Former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo joins Kyivstar board of directors
Mike Pompeo (Photo: EPA / SHAWN THEW)

Former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has joined Kyivstar's board of directors as an independent non-executive director, reported the press service of VEON, the company's parent holding company.

Pompeo joins in his capacity as a Partner of Impact Investments, a newly established US-based strategic and financial consulting and investment firm that provides advisory, investment and partnership services to the world's leading strategic companies in various industries and regions. The Impact Investments will support the management of Kyivstar and VEON in a number of key strategic initiatives in Ukraine, the message states.

"I proudly join VEON and Kyivstar in their extraordinary service to the people of Ukraine by providing essential connectivity and digital services in health, education, business growth and entertainment," Pompeo said in a press release.

Kyivstar President Oleksandr Komarov believes that Pompeo's appointment is "a powerful signal of our commitment to improving the investment climate in Ukraine."

REFERENCE. Mike Pompeo served as the 70th US Secretary of State from 2018 to 2021 and the sixth director of the US Central Intelligence Agency from 2017 to 2018. Prior to that, Pompeo represented Kansas in the US House of Representatives from 2011 to 2017 and was CEO of Thayer Aerospace from 1996 to 2006. He graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point and earned a J.D. from Harvard Law School.

On October 6, the court seized all the corporate rights of Russian businessmen Mikhail Fridman, Petr Aven and Andrey Kosogov. Among the blocked assets are IDS, one of the largest producers of mineral water in Ukraine (produces mineral water under the brands "Morshinska", "Myrhorodska") and shares in the companies Kyivstar and lifecell.

Fridman in Ukraine is suspected of laundering $1.2 million and 1.93 million euros (altogether, about 100 million hryvnias equivalent) and deliberate tax evasion in the amount of 18 million hryvnias ($495,697) by officials of the bank, which Ukraine nationalized in July 2023.

The Security Service believes confiscating property from Fridman and his business partners will prevent them from "re-registering" the assets to shell companies or proxies, thereby avoiding further seizure to replenish Ukrainian state coffers.

VEON insists that Fridman has no stake in Kyivstar and appealed the arrest.

KyivstarVEONMike Pompeo