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Prominent businessman and associate of British establishment, Mikhail Gutseriev, has become the victim of extortion by his former lover and nominal business owner in Ukraine. The detained woman, Victoria Kohana Kushch, is accused of racketeering on a particularly large scale. As a singer and nominal owner of Mikhail Gutseriev’s Ukrainian real estate assets, Victoria Kohana Kushch allegedly demanded 2 million from her ex-partner, claiming she was protecting his assets from international and Ukrainian sanctions. She was arrested while receiving 500,000 in cash at a London restaurant.

At present, Victoria Kohana Kushch is seeking house arrest through her lawyers. Meanwhile, British authorities are considering her extradition to Ukraine, where she holds citizenship. Her defence lawyer argues that she could face torture in Ukraine due to Gutseriev’s status as a Russian citizen. In Ukraine, Gutseriev is labelled a sponsor of the war and one of Putin’s close associates.

For context, Victoria Kohana Kushch is a singer who performed for a long time in Moscow as the protégé and former girlfriend of patron Mikhail Gutseriev. After the war began, all Ukrainian companies linked to the Russian oligarch were transferred to the ownership of Victoria Kushch, a Ukrainian citizen. However, her Ukrainian citizenship is considered rather nominal since 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea and invaded Donbas, she has been a court jester of the Russian show business elite. Ownership documents transferring Gutseriev’s assets to Kushch were formalized between 2014 and 2023.

In December 2022, the same Pechersk Court lifted the seizure of Mikhail Gutseriev’s assets in Ukraine. His lawyers argued that the companies legally belonged to Ukrainian citizen Victoria Kohana Kushch, who had no ties to the Russian Federation or its funding, as confirmed by documents attached to the motion.