A Kherson resident Yurii Babitsky helped run illegal business in the temporarily occupied territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea for the well-known Kherson businessman Vladlen Hirin, the de facto owner of the chain of building supermarkets “33 square meters”. On March 9 the Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv found Babitsky guilty of collaborationist activity and sentenced him to three years’ imprisonment conditionally. He admitted his guilt and pledged to transfer half a million hryvnias to the special account of the initiative to support Ukraine United24. Hirin himself, according to media, was detained at the end of 2024 in Cyprus.
This was reported by the Center for Journalistic Investigations citing the court verdict.
The court found that Kherson resident Babitsky Yurii Oleksiyovych is a member of a criminal group created by the well-known Kherson businessman-millionaire Vladlen Hirin. Babitsky, as stated in the court verdict, helped Hirin run illegal business in the temporarily occupied territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. Babitsky’s duties included preparing orders for the supply and sale of goods on the peninsula.
These goods were sold through the network of the LLC “Maxi Krym”, unlawfully registered in June 2014 in temporarily occupied Dzhankoi, AR of Crimea. The initiator of this registration was Vladlen Hirin, the de facto owner of the chain of building supermarkets “33 square meters” and the LLC “Marketing and Analytical Company ‘Monopolia'”, which conducts the economic activity of the network of these supermarkets.
“This retail network does business both on the territory of Ukraine and in the temporarily occupied territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. The network is represented by a significant number of legal entities, each of which is registered for the organization of its economic activity under a specific building supermarket,” the court verdict says.
Vladlen Hirin’s criminal group engaged in illegal business in Crimea despite the fact that after February 24, 2022, Ukraine banned conducting any economic activity and currency transactions with Russia.
Moreover, Vladlen Hirin, already after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, decided to illegally register the building supermarket “Stroy Max” in Crimea. Employees of the aforementioned LLC “MAK ‘Monopolia'” assisted Hirin in its operation.
In Crimea, as stated in the court verdict, LLC “Novostroy Krym” and another “individual entrepreneur” were also registered to conduct illegal business.
The court found Yurii Babitsky guilty of collaborationist activity under Part 4 of Article 111-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. He fully admitted his guilt, agreed to cooperate with the investigation, and pledged to transfer half a million hryvnias to the special account of the initiative to support Ukraine United24.
The sentence is three years of imprisonment, with release from punishment with a one-year probation period, without confiscation of property.
Additionally, Babitsky was prohibited for ten years from holding positions in state authorities, local self-government bodies, or at state or communal enterprises. The court verdict has not yet come into legal force.
Vladlen Hirin ran three times for the office of mayor of Kherson, was a candidate for the People’s Deputies of Ukraine, and ran for the Kherson City Council from the “Our Land” party in 2015. But he lost all these elections.
In 2020 Hirin was put forward by the presidential party “Servant of the People” to the Kyiv City Council, but he withdrew his candidacy before the elections.
In November 2024 Cyprus law enforcement detained Vladlen Hirin, his son and his wife on suspicion of creating a criminal group that was engaged in money laundering.
Recall, on March 13 the Velykooleksandrivskyi District Court in absentia found guilty Nina Batsula, a resident of the village of Tyahynka in the Beryslav district of Kherson region, of collaborationist activity.