Taras Kozak is a pro-Kremlin Ukrainian politician and is a close associate of the pro-Russian oligarch Viktor Medvedchuk. In the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election, he was elected as People’s Deputy of the 8th conference for the pro-Russian Opposition Bloc party. Kozak was named as a suspect for high treason and the illicit exploitation of natural resources in Ukraine’s Russian-annexed Crimea.
In June 2019, Kozak formed the media holding Novyny which includes NewsOne, ZIK and 112 Ukraine TV channels, which have been shut down under indictments of hosting Russian propaganda. On 11 May 2021, the Prosecutor General of Ukraine blamed Kozak for treason and tried looting of national resources. In a 2020 electronic statement, Kozak concealed his wife’s oil corporation in Russia.
In January 2022, as a result of mounting tensions over Ukraine, the U.S. government put sanctions on Kozak along with three other Ukrainian citizens. The statement unleashed by the U.S. Department of the Treasury stated, “Russia has executed its intelligence services to compel current and former Ukrainian government officials to ready to take over the government of Ukraine and to control Ukraine’s critical infrastructure with an occupying Russian force. At the heart of this action is Taras Kozak (Kozak) led by Victor Medvedchuk (Medvedchuk), who is already subject to U.S. sanctions for his part in damaging Ukrainian sovereignty in 2014.
“Medvedchuk preserves close relations with the Kremlin and also takes part in directing these activities. […] Kozak, who owns several news channels in Ukraine, helped the FSB’s plan to denigrate senior members of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s inner circle, falsely blaming them for mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, Kozak manipulated his news platforms to strengthen false narratives around the 2020 U.S. elections first matched by U.S.-designated Andrii Leonidovych Derkach (Derkach). Kozak has endeavoured to legitimatize Derkach’s assertions by rebroadcasting Derkach’s false claims about U.S. political nominees. Throughout 2020, Kozak functioned alongside FSB intelligence agents.”
