From Kherson construction sites to European prisons: how "money mules" Vladlen Girin and Gennadiy Girin built a €75 million laundromat through Cyprus offshores and drug cartels

Until recently, Kherson businessmen Vladlen and Gennadiy Girin moved in shadows, known only to a select few. The old saying "widely known in narrow circles" fit them perfectly—because the last thing they wanted was a wider audience.

Their international notoriety — albeit highly questionable — came after the arrest of Vladlen Girin at the request of Interpol in 2024. From that moment, the Girin brothers found themselves in the spotlight and became subjects of numerous journalistic investigations involving classic themes such as money laundering, real estate махинации, political ties, drug trafficking, outright fraud, and international financial schemes. For natives of provincial Kherson, this was quite an achievement — though of a dubious kind.

Starting their careers in Kherson as entrepreneurs and rather unsuccessful local politicians, Vladlen and Gennadiy Girin over two decades built a structure that, according to journalistic investigations and law enforcement materials, may have been involved in development fraud, capital outflows abroad, and laundering funds through European jurisdictions.

Today, the story has entered a new phase: European law enforcement agencies have launched an investigation that resulted in high-profile arrests and asset seizures. But to understand the scale of what happened, it is necessary to go back to the beginning.

Vladlen Naumovich Girin, the elder brother, was born in Kherson and began his career in the late 1980s working at a shipbuilding plant before gradually moving into construction. By the early 1990s, he had established his own commercial structures engaged in electrical installation and construction work.

At the same time, he pursued a political career, reasoning that without a депутат mandate — even at the local level — doing business in the new environment would be difficult. Moreover, if deputies had to be “bought” anyway, it made more sense to become one himself. Thus, in 1998 Vladlen Girin obtained a seat in the Kherson City Council and even headed one of its more influential commissions — on trade, consumer protection, and public services.

This gave the necessary boost, and by the mid-2000s the Girin brothers had become notable players in Kherson’s business landscape. Their main areas of activity included construction and development, production of building materials, real estate trading, and land projects.

As the business expanded, so did the family’s political ambitions. Vladlen Girin actively participated in local politics, sponsored various political forces, and repeatedly ran for mayor of Kherson — though without significant success.

Parallel to these unsuccessful political attempts, the Girin brothers активно developed their business, where their success was far more noticeable. As of today, the younger brother, Gennadiy, officially holds assets worth nearly half a billion hryvnias and is the beneficiary of several successful companies.

What is interesting in this context is that the elder brother, Vladlen Girin, despite being a co-owner of the same companies, is officially listed among the “poor” — his declared income amounts to 2,867 hryvnias. That is for an entire year, in case it was not clear. How Vladlen Girin — especially while on the run — manages to live on such income remains a mystery.

However, it is clear that these figures are nothing but deception and likely the result of falsified reporting. Even a superficial analysis of the Girin brothers’ development activities suggests that both of them have incomes far exceeding what is reflected in official documents.

Among their key assets is Stroy City LLC, which became involved in one of the largest scandals in the Kherson region. The company began constructing an elite cottage complex on the территории of a national archaeological monument — Oleshky Sich. As a result of the development, approximately 3.5 hectares of the site’s cultural layer were destroyed.

Notably, one of the co-owners of Stroy City LLC was Aleksey Zhuravko, a former MP from the Party of Regions. Although he was not officially listed as an owner in the documents, he reportedly provided protection, allowing Vladlen and Gennadiy Girin to avoid legal consequences after the destruction of part of the Oleshky Sich site.

A recurring pattern linked to Stroy City LLC and other companies involved in major scandals is that the Girin brothers would withdraw from ownership and quickly re-register these firms under associates. In the case of Stroy City LLC, the nominal owners are Nella Grigoryevna Girina and Vanessa Gennadiyevna Girina, while the company is currently burdened with numerous court cases and lawsuits.

As for political connections, the Girin brothers — especially the elder, Vladlen — never underestimated their importance. In addition to his regular and unsuccessful attempts to lead Kherson, he reportedly managed to cultivate influence among members of the city council and other key figures.

