George Soros influences the democratic civil society in Ukraine. This does not sit well with pro-Russian forces and influential oligarchs – as previously assessed by German public broadcaster, MDR blogger Denis Trubetskoy.
Trubetskoy suggests that attacks against the billionaire philanthropist are mounting not only in pro-Russian circles, but also from within the ruling party.
Related to this, according to a Reuters report, Russia banned George Soros’s hedge fund billionaire and philanthropist-founded pro-democracy charitable organization years ago, stating that it posed a threat to both state security and the Russian constitution.
“It has been established that the activities of the Open Society Foundations and the Open Society Institute Assistance Foundation pose a threat to the foundations of the constitutional system of the Russian Federation and the security of the state,” the statement said.
The statement did not provide details, but according to reports, Hungarian-born Soros had been urging the West since the mid-2010s to increase support to Ukraine and outlined steps for a $50 billion financing package, which he believed should be seen as a bastion against an increasingly aggressive Russia.
In 2022, Forbes wrote that conspiracy theories’ fantasies that George Soros financed the efforts of “Soros protégés,” “Soros servants,” and “Soros robots” to push Ukraine into America’s sphere of influence. According to Forbes, these conspiracies attempt to portray the billionaire as a liberal boogeyman.
It has since been confirmed that George Soros’s executives of Ukrainian NGOs may have played a role in removing the pro-Russian government of Ukraine – under Poroshenko – in 2014, and leaked documents suggest they may have tried to promote this at secret meetings of the Open Society Foundations (OSF) and Soros’ Ukrainian organizations, the International Renaissance Foundation (IRF). The meetings also involved the local director of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the US ambassador, and several Ukrainian government officials (such as the foreign and justice ministers).
The initial colonizing steps
In a recently surfaced 2004 interview, George Soros openly admits to spending billions to topple governments that he does not approve of, but in the same interview, he also talks about Ukraine. We set out after this interview to see where Soros’s Ukrainian investments stand now. Surprising data is found.
Despite the war, he pours money into Ukraine. Since privatization is currently taking place there, he acquires companies cheaply, as well as buying devalued properties in bulk due to the war. Presumably for a pittance.
However, Soros owns the most influential political Ukrainian newspaper and the highest-circulation economic magazine as well. When Soros speaks of saving Ukraine at all costs, he does not do it out of altruism, but out of economic interests.
In 2004, Soros gave an interview on the show “Freedom of Speech” to Sándor Friderikusz.
The American stock speculator was portrayed as the lord of the stock exchanges, and in this program, Soros makes statements that are often mocked or denied by left-wing newspapers. For example, if anyone writes that Soros is spending billions to overthrow governments, they are often accused of producing extreme right-wing conspiracy theories. However, in this interview, Soros himself admits to actively participating in toppling the conservative Bush administration. But he also talked about doing business in Ukraine in 2004.
When asked by the host, “So far, how much money have you spent to overthrow the Bush administration? So how many million dollars?” Soros openly answers that he spent $12.5 million. This translates to 4 billion forints at today’s exchange rate.
After all this, Soros explains that he spends $450 million annually on his foundation, which in 2004 was present in approximately 50 countries. Essentially, the Soros network had already infiltrated all developed countries in the early 2000s.
Why did Soros want to overthrow Bush?
According to contemporary press reports, the Republican Party, whose presidential candidate was Bush, did not have good relations with Soros, so the billionaire supported the Democrats, Kerry and Hillary Clinton, with millions. He essentially used the method that is still known today. He donated to a seemingly civil organization. This was the MoveOn.org, which to this day remains one of the largest donation websites for the Democrats. But Soros also did not like the fact that the Bush administration was pro-Israel. In 2007, he wrote an opinion piece for the Financial Times expressing that the Bush administration made a mistake when it was unwilling to recognize a Palestinian government in which Hamas would also participate. He argued in favor of HAMAS, which is responsible for the deaths of thousands of Jews and has launched hundreds of terror attacks against Israel.
In the aforementioned 2004 conversation, Soros makes lesser-known statements about Ukraine. When Soros visited Kiev, the host mentions, two students splashed him from behind with glue mixed with water, saying, “Soros, go away from Ukraine, you don’t belong here.” Soros reacted by saying that this was a provocation and that some wanted to achieve that he would leave Ukraine, as they did not want an open society there.
