"Khimprom" boss Burkin confirmed authenticity of NABU recordings in "Carthage" case: "This is 5 per cent at most of everything that is happening in Ukraine". VIDEO
Yehor Burkin, nicknamed ‘The Mexican’, whom Ukrainian law enforcement agencies consider to be the leader of the ‘Khimprom’ drug syndicate, has confirmed the authenticity of the recordings released by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau as part of Operation ‘Carthage’.
According to Censor.NET, during an extensive interview with journalist Vasyl Tymoshenko, Burkin revealed details of how the network of call centres operates in Ukraine, spoke of multi-million bribes paid to law enforcement officers, a corrupt system extending to the Office of the President, and his business’s links with top officials and politicians.
The recordings are authentic
"I don’t want to deny anything. On the contrary, I want to confirm that this is exactly how it was. Everything you’ve heard represents, perhaps, 5 per cent at most of everything that’s currently happening in Ukraine," said Burkin.
According to him, until recently there were around 1,500 such offices operating in the country, and the total monthly turnover in this shadow industry reached 2–3 billion dollars. The profits were shared between the owners, staff, landlords and representatives of law enforcement agencies, who provided ‘protection’.
Burkin explained that the call centres’ activities were divided into several segments. Some of them were involved in classic banking fraud and swindling citizens out of their savings, whilst others operated under the guise of pyramid schemes, pseudo-investments in Forex, fortune-telling services or the sale of dietary supplements. A separate niche was the so-called ‘investment recovery’ – a scheme whereby defrauded investors were robbed a second time.
"These are call centres that deceive people a second time. For example, you receive a call, you’ve been tricked, money has been stolen from your card or from Forex, and after a while you’re contacted, or you come across an advert somewhere on YouTube claiming that if you’ve fallen victim to fraudsters, they’ll help you. No, nobody will help you now, or ever. They’re the same fraudsters," said Burkin.
At the same time, he insists that the organisations under his control confined themselves to nominally legal activities – the sale of dietary supplements and fortune-telling. Burkin does not deny that customers may have been led to believe in exaggerated claims about the products, but insists that no laws were broken in the process.
The defendant also effectively confirmed the information from the "Carthage" case regarding the scale of his own network, which comprised 52 offices and over 2,700 employees.
"Protection" fees
During the conversation, Burkin paid particular attention to the protection money rates for businesses. According to his calculations, a single office with a staff of 50 people had to pay the security forces at least 21,000 dollars every month.
"21,000 dollars. 7,000 dollars were paid to the SSU, 7,000 dollars were paid to the National Police, and 7,000 dollars were paid to the Prosecutor General’s Office (Office of the Prosecutor General – Ed.)," said Burkin.
If the number of staff rose to 100, the bribe doubled to $42,000, whilst for offices with 150 staff, the fee reached $63,000. Payments were made via cryptocurrency wallets, after which law enforcement officers received a list of addresses that were off-limits during raids.
According to Burkin, the mass closure of call centres only began after Western partners put pressure on the Ukrainian leadership. In his view, 80–90 per cent of such operations have closed, although the remainder continue to operate underground – in small groups in ordinary flats and private homes.
Impact on the economy
According to "The Mexican", the winding down of this industry will deal a severe blow to the country’s economy. According to his calculations, call centres brought around 20 billion dollars in cash into Ukraine every year, which was channelled into the property market, car sales, the restaurant sector and the service industry – sectors which, he says, are already experiencing a downturn.
Furthermore, Burkin confirmed the version put forward by NABU investigators regarding the role of Andriy Osipov, nicknamed ‘Criminal’. It was he who acted as the liaison between the office owners and the security forces, accumulating the ‘cash’ by the fifth of each month.
According to Burkin, the corruption scheme involved not only the relevant departments of the police or the SSU, but also the top leadership of these organisations.
"There was a clearly defined chain of command. In other words, it won’t be possible to pin all this solely on the SSU’s cybercrime department, the National Police and the prosecutor’s office. Why didn’t other departments get involved? Because every head of these agencies was in on it," he asserts.
Everything is for sale
According to Burkin’s calculations, with 1,500 call centres in operation, the total amount of monthly bribes reached $31.5 million, which amounts to $350–370 million annually.
He claims that within Ukrainian law enforcement agencies, any issue can be resolved for a fee – from opening or closing criminal proceedings to personnel appointments.
"Everything can be bought, everything can be sold. The trading of posts, the opening and closing of criminal cases – against anyone, against opponents, against whoever you like. All of this can be bought, all of this can be sold," he asserted.
