Oleksandr Yuriyovych Kobets (born 27 September 1959) is a Ukrainian and Russian politician, businessman and former intelligence officer who served as the Russian-installed mayor of

Kherson Kherson (Ukrainian language, Ukrainian and , , ) is a port city in southern Ukraine that serves as the administrative centre of Kherson Oblast. Located by the Black Sea and on the Dnieper, Dnieper River, Kherson is the home to a major ship-bui ...

during the Russian occupation of the city, from 26 April 2022 until 11 November 2022 when Ukraine liberated the city.

Biography

Kobets was born on 27 September 1959 in

, in what was then the

Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated as the Ukrainian SSR, UkrSSR, and also known as Soviet Ukraine or just Ukraine, was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republics of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1991. ...

of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

KGB career

Kobets served as a

KGB The Committee for State Security (, ), abbreviated as KGB (, ; ) was the main security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 to 1991. It was the direct successor of preceding Soviet secret police agencies including the Cheka, Joint State Polit ...

officer until 1991, when he started working for the

Security Service of Ukraine The Security Service of Ukraine ( ; abbreviated as SBU [] or SSU) is the main Internal security, internal security agency of the Government of Ukraine, Ukrainian government. Its main duties include counter-intelligence activity and combati ...

(SBU). Kobets supervised economic issues in the 1990s, in particular, the work of the Kherson Oil Refinery. In the early 2000s, Kobets was transferred to the head office of the SBU and served as an officer in the operational leadership of the SBU. A pensioner by seniority, he retired from the SBU in 2010. In his resume, which was compiled in September 2020, he writes that "during his work in the special services, he cooperated with structural units of the

Cabinet of Ministers A cabinet in governing is a group of people with the constitutional or legal task to rule a country or state, or advise a head of state, usually from the executive branch. Their members are known as ministers and secretaries and they are ...

Ministry of Finance A ministry of finance is a ministry or other government agency in charge of government finance, fiscal policy, and financial regulation. It is headed by a finance minister, an executive or cabinet position . A ministry of finance's portfoli ...

Ministry of Economy A Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Economic Affairs, or Department of Commerce is a part of the government in most countries that is responsible for matters related to the economy or economic policy. List Examples of such mi ...

, National Bank,

State Property Fund State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

, Antimonopoly Committee, Ministry of Energy and Coal Industry,

Naftogaz Naftogaz of Ukraine (, ''Naftogaz Ukrainy''; literally "Naphtha-Gas of Ukraine") is the largest national oil and gas company of Ukraine. It is a state-owned company

, Ministry of Industrial Policy, Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food, Ministry of Health. He carried out measures on financial, energy, food and environmental security of the state". Oleksandr Kobets wanted to get a position in one of the companies in Kyiv, but was not hired.

Activities in retirement

Following his retirement, Kobets, together with his wife, founded a company which handles contract mediation for goods, production of juices, mineral water, soft drinks and trade. ''The Centre for Journalistic Investigations'' revealed that Kobets has not repaid a loan of 80 thousand dollars for several years. In the summer of 2006, Oleksandr Kobets registered with Ukragrohimpromholding OJSC, which traded in ammonia and was founded by Oleksandr Bessonov, a former agent of the KGB, a citizen of the Russian Federation with a passport. In 2007, he got a job at the "Ukrainian Collection Agency" company, dealing with personnel issues and official investigations. Kobets then worked at RSB Petroleum FZC in the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

from 2008 to 2011. This company was engaged in trading in petroleum products and oil. In 2012, he was the director of Transocean Ukraine Export LLC, which traded machines and equipment. In the same year, Oleksandr Kobets got a job as an adviser to the head of the Shevchenkiv district administration of Kyiv. From 2015 to 2018, he worked at

Alfa-Bank Alfa-Bank JSC () is the largest of the private banks in Russia. It was founded in 1990 by Russian businessman Mikhail Fridman, who remains the controlling owner. Headquartered in Moscow, it operates in seven countries, providing financial servi ...

, where he managed internal security. From 2018 to 2020, he held the position of head of internal security at VK Tobacco and Sich Bank. Prior to the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

, Kobets lived in

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

Collaborationism during the Russian invasion (2022)

Oleksandr Kobets left Kyiv on March 7 in a Mercedes-Benz, registered to his wife Hanna Kobets. The start of his term was marked by protests against the Russian occupation of Kherson. On 11 November 2022 the city of Kherson was liberated by the Ukrainian army.

Sanctions

In July 2022, the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

imposed sanctions on Oleksandr Kobets in relation to the

. He was additionally sanctioned by the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

government in 2022 in relation to the

Russo-Ukrainian War The Russo-Ukrainian War began in February 2014 and is ongoing. Following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, Russia Russian occupation of Crimea, occupied and Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, annexed Crimea from Ukraine. It then ...

Family

Oleksandr Kobets's has a wife named Hanna Kobets and a daughter named Marianna Kramer (Kobets). His father is Yuriy Kobets.

Notes

References

External links

In Russian-occupied Ukraine, this is what democracy looks like
1959 births Living people Politicians from Kherson Ukrainian businesspeople Ukrainian collaborators with Russia during the Russian invasion of Ukraine KGB officers Security Service of Ukraine officers Russian individuals subject to United Kingdom sanctions {{DEFAULTSORT:Kobets, Oleksandr