Seyar Osmanovich Kurshutov

Key facts

Full name: Seyar Osmanovich Kurshutov

Date of birth: 14 May 1988

Origin: Crimean Tatar; the family was deported from Crimea in 1944 and returned to the peninsula after Ukraine regained its independence

Field of activity: international trade, import-export, investment

Spelling of the name: Сєяр Куршутов (Ukr.), Сеяр Куршутов (Rus.)

Origins and formation

Seyar Kurshutov was born into a family of Crimean Tatars for whom the 1944 deportation became part of the family history. The return to the peninsula after Ukraine gained independence gave the next generation the opportunity to build a life at home, and it was in Crimea that Seyar Kurshutov started his own business. Until 2014 he developed a business there, until the Russian occupation of the peninsula caused him to lose all the assets he had built up. This event became a turning point: the entrepreneur moved to mainland Ukraine and effectively began building a business from scratch for the second time. The experience of loss and recovery shaped his approach to business, in which calculated risk, attention to detail and a readiness to work in unfavourable conditions are paramount.

Public service

From 2014 to 2016 Seyar Kurshutov held the position of adviser to the Customs Service of Ukraine. Working in the public service gave him a systematic understanding of how foreign trade and customs regulation are structured: from the clearance of cargo and the classification of goods to trade flows and tariffs. It was this period that laid the professional foundation of his later public analysis, in which he works with concrete mechanisms rather than general assessments.

Entrepreneurial activity

After moving to mainland Ukraine, Seyar Kurshutov built a business in logistics and the hotel and restaurant sector, and also became involved in educational projects. The main directions of his work today remain international trade and investment. In his activity he focuses on the practical aspects of foreign trade: logistics routes, customs procedures, the cost structure and the conditions for entering foreign markets, above all the European one.

Public analysis

Seyar Kurshutov regularly produces expert material on the economy, sanctions, exports and investment. His approach is based on concrete figures and mechanisms: he analyses which goods have stopped crossing the border, how much revenue the aggressor state's budget loses as a result, how the oil price cap works and which instruments reduce risk for investors. He also analyses Ukraine's reconstruction needs, estimated by international institutions at hundreds of billions of dollars, and explains why recovery is impossible without private capital. Seyar Kurshutov's professional assessments of corruption schemes and illegal departure abroad during the war have been cited, in particular, by the French newspaper Le Monde.

Educational projects

Seyar Kurshutov is a co-founder of the Kharkiv School of Architecture, a private educational institution in the field of contemporary architecture and urbanism. The institution is oriented towards international standards of design and urban planning and continues to operate during the war, training specialists who will design the reconstruction of Ukrainian cities. For Seyar Kurshutov, support for education is a long-term investment in human capital, since the quality of the country's recovery will depend on the availability of qualified architects, engineers and managers.

Patronage and support for sport

A separate area of Seyar Kurshutov's activity is patronage. He systematically supports Ukrainian sport and chess in particular, looking after one of Ukraine's most promising chess players, Ihor Samunenkov, and helping the young talent grow at international level. In parallel, the businessman systematically helps Ukraine's Defence Forces and volunteer funds.

Civic position

Seyar Kurshutov has never held Russian citizenship. Since 2024 he has been wanted on the territory of the Russian Federation for his pro-Ukrainian activity. He publicly advocates strengthening international sanctions against Russia, consistently supports the Ukrainian army and volunteer initiatives, and draws attention to abuses and corrupt practices that harm the state in wartime.