This made it possible to go to court with an agreement and say that the crime concerned only the appropriation of the airport in the amount of UAH 118 million and that Odessa suffered losses in exactly that amount,” explains Bronevitsky.
The statute of limitations argument
Another motive for the agreement, according to Bronevitsky, is the risk of the statute of limitations expiring for the 2011 episode:
“And since… the appropriation took place on December 29, 2011…, the statute of limitations for bringing the defendants to justice for this episode would expire on December 29, 2026. This made it possible to justify the public benefit of the agreement, because “we need an agreement, because the statute of limitations will expire and we will not be able to prosecute anyone.”
According to him, it was this logic that also made it possible to lift the seizure of assets:
“This also made it possible to lift the seizure of Kaufman’s and others’ property by a court ruling dated June 12, 2025,” the former prosecutor points out.
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Combining cases: “mass grave”
A separate part of the story about the Odessa airport case concerns the consolidation of the 2011 “airport” case with the 2020 criminal organization case:
“Klymenko, with a single procedural decision, created a ‘mass grave’ for two criminal proceedings.
It was in the combined criminal proceedings that the agreement was signed, and not only in the Odessa airport case.
This is important. Because the money paid by Kaufman and company under the agreement… was paid in two installments and only partially related to compensation to Odesa for damages caused by the seizure of the airport.
At this stage, we are already seeing manipulation of the billion in compensation to Odessa in the airport case,” adds Bronevitsky.
The real terms of the agreement
Bronetsky also disclosed the key financial terms of the agreement, according to which:
- Kaufman, Borukhovich, and Bagriy undertook to… transfer UAH 105 million to the UNITED 24 project.
- …pay UAH 150 million to the Odessa City Council.
- …ensure the return of the fixed assets of Odessa International Airport to the community of Odessa… and if it is impossible to return them… …pay compensation… of at least UAH 300 million.
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What Odessa received in a year
At the same time, these fixed assets, which were transferred in 2011 (clause 3 of the agreement), were: an old , non-functioning terminal and useless junk that no one needed, explains Bronevitsky, publishing the relevant documents.
“Odessa is getting back 15-year-old junk that may not even exist anymore. The new terminal, land, and runway are still under the control of the LLC’s figures. If flights resume tomorrow, Odessa will not receive any income from flight services or passenger traffic.
Odessa has been “cheated” once again,” Bronetsky concluded.
The case of Odessa Airport
On December 5, 2022, NABU and SAP detained businessmen Kaufman and Granovsky. According to the investigation, in the fall of 2021, after NABU detectives and SAP prosecutors exposed a criminal organization specializing in corruption schemes involving the illegal disposal of property from Odessa’s municipal property, a new one appeared in its place.
The investigation claimed that this organization took control of virtually all aspects of the city’s economic life, including interaction with developers, purchases at the expense of the local budget, the activities of municipal enterprises, and other aspects of interaction with business. To ensure the smooth implementation of their goals, the organizers established a process of systematic bribery of officials and local council deputies, as evidenced by the evidence obtained by NABU and SAP during the investigation.
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NABU and SAP believed that in 2011, Odessa Airport was illegally transferred to a joint LLC with private investors: the city received 25%, and private partners received 75%. The asset was undervalued, and the community lost control.
Among those involved, in addition to businessmen Boris Kaufman and Alexander Granovsky, were former mayor Oleksiy Kostusev and other officials.
In 2023, the High Anti-Corruption Court approved a plea bargain with Kaufman and some of the defendants.
