– Vladimir, good afternoon.
– Good afternoon.
– I've wanted to interview you for a long time because a huge number of our viewers find you very interesting.
– Seriously?
– Seriously. It's nice to sit across from a living billionaire. Not just any billionaire, but someone who didn't steal those billions, but earned them with his mind.
– When I was born, there was nothing left to steal.
– Everyone stole before us?
– Everyone stole before us, so we had to work.
– You're 35 years old?
– Yes.
– You were born in Kharkiv?
– Yes.
– What was your childhood like in Kharkiv?
– My childhood was quite... As a child, I thought I had a tough childhood. But now, looking back, I realize it wasn't tough; it was beneficial. Thank God, I grew up without tablets, the internet, or computers. We played "Cossacks and Robbers," soccer. School, fights. I was an active boy. I could convince the whole class to skip a lesson, coming up with interesting games in the yard. We climbed trees, fell down. Thank God, I didn't break anything, surprisingly, no matter how many times I fell. I lived with my grandmother and mother. I practiced sports occasionally because we didn't always have the money to pay for classes.
– What sports did you do?
– For a while, I practiced freestyle wrestling because I had a relative who was a wrestler.
– Then you stopped wrestling.
– Yes, I stopped wrestling. I did a bit of boxing. I also really enjoyed running. I constantly ran different distances in school. I was sent to run for several classes in different distances. I was like a lifesaver. We fished out small coins from fountains, collected bottles.
– Good, not from pockets.
– Well, yes. I always managed to somehow hit my head somewhere.
– That's why it's so smart?
– That’s probably the answer to why I had the idea to open an exchange.
– Small coins from fountains? Now I understand what your initial capital was like.
– Yes. Not all coins, of course, were magnetic, but those that were, were enough, in principle. That's the short version.
– Kharkiv is an amazing city. I remember it as completely rundown, semi-destroyed, gloomy, gray. And here’s Kernes – we must give him credit as a mayor, because he was a separatist, but, in my opinion, a wonderful one.
– A businessman, first and foremost.
– Yes! And suddenly Kharkiv transformed, becoming a completely different city. Festive, bright, beautiful, clean, dignifiedly noble. What was Kharkiv like in your childhood? How do you remember your city?
– Speaking of Kharkiv in my childhood, I still remember it as beautiful. Yes, it was certainly quite neglected, but I had nothing to compare it to. If I had visited Vienna or Paris in my childhood, I would have returned to Kharkiv and complained that everything was neglected. But I had nothing to compare it with. It was all beloved and native. Every corner, every house, every tree – everything felt so familiar and certainly didn’t seem neglected to me. You came to Kharkiv after traveling around the world. Of course, it looked neglected to you. But to me, it looked great.
– You said you lived with your mother and grandmother. Was your father absent?
– Physically? He was physically present, but we just weren't acquainted.
– And you still weren't acquainted?
– Now we are acquainted.
– Was it his initiative to meet or yours?
– His, of course. His.
– He showed this initiative when you became wealthy?
– I don’t think it was related to finances. We met when I was 20 years old.
– Why didn’t he try to get to know you all this time?
– I think he had good reasons for that. But I don’t even want to delve into it. Why look back when you can look forward?
– Were you upset with him for not communicating with you until you were 20?
– Not at all. I'm even glad it was that way.
– Do you communicate now?
– Yes.
– Frequently?
– Yes.
– What is your father's education, what did he do, and what did your mother do?
– My mother is a meteorologist by education, but she worked almost her whole life as a cook.
– So you didn’t go hungry?
– We did go hungry because regardless of being a cook, you still need to buy food. And my grandmother was a narcologist. Grandma was the main breadwinner in the family. And she, in fact, taught me never to be disheartened under any circumstances. Even when we...
– I thought you would say "not to take drugs."
– Even when we pulled out her last Yugoslavian dressing table, which she adored, to sell it and buy food – she did it with a smile.
– Did you live that poorly?
– Yes. I think everyone lived not very richly in the 90s. There were some periods that were more or less stable, and there were very difficult periods.
– Did you even lack food?
– There were times when my mother and I borrowed buckwheat from friends to make dinner.
– What is your father's profession?
– He repairs cars. He worked for a long time in bodywork. And now he is in construction.
– When you acquired billions, what opportunities did you provide your parents? Is your grandmother alive?
– No, unfortunately.
– What did you provide for your parents?
– I provided them with housing, gave them the opportunity to realize all their ideas, thoughts, desires, wants, and so on. For some reason, I wanted to make my father happy. I bought him several cars: a daily driver and one for the 'bandit' look.
– For the 'bandit' look?
– It was a Toyota Tundra. A bright lime green pickup with huge wheels and body kits.
– And the daily driver?
– The daily driver was a Toyota Yaris. My mother isn’t a fan of working, so she lives in Spain, enjoys life, and does what she likes.
– Did your grandmother see you as a wealthy person?
– Yes.
– How did you pamper her?
– I tried to pamper her with things that brought her joy. Mostly candies. And, of course, the essentials, to help her stop worrying and counting every penny. But still, when a person lives for a long time from pension to pension without additional support, even when some resources appear, they still maintain that mindset. So what I could do from my side, I did. For example, some trivial things. Teeth… In general, I tried to meet all her needs. But she was just that kind of person who didn't like extravagance. That would have disgusted her. So jewelry or a car with a driver wouldn’t have suited her, so to speak.
– A number of people with huge fortunes never attended higher educational institutions. But you graduated from university?
– No. I didn't even apply. For the last three years, I've been studying part-time at Yaroslav the Wise. But in the years when I graduated from school and needed to enter university...