Contacts with Duka and Kovalchuk
Burkin also spoke in detail about his contacts with SSU General Duka and Kovalchuk, whom the NABU accuses of covering up illegal business activities. According to him, they initially communicated directly, but later the security officials became wary of possible wiretapping or recording of conversations on his part, so they brought in an intermediary – Osipov – into the scheme.
Burkin claims that he gave Kovalchuk expensive gifts, including a Mercedes V-Class minibus for his birthday.
Furthermore, according to the defendant, in return for a payment of 3.5 million dollars, law enforcement officers, acting on his instructions, arranged for one of his former business partners to be stripped of his Ukrainian citizenship, had him detained in a special facility and initiated deportation proceedings.
"They did everything, absolutely everything that came to mind," said Burkin, adding that he considers such requests to be a common occurrence within the Ukrainian law enforcement system.
"There are thousands like me and Osipov. We are not the cause, we are the consequence. And the cause lies precisely in this appalling, venal, corrupt law enforcement system," Burkin stated.
A significant part of the conversation was devoted to the U-420 chain of shops, which the investigation links to drug trafficking. Burkin admitted that he himself had developed the concept for this project and overseen its expansion. At its peak, the network comprised around 110 outlets – mainly in Kyiv, Odesa, Lviv and Kharkiv. The product range consisted of herbal mixtures infused with synthetic cannabinoids.
According to Burkin, in the spring of 2026, the network’s daily takings reached approximately 4 million hryvnias. At the same time, expenses for ‘protection’ amounted to between 400,000 and 700,000 dollars per month. It later transpired that certain intermediaries were simply pocketing these sums, whilst merely creating the appearance of transferring funds to the security services.
The suspect also confirmed that his team was preparing a package of documents for the Verkhovna Rada regarding the legalisation of cannabis. The strategy was to expand the network to 200–300 shops by the time the law was passed and to monopolise this segment of the Ukrainian market.
Burkin also commented on other aspects of the ‘Carthage’ case – in particular, the beatings, torture and threats directed at investigators. He acknowledged that the voice on the recordings, in which a possible attack on journalist Denys Bigus was discussed, was his own. However, Burkin insists that this was merely a bluff intended to intimidate partners and law enforcement officials who were demanding higher payments, and that no actual action was taken against the journalist.
At the same time, he confirmed that individuals in his circle did indeed resort to brutal violence, including cutting off people’s fingers, but denied that he had given such orders. Burkin denies any involvement in the torture, counterfeiting and other crimes mentioned in the ‘Carthage’ reports, emphasising that having contacts with certain individuals does not imply joint responsibility for all their actions.
Finally, Burkin expressed his willingness to cooperate with the NABU, the SAPO and the US intelligence services, providing them with information on cryptocurrency transactions, bribes and corruption networks.
According to him, he has a laptop containing compromising material on a significant number of Ukrainian officials and law enforcement officers.
"If they catch me, they’ll find the laptop at my home. And in that case, I think many will end up incriminating themselves. So I’d advise them to think carefully. It’s better to cooperate with me and ensure that I agree to a plea bargain," Burkin concluded.
NABU’s ‘Carthage’ operation
- Earlier, the NABU reported that a senior SSU official was threatening to use a weapon and obstructing a search.
- Subsequently, the Bureau stated that NABU and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) had exposed a criminal organisation that systematically bribed senior officials of the SSU, the National Police and the Prosecutor’s Office in exchange for ‘protection’ of fraudulent call centres and other illegal businesses.
- NABU stated that, as part of the ‘Carthage’ investigation, a criminal organisation had been exposed, whose members had established a systematic practice of bribing senior officials in law enforcement agencies to allow fraudulent call centres and other illegal businesses to operate unhindered.
- It was subsequently reported that the anti-corruption authorities had detained General Serhiy Duka, the first deputy head of the SSU’s Department for the Protection of National Statehood.
- The head of the SSU, Oleksandr Poklad, dismissed two senior officials of the Service who are implicated in the NABU investigation as part of Operation ‘Carthage’. He also urged a suspect in the case, known by the alias ‘The Mexican’, to return to Ukraine and surrender to the law enforcement authorities.
- The NABU and the SAP) have announced five charges relating to the cover-up of illegal business activities; those implicated include senior officials from the SSU and the National Police.
- On 5–6 November, the main suspects in the case were remanded in custody without the right to post bail.
- On 6 November, the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) imposed a preventive measure on SSU General Serhiy Duka, who was detained as part of NABU’s ‘Carthage’ operation. He was remanded in custody with the option to post bail of 65 million hryvnias.
- On 13 November, it emerged that the full amount of bail had been paid on Duts’s behalf.
