Tigipko has been appointed as a special adviser to the Head of the President’s Office, Kirill Budanov
Serhiy Tihipko, founder of the TAS group of companies, has become one of three non-staff advisers to the Head of the President’s Office, Kyrylo Budanov. This information was provided by the Head of the Department for Citizens’ Appeals and Access to Public Information at the President’s Office in response to an enquiry from the Chesno Movement.
In addition to Tihipko, the non-staff advisers to the Head of the President’s Office include Andriy Yusov, spokesperson for the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defence, and Roman Devyatov, one of the leaders of the Odesa branch of the Pora party.
According to the Chesno Movement, following a change in the leadership of the Office of the President in 2025, some advisers lost their posts but were subsequently reappointed in a different capacity. In particular, Mykhailo Podoliak and Serhiy Leshchenko, who previously served as non-staff advisers to the Head of the Office of the President, were reappointed as non-staff advisers to the Office of the President as a whole.
Viktoria Strakhova and Ihor Veremii remained in the same capacity. Ihor Veremii is an economist and civil servant, whilst Viktoria Strakhova works in the fields of finance and law.
Serhiy Tihipko is a businessman and former civil servant. He has held the positions of Member of Parliament, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economy and Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine. He was also the first Chairman of the Board of PrivatBank and headed the board of the TAS financial and industrial group.
In 2007, he sold the banks TAS-Investbank and TAS-Kommerzbank to the Swedish bank Swedbank and became chairman of the board of its Ukrainian division. As of 2022, Tihipko was ranked among the twenty richest Ukrainians according to Forbes.
Tigipko supported Viktor Yanukovych as a presidential candidate and headed his election campaign. In 2012, he became a member of the Party of Regions faction, and in 2014, he voted for laws described in the article as dictatorial. In 2022, he called Vladimir Putin a war criminal and Russia an aggressor state.
In 2020, following the election of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, he was considered as a candidate for a government post.
The Chesno movement notes that there is no information about these advisers on the official website of the President of Ukraine. Their roles, areas of work and grounds for appointment have also not been made public. Information about them is provided only in response to information requests.
