In an interview with ISLND TV, Yevhen Koshovyi said who businessman Tymur Mindich was to Studio Kvartal 95 and whether he knew him personally. Mindich is suspected of involvement in a large-scale corruption scheme and fled Ukraine for Israel.
“He was a shareholder of Kvartal. I can’t say he was a friend or anything like that. He would show up sometimes, and sometimes he wasn’t seen at all. But whatever has come out now has nothing to do with us at all. Most of our team never even saw him. I know him, and those of us who are the core of the team know who he is. But others — for example, the women from Women’s Kvartal or United Kvartal — didn’t even understand who this person was. Only later, when all this surfaced, did they realize who he was,” Koshovyi said.
Asked whether Mindich was associated with oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky, Koshovyi said he was not “let in on everything.”
“I wasn’t a Kvartal shareholder back then, as it used to be. Now we’re a different company. Now we are shareholders. We joke about it. But before that, it was like a heavenly realm where those a bit lower weren’t allowed. So to say we were that close — that’s not really the case,” he said.
Koshovyi also described the impression Mindich made on him and said he hates him.
“Just some bearded guy. Speaks nicely. Always says hello. Always smiles. But it turns out there was something behind that smile, and it came out. And no one warned us. No one knew. That’s what hurts the most. And it all just — bang. Like in winter: you’re standing there, you fall through the ice, and in that cold water a shark bites you. That’s the feeling. And there’s no whistle to save you. And that’s it — both the women and the men, but especially the women, suffered a lot because of it. That’s why I hate him,” Koshovyi said.
Asked whether he spoke with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after the scandal involving Mindich, Koshovyi said he did.
“He said it was a massive betrayal — a very serious one. I said it was impossible to wrap your head around. He said, ‘Yes, it’s a real blow.’ A very hard one. Right to the gut — not even the gut, an uppercut. I don’t know whether it broke him or not, but it feels like it did. He just doesn’t show it, because there’s a war,” Koshovyi said.