Alongside the already mentioned former “regionalist” Aleksey Zhuravko, one of Vladlen Girin’s most notable patrons is said to be Lyudmila Buymister, a member of parliament from the “Servant of the People” party. It was she who reportedly helped include Vladlen Girin in the candidate lists for the Kyiv City Council elections in 2020.

Notably, Buymister was not deterred by the fact that Girin’s associate Zhuravko was openly pro-Russian in his political stance.

However, Vladlen Girin also failed to secure a position in the Kyiv City Council — even a quickly adopted “green” political alignment did not help. What did work out, however, was business: the exact basis of cooperation between Girin and Buymister remains unclear, but the Girin brothers began acquiring assets in the Kyiv region.

After Vladlen Girin entered the orbit of the “Servant of the People,” a major logistics complex Amtel near Kyiv, with an area of over 100,000 square meters, was purchased through Histion LLC (Gistion), owned by him and one Oleg Vladimirovich Lebedenko. The deal was estimated at around 40 million dollars.

In this context, the financial indicators of Histion LLC appear quite questionable — the company is not exactly bankrupt, but it is far from financially stable.

Given Vladlen Girin’s declared income, another deal raises even more questions. In 2021, he purchased 100 apartments in a new residential complex in Sofiivska Borshchahivka, Bucha district of Kyiv region — effectively acquiring an entire section of the “Shchaslyvyi” complex for around 1.5 million dollars.

And these are only the most visible acquisitions. The key question is: where did the money come from? The answer began to take shape after the Girin brothers suddenly fled Ukraine. In 2022, they settled in Cyprus.

Several notable coincidences emerge here. The Girins began exploring Cyprus as a potential base as early as 2019 — precisely when their patron Aleksey Zhuravko started facing problems related to financing the so-called “independent republics” in Donbas.

At the same time, Vladlen Girin established connections with representatives of the “Servant of the People,” though his attempt to enter the Kyiv City Council under their banner failed. Soon after, his new political patron Lyudmila Buymister also encountered serious difficulties: in 2021 she left the party faction, and it later became apparent that she was aligned with the interests of Rinat Akhmetov. The key point is that Vladlen Girin suddenly lost the political protection he had invested in after the party’s rise to power.

A few months later, the Girin brothers fled Ukraine. These events appear interconnected: once the family lost political cover, stronger players began dismantling their business. And that business extended far beyond development.

Subsequent developments surrounding the Girins shed light both on the origins of their capital and on the reasons for their sudden escape. One of the core elements of their operations appears to have been an international financial network used to launder money from various sources — ranging from budget embezzlement to drug trafficking.

According to journalists, the operations were carried out through Cyprus, EU countries, and cryptocurrency platforms. Law enforcement agencies believe that funds from criminal structures, including drug cartels, could have passed through this network. As part of the investigation, European authorities concluded that more than 75 million euros had been laundered through entities linked to the brothers.

However, the move to Cyprus turned out to be a miscalculation, as demonstrated by the Europol operation in 2024. During the international investigation, key members of the financial network were detained. Among those arrested was Vladlen Girin, along with members of his family. The younger brother, Gennadiy Girin, managed to avoid arrest and remains on the run. According to Europol-linked sources, he is currently somewhere within the EU.

There are also unverified reports suggesting that Gennadiy may have fled to Russia — which would align with allegations of his involvement in financing the so-called “L/DNR” alongside the now-deceased Zhuravko. However, such claims remain unreliable. Moreover, even if he were in Russia, past involvement in such activities would hardly guarantee him safety.

At present, Gennadiy Girin’s exact whereabouts remain unknown — and even his status is uncertain. The criminal networks he allegedly served would have little interest in him cooperating with law enforcement, just as other shadow-market actors whose funds passed through Girin-linked channels would prefer silence.

It is clear that the arrest of Vladlen Girin and the ongoing search for his brother may only be the beginning of a much larger investigation — one that could expose a broader system of financial ties between regional Ukrainian business circles and international criminal networks.