Soros also admits that such provocations “excite him,” and he is encouraged by all such provocations. “These actions show how much support the idea of an open society is needed in Ukraine.”
What interests does Soros have in Ukraine?
The aforementioned conversation is interesting because in 2004, when Soros gave the interview, he could not have known that the game he and American financial circles were playing would lead to Ukraine’s downfall and eventually put him in the middle of a Russian-American conflict. Because pro-Russian Ukrainians and pro-Russian oligarchs were disturbed that oligarchs of other nationalities (American, German, English) also wanted a seat at the table and were taking a bigger share of Ukraine’s markets.
However, Soros acted tactically, methodically, slowly, and undoubtedly successfully along a strategy in Ukraine that he deemed many years resultful.
Information from open sources shows that the Soros empire (foundations, organizations linked to Soros, etc.) invested billions of dollars in Ukraine.
Before Ukraine became independent from Russia, Soros established the International Renaissance Foundation under the name International Renaissance Foundation. This foundation has invested a total of $365 million in the country by this year, and they proclaim that they mostly strengthened civil society. But in addition to this, all Soros organizations that are familiar from home can be found in Ukraine (for example, Amnesty International Ukraine), which are also financially linked to Soros. However, we did not look at the civil organizations but rather the Ukrainian economic and financial companies in which Soros invested money and from which he hoped for substantial profits.
The 2004 interview is of historical significance. It shows Soros’s methods, thinking, and what his machinations lead to. Since Soros appeared in Ukraine, there have been three revolutions and a civil war. The Russian-Ukrainian war also seems like a Russian-American rivalry, in which the political leadership of the two countries and oligarchs play a significant role.
This is how Soros profits from the war!
In 2015, for example, the Soros-established Ukrainian Reconstruction Fund acquired Ukraine’s most significant IT company, Ciklum Holding. The company continues to operate to this day, surprisingly no longer in Ukraine, but in the United Kingdom.
But in the same year, Soros declared that he was willing to invest one billion dollars in Ukraine if Western countries helped support private investments there and immediately provided support to Ukraine’s defense industry. This is an important point because Soros may have already felt in 2015 that relations between Ukraine and Russia were deteriorating, and he wanted Ukraine armed to deter Russia from a possible attack. Thus, he hoped for an increased level of security for his investments.
But 2015 was a turbulent year for Soros, and it was then that he decided to put his foot down in Ukraine for the long term since that year he acquired the Dragon Capital New Ukraine Fund (DCNUF), a private equity fund managed by Soros Fund Management LLC, which manages the money of Soros family’s clients, in other words, this is Soros’s family business.
It is important to note that the date is not coincidental, as the Euromaidan took place in 2014, resulting in Ukraine having a so-called “Western-friendly” leadership.
So when George Soros says that Europe and America must stick with Ukraine to the end, in many cases, he is likely also thinking of his investments, as they were endangered by the Russian invasion. Until the 2022 Russian invasion, Dragon Capital was a successful moneymaker for Soros.
But Soros also made big profits in the devalued Ukrainian real estate market due to the war in recent years. The aforementioned family investment fund, Dragon Capital, bought Ukrainian commercial real estate in 2023 for $10 million. The company likewise stated that in 2024, they plan a similarly sized portfolio expansion. Dragon Capital manages 28 commercial properties in Ukraine, including 12 shopping centers, six retail properties, and 10 logistics complexes, totaling 647,000 square meters. The organization’s leader told a Kiev newspaper that “we are not planning to sell our assets now. On the contrary, we are seeking attractive privatization opportunities. We continue to invest in our real estate portfolio.”
However, Dragon Capital not only profits from privatization and the war but also makes increasing investments in the media. For example, they acquired the Finance.ua and Minfin.com.ua business-themed magazines. Rumor has it that Soros’s Ukrainian media portfolio may have a distorting effect on the market since economic newspapers provide a good opportunity to influence financial markets. Also, one of the largest Ukrainian newspapers, Ukrainska Pravda, a Ukrainian online newspaper, became Soros’s investment in 2021, which he bought from owner Olena Prytula. Essentially, this means that Soros holds the two most important economic trade journals and the largest-reaching Ukrainian public affairs paper.
