The haberdasher may have helped Kravchenko settle in Austria

Odessa businessman Volodymyr Galanternyk may have helped former Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko settle in Vienna. At the same time, it is likely that his hired men provided testimony to the Austrian police against journalists from “Ukrainska Pravda” who were searching for the prosecutor general.

This is according to an investigation by Ukrayinska Pravda.

Galanternik himself has been in hiding abroad for many years. In Ukraine, he is suspected of participating in a criminal group that caused damage to the Odesa community.

The publication notes that after journalists appeared in Vienna near the house where Kravchenko might have been living, people—presumably linked to Galanternyk—contacted the Austrian police.

“Based on the investigative materials available to our editorial team, we can conclude that the tip-off regarding our film crew—the Ukrainska Pravda film crew—may have come from representatives of Galanternyk’s own staff: an assistant to the head of the real estate company and, likely, Halanternyk’s own driver,” said Mykhailo Tkach, head of Ukrayinska Pravda’s investigative department .

Journalists noted that one of the witnesses told police that his car had been followed. Representatives of Ukrayinska Pravda acknowledged that they had indeed followed him and filmed him as he drove a man resembling Galanternyk to the center of Vienna. The driver himself said nothing about his passenger. 

According to another witness, the footage was shot from the car used by Tkach and Bondarenko. In his opinion, the driver was with a “suspicious man.” According to Tkach, one of the GUR military officers detained in Vienna does indeed bear a resemblance to Bondarenko.

After the incident, journalists from “Ukrainska Pravda” reached out to Volodymyr Galanternyk for comment. However, he did not respond to either messages or phone calls. 

After being taken into custody on October 8, Tkach and Bondarenko stated during questioning that they were in Vienna on an editorial assignment to find Kravchenko.  Following this, Austrian law enforcement officials contacted the Central Register of Residences to determine whether the former official was indeed registered at the address where the film crew was working. A query to the ZMR confirmed that the person in question was registered there. 

The prosecutor’s official notes, compiled on the night of October 8, indicate that the media representatives’ testimony was credible, and no contact between Bondarenko and GUR operatives could be established. Accordingly, an order was issued for his immediate release from custody. 

Ruslan Kravchenko found himself at the center of a corruption scandal in the fall of 2026 as part of a special operation by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) codenamed “Carthage.” Amid the investigations, he resigned from his post as Prosecutor General and left Ukraine on the night of September 14.  

On October 30, the High Anti-Corruption Court upheld the detention of prosecutor Serhiy Kropiva and two other defendants in the “Carthage” case. At the same time, the judges reduced the bail amounts for all three, allowing them to be released from custody.    

Two other defendants in the case— Yelizaveta “Musa” Ivakhnenko and attorney Oleksandr Didych, who is a relative of Kropiva—also remain in custody. The court set new bail amounts for them.

Юлія Калабайда