The case of the attempted kidnapping of a 51-year-old Ukrainian man in the Oroklini area of Larnaca in Cyprus, initially treated as a “clean” police incident, now takes on a much more complicated dimension, as Ukrainian media portray him as the country’s former energy minister, who has been on an international wanted list since 2022.

According to Ukrainian sources, the 51-year-old is identified with Volodymyr Demchyshin, former Minister of Energy and Industry in the Yatsenyuk government (2014-2016), who is under investigation in the so-called “coal case” for supplies from the occupied Donbas territories in 2014-2015.

Ukrainian media’s unexpected twist

The Cypriot police, at least officially, will not confirm that the man who reported the attempted kidnapping is a former Ukrainian state official, although his status as a former minister was leaked. Ukrainian media outlets, including UNN, the Mezha website and the “Babel” platform, named him as Volodymyr Demchyshin, noting that Ukraine’s Interior Ministry has had him on an international wanted list since 2022 in connection with a case of illegal coal supply from territories under the control of pro-Russian separatist forces in Donetsk and Lugansk.

The same sources point out that Demchyshin is involved in the broader criminal investigation into the so-called “coal case”, in which former President Petro Poroshenko and pro-Russian former deputy Viktor Medvedchuk, among others, are co-defendants, with Ukrainian authorities claiming funding for “terrorist organisations” in the self-proclaimed so-called “People’s Republics” of Donetsk and Lugansk. Those involved in the case deny the accusation and describe it as politically motivated.

What happened in Oroklini

The incident in Oroklini occurred last Thursday afternoon. The 51-year-old man was at his residence with his 36-year-old partner and her 72-year-old father when they noticed a parked vehicle a short distance away, in which three unknown people were riding in.

He and the 72-year-old man approached to see what was going on. According to the complaint, the three strangers, having their faces covered with surgical masks, attacked them and attempted to forcibly drag them into the commercial vehicle.

The two men resisted and, after a scuffle, the assailants fled on foot, abandoning the vehicle at the scene. The 51-year-old man and the 72-year-old man were lightly injured. During the search of the van, fake license plates, a pistol with an empty magazine, a wig and other evidence were found, which are being evaluated by Cypriot police.

The wanted men and possible motive

Cyprus Police are seeking 42-year-old Athos Kotsoni and 44-year-old Russian national Dmitry Abramov for the case. There are reports that they may have already fled abroad or to the occupied territories.

They are being investigated for offences of conspiracy to commit a felony, attempted kidnapping, illegal possession of a firearm, assault causing actual bodily harm and theft. Preliminary indications point to financial disputes and not to a connection with the 51-year-old’s criminal past in Ukraine. The 51-year-old is said to be doing business in Cyprus in the land development sector, but it is not clear how long he has been residing in the island.

No to extradition

Ukraine had previously requested the extradition of the 51-year-old from the Cypriot authorities, but the Cypriot Attorney General, when asked to give an opinion on whether the extradition procedure could proceed under the legislation ratifying the European Convention on Extradition of Fugitives, ruled that in this case an exception provided for in the relevant law applied, with the result that the arrest and extradition of the person in question was not possible.
The application of the exception provided for by the law of the European Union does not allow for the exclusion of the person concerned from the jurisdiction of the court.

No details were given as to the exact reasons that led to this opinion, nor was it specified whether the exception was linked to the potentially political nature of the case or to other parameters.

Who is Volodymyr Demchyshin

Demchyshin, according to Ukrainian reports, was a banker and technocrat who took over the crucial Ministry of Energy and Industry during one of Ukraine’s most difficult periods, immediately after Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea and the de facto Russian occupation of much of Donbass.

The “coal case” focuses on the purchase of fuel from mines in areas under the control of pro-Russian separatists, with the Ukrainian side arguing that the transactions at the time constituted, in effect, financial support for armed formations fighting against the Ukrainian state.

The relevant indictments refer to “assistance to terrorist organisations” under provisions of the Ukrainian Criminal Code. At the same time, human rights organisations in Ukraine have pointed out from time to time that elements of political confrontation and internal conflict over control of the energy sector are intertwined in the same case, which makes the attitude of third countries, such as Cyprus, when called upon to decide on extradition requests more legally and politically sensitive.