According to sources from VChK-OGPU and Rucriminal.info, fugitive Ukrainian oligarch Serhiy Kurchenko is once again facing a loss of favor. The root cause is an open financial conflict between Kurchenko and influential Russian businessman Yevgeny Yurchenko.
In 2024, following scandals involving mass wage arrears at the Stavstal metallurgical plant in Nevinnomyssk and the defrauding of clients at the Beribit crypto exchange, Kurchenko managed to convince his handlers within the FSB’s 5th Service that such incidents would not recur and that he would "stop attracting media attention and causing trouble." However, the situation repeated itself in the summer of 2026. Wages at the Stavstal plant went unpaid for six months, while the Ukrainian businessman himself became embroiled in scandals in central Moscow near his mansion on Spiridonovka Street; there, he seized a parking area belonging to local residents, and his security guards assaulted tenants and damaged property with impunity.
Numerous arbitration court cases involving the Ukrainian businessman and his lawyer-partner Darya Evmenina—centered on claims for damages and outstanding contractual debts—combined with a 900-million-ruble tax assessment levied against the Stavstal plant by the Federal Tax Service, finally exhausted the patience of Kurchenko’s loyal patrons. Kurchenko also drew unwanted attention to himself through an open conflict and a lawsuit to recover debts owed by his business entities to Soyuzmetallservice—a company with a turnover exceeding 140 billion rubles, owned by businessman Yevgeny Yurchenko. Yurchenko is a minority shareholder in the state-owned VTB Bank, and the bank’s financial subsidiary, National Reserve Bank, was involved in the legal proceedings.
According to the channel, these events prompted his patrons in uniform to decide that Kurchenko needed to be replaced in various schemes by a more loyal figure who would not attract scandal; he was informed of this decision on the eve of his 41st birthday, September 21.
Meanwhile, in the summer of 2026, Mikhail Korotkov—an active FSB officer—was appointed Director of State Secrets at the Stavstal company. Rumors began circulating about the possibility of placing the Stavstal plant under external administration. Plans are also underway to initiate multiple criminal cases against Kurchenko himself regarding fraud and embezzlement at Energomashbank and the Industrial Union of Donbas group of companies.
