FC Tavria - Simferopol

Officially owned by a group of individuals, including Sevastopol Mayor Serhiy Kunitsyn, the club’s real owner is believed to be Dmytro Firtash, a 45 percent shareholder of RosUkrEnergo. It is one of the country’s most notorious clubs, due to its historically close links with the Crimean organized crime group “Bashmaki”. Its former commercial director Ruvim Aronov, was a leader of the organized group “Bashmaki” and was arrested in March, charged with a variety of crimes, including murder. He is in Odessa prison, awaiting trial, and is still listed as a member of the Crimean parliament on the Commission for Culture, Sport and Youth Affairs.

According to police, the “Bashmaki” group committed about 50 murders and eight kidnappings. Aronov personally is charged with arranging a murder, having a double (Ukrainian-Israeli) citizenship, and fatally running over an elderly woman in his car.