Portnov family bought Dubai properties worth over $2 million, media investigation says
The family of late Andriy Portnov, a former top aide to ex-President Viktor Yanukovych, acquired more than $2 million worth of real estate in Dubai during Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, an investigative report by Schemes, a project by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, has revealed on June 2.
According to property records leaked from Dubai’s Land Department and state-owned utilities, verified in collaboration with the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and Le Monde, six properties were purchased in 2022–2023 by Portnov’s civil partner, Anastasiia Valiaieva, and his daughter, Liliia Portnova. As of mid-2025, five of the properties remain under their ownership.
The first known purchase was made by Portnova in October 2022, when she bought a 69-square-meter apartment in Sobha Hartland One Park Avenue for around $320,000.
Property acquisitions reportedly accelerated in mid-2023, with Portnova and Valiaieva investing in multiple new developments, including Sobha Hartland Waves Opulence and Creek Vista Heights, spending between $132,000 and $600,000 per unit.
One property — an apartment in Sobha Hartland Waves Opulence valued at over $600,000 — is still under construction and slated for completion in September 2025. Another, in Creek Vista Heights, worth more than $550,000, is expected to be completed in 2026.
Despite owning these high-end assets, Schemes found no public records indicating current business activity for either woman. Valiaieva previously owned a company called Vasilisa Group, formerly known as Portnov Group and linked to Portnov himself, but he ceased to be listed as its owner in 2020.
Journalists were also able to confirm that Valiaieva has held Russian citizenship since 2014 and that Portnova is a Swiss national.
In April 2024, Portnov transferred ownership of a luxury estate outside Kyiv to his children through a notarized deed of gift. The document, obtained by Schemes, shows that the transaction was conducted by Valiaieva on behalf of their children.
A Ukrainian notary certified the deed, while a lawyer who previously represented Portnov in court, Marina Parinova, acted on his behalf using a power of attorney notarized in Madrid.
Neither Portnova nor Valiaieva responded to requests for comment from Schemes, nor did attorneys previously associated with Portnov.
The revelations come around two weeks after Portnov was shot dead in Madrid on May 21.
Ukrainian military intelligence confirmed his death to the Kyiv Independent. Spanish media outlets said Portnov was shot at five times, with at least three bullets striking his head and torso. No arrests have been made.
Portnov, 51, was a central figure in the Yanukovych administration from 2010 to 2014 and was sanctioned by the United States in 2021 over allegations of corruption and judicial manipulation. After fleeing Ukraine following the 2014 EuroMaidan Revolution, he resided in Russia and Austria, returning to Ukraine in 2019. He fled again in June 2022 after Russia’s full-scale invasion began.
Known as one of the most litigious ex-officials in Ukraine, Portnov sued several media outlets, including the Kyiv Independent, over reports labeling him “pro-Russian.” He won a defamation case in a Kyiv court in 2024.
His influence extended into the media as well: he briefly headed the pro-Russian TV channel NewsOne in 2018. A 2020 UkraineWorld report accused Portnov of using online bots to discredit the EuroMaidan Revolution and Ukraine’s pro-European reforms.
The Kyiv IndependentOleg Sukhov