KYIV, UKRAINE -- Garik Korogodsky was not exaggerating.
He was dressed in a hoodie and jeans. His hair was the giveaway. Red. Not orange-red, or auburn red. Bright red. From a bottle. He also likes blue, and pink and green sometimes.
Introducing one of the richest people in Ukraine whose life story is a joy of flamboyance, risk, exile, wide-eyed ambition, acumen. Okay, enough. Maybe just one more: and fun.
Making millions of dollars and having fun. Does it get any better?
“My office is pretty crazy,” he says, which sounds like a dare. Off we go across Kyiv, following his chauffeur-driven black SUV. We pass the great Russia-Ukraine friendship arch. A local artist has drawn a crack in it.
“We’re on the sixth floor,” he adds. “There’s no elevator.”
And he wasn’t exaggerating. His office is a psychedelic playground full of brightness and wackiness, all yellow and pinks and reds. There is a “Yukon” canoe. Of course there’s a canoe, and in this canoe, all manner of bearded and glossy figurines. Plus, a hockey stick. Very mundane.
Gargoyle-like dragon figures draped over chairs. A full-size lemon-yellow hammock. Guitars hung on walls. Stuffed toys on chairs. And scattered here, there and everywhere, drawings, photos, paintings, puppets…all in the likeness of one Garik Korogodsky
He wears round pastel glass frames that make him look like Elton John. And obviously likes it when the Ukrainian media describe him as “outrageous.”
And he likes to see your reaction when you walk into to his inner sanctum delirium.
“I told you it was a crazy place.”
He was born in Ukraine, lived in Russia for years where he made his first of many millions with an eclectic touch for business: Real estate, oil, restaurants, computers, shopping centers. For a while, he hid out in Israel, when one of his business ventures got a little too “hot.”
As the story goes, he made his first “legal” money when he was 13, working in a bakery. Later sold theatre tickets, perfume; you name it, he hocked it.
A turning point came in 2014 with Ukraine’s “Revolution of Dignity.” That’s when he decided to renounce his Russian citizenship. He could no longer tolerate Vladimir Putin, he told me. Simple as that.
His pursuit in life now is writing. His first book was a family memoir, which collides with the brutality and atrocities of today’s Russian invasion.
His grandmother and grandfather were killed by the Nazis during the massacre of Jews at Babyn Yar in 1941.
Supplied photo: Rivka Korogodskaya (grandmother of Garik murdered at Babyn Yar), David Korogodsky (father of Garik), Grigory Korogodsky (grandfather of Garik), Rachel Korogodskaya (sister of Garik’s father murdered at Babyn Yar)
When the Russians started bombing Kyiv in February, and hundreds of thousands of people left the city, he refused to follow. A decision based on personal conviction and loyalty, not bravery.
“I was absolutely convinced, knowing the Ukrainian people that they will never surrender. They can only be killed.”
On the outlandish side, he once hosted an erotic radio program called the “Badman Show” and got into trouble with his synagogue. On the compassionate side, he founded a charity to help military veterans and senior citizens.
And behind all the eccentricity and the antics, there is a serious philosophy about his country and the tragedy it is now enduring.
“Of course it’s a tragedy, but Ukraine was actually reborn during this tragedy, and became a whole new country.”
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When the Russians were forced out of the towns and villages around Kyiv, Korogodsky got in his car and drove to the suburb of Bucha. Through checkpoints. Down roads strewn with debris. He wanted to see the carnage with his own eyes.
“I’m a collector of emotions,” he told me. “They mean a lot to me. I understood that the greatest of emotions would be found there.”
He offers a reflection on why Ukrainian fighters, the Ukrainian people, have been able to resist the overpowering might of the Russian invading force. It sounds romantic. It just might be true.
“I know it sounds strange, but Ukrainians like to fight and love to die. But, die for a beautiful idea. And that’s what makes the army so strong.”
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