It is publicly known that Ukraine’s wealthiest man, Rinat Akhmetov, has been married for decades to Liliya Smyrnova, with whom he has two adult sons. Repeated rumors of divorce have been decisively refuted by the businessman’s company. However, Slidstvo.Info has established that Akhmetov has two more school-aged children whose mother is 43-year-old Alina Lytvynenko.
The relationship between the businessman and this woman may have lasted for about 18 years. Both the woman and the children already possess assets worth tens of millions of euros and are linked to Akhmetov’s business empire. When questioned by journalists about the businessman’s secret family, the SCM Corporation replied, “Mr. Akhmetov’s marital status has not changed.”
The palace in Kozyn
30 kilometers from the center of Kyiv, on Starokyivska Street in the village of Kozyn, stands a three-story estate resembling a palace. The territory is fenced on three sides, with the fourth side opening onto the Dnipro River. Adjacent to the estate is a crescent-shaped football field. The property includes its own boiler house, pumping station, gazebo, and guardhouse.
Until November 2007, all of this belonged to Medco Services Limited, a company based in the British Virgin Islands. According to YouControl, this company held a stake in the Donetskkoks enterprise at the time and later became a co-founder of the Svitlo Shakhtaria engineering plant. Both legal entities are part of Rinat Akhmetov’s SCM Group.
Slidstvo.Info journalists obtained a copy of the house’s purchase agreement, analyzed it with a lawyer, and found that the deal does not resemble a typical property sale.
“The agreement states that payment can be made within eight years from the date the contract is signed. At the same time, there are no provisions regarding installments or a payment schedule, yet the house is transferred one day after the contract is signed. This is quite atypical for purchase and sale agreements,” notes Mykola Salimov, a lawyer at the Mezha Anti-Corruption Center.
Furthermore, both the seller and the buyer were represented during the signing of the agreement by individuals associated with the SCM Group and Rinat Akhmetov’s inner circle. Oleksiy Romanov arrived to sign the deal on behalf of the seller. He is a volunteer assistant to Yuriy Voropayev, a member of the eighth convocation of parliament, whom the media identifies as Rinat Akhmetov’s lawyer. The buyer was represented by Andriy Mustafa under a power of attorney. According to Slidstvo.Info sources in the tax office, Mustafa received a salary from SCM.
“Given that the seller and the buyer are connected, the question arises whether the specified agreement was concluded for the purpose of changing ownership, or if it was a ‘transfer’ between affiliated parties,” Salimov concludes.
Oleksiy Romanov, who represented the interests of Medco Services Limited, confirmed in a comment to Slidstvo.Info that he collaborated with Yuriy Voropayev but denied that the deal was fictitious. He also stated that he does not recall to whom Medco Services sold the estate.
A young woman from Donetsk
The purchaser of the 1,157-square-meter house was Donetsk native Alina Lytvynenko. At the time the agreement was signed, she was 25 years old.
Lytvynenko turned out to be a truly mysterious figure. Slidstvo.Info journalists found no social media pages, phone numbers, or email addresses in databases, but they did manage to locate two photographs of her.
After the purchase, Lytvynenko began developing the estate: additional buildings gradually appeared around it: a boiler room, a gazebo, a pump house, a bathhouse, fencing, gates, garden paths, and a guardhouse.
In the 2010s, rumors of Rinat Akhmetov’s divorce from his wife began to spread; however, the SCM press service denied everything. They claimed the information was untrue because “the businessman is happily married.”
Around the same time, Alina Lytvynenko opened the “Moy Angel” (‘My Angel’) beauty salon in Donetsk. Gradually, her holdings expanded significantly: the company Kozin-Lux, previously owned by Rinat Akhmetov himself, became her property. This company’s balance sheet includes nearly 12 more hectares of land in Kozyn, located on a separate peninsula on the banks of the Dnipro.
As seen from satellite imagery, construction has been underway here for several years, and the outlines of a foundation are visible. This is likely another estate, as the land’s designated purpose is “for the construction and maintenance of a residential building, farm buildings, and structures.”
Since 2013, Lytvynenko has acquired several cars. These include a Range Rover, a Mercedes GL 500, a Porsche Cayenne, and a Bentley Continental.
In France, Slidstvo.Info journalists found another house which, as it turned out, also conceals the secrets of Rinat Akhmetov.
A house for the children
Among the buildings in the elite French resort of Courchevel, the most common sight is the chalet. This is a type of house characteristic of the Alpine region of Europe. Chalets were originally built primarily of wood. The term “chalet” once literally meant “shepherd’s house.”
Things are different now. Today, chalets—particularly in Courchevel—are luxury hotels, where rental costs during the peak season break all records. For instance, a week’s stay in such a “shepherd’s house” can cost 150,000 euros ($175,700).
This 217-square-meter chalet, valued at nearly 78 million euros ($91 million), is owned by ALMARIN PROPERTIES.
According to the most recent available public report, the director of ALMARIN PROPERTIES is Anna Nechay. She is the daughter of the aforementioned so-called Akhmetov’s lawyer, Yuriy Voropayev. The firm’s owners are two minor children: Daniiar and Damira. Rinat Akhmetov and Alina Lytvynenko are listed as the parents of both children. Signatures appear at the end of the document.
In response to questions from Slidstvo.Info regarding Akhmetov’s previously unknown family, Rinat Akhmetov’s company SCM stated: “We do not comment on personal life. The only thing we can say is: Mr. Akhmetov’s marital status has not changed.”
Consequently, prior to this investigation, only two children of the wealthiest Ukrainian were known: sons Damir and Almir. In an interview three years ago for the Swiss outlet Le Temps, Rinat Akhmetov mentioned only them. There was never any mention of other women besides his wife, Liliya Akhmetova (Smyrnova). Furthermore, whenever publications to the contrary appeared in the media, the press service attempted to portray Akhmetov as a respectable family man, claiming such reports were untrue because the businessman is happily married.
