Zahid Hennadiiovych Krasnov (; born Zahiddin Habibulayevich Gabibulayev (); 24 October 1965) is a Ukrainian pro-Russian politician, businessman, and civic activist. He is the leader of the civic organization and political party Hromadska Syla.
Krasnov has served as a member of the Dnipro City Council and has been a candidate for Mayor of Dnipro on several occasions. His political career has been the subject of extensive media coverage and investigative reporting concerning his business interests, alleged links to organized crime in the 1990s, land transactions, public procurement, and political connections with Oleg Tsaryov and Viktor Medvedchuk. He has also been criticized by Ukrainian media and political commentators for statements described as promoting pro-Russian historical narratives and for opposing aspects of Ukraine's Euro-Atlantic integration.
Biography
Krasnov was born on 24 October 1965 in the settlement of Belidzhi, Derbentsky District, Dagestan ASSR, Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Soviet Union. In his official biography published by the Central Election Commission of Ukraine, he listed his place of birth as Baku, Azerbaijan SSR (now Azerbaijan).
In 1983, he graduated from Secondary School No. 2 in Belidzhi, Dagestan ASSR. He has practiced martial arts since the seventh grade.
In 1983, Krasnov moved to Dnipropetrovsk and enrolled at the Dnipropetrovsk Institute of Civil Engineering. From 1984 to 1986, he completed his compulsory military service in the Soviet Army, serving in the Strategic Missile Forces of the 2nd Guards Motor Rifle Division.
In 1986, he resumed his studies at the Dnipropetrovsk Institute of Civil Engineering, graduating in 1990 with a degree in civil engineering. After graduation, he intended to join the KGB and completed the required selection procedures; however, the dissolution of the Soviet Union prevented his recruitment. Following graduation, he worked for one year as a martial arts instructor. According to Krasnov, his martial arts background led business partners to invite him into private business.
During the 1990s, Krasnov officially headed the Association of Entrepreneurs of Dnipropetrovsk. According to journalist investigations published by Obozrevatel, his activities during this period were allegedly connected with racketeering and later with debt collection. During this period he also adopted the name Zahid. After taking his wife's surname, Zahiddin became known as "Krasnov".
Krasnov married in Dagestan on 23 October 1992. His wife is Elvira Shakhveledovna Gabibullayeva.
On 3 September 2001, Krasnov and his wife legally changed their surname, patronymic, and given names, while his wife's first name remained unchanged. It remains unclear how the couple was able to change their patronymics, as Ukrainian legislation made such changes virtually impossible until amendments adopted in 2021.
In 2005, Krasnov graduated from the Humanitarian University "Zaporizhzhia Institute of State and Municipal Administration" (now part of the Classic Private University) with a degree in law, qualifying as a lawyer. In 2016, he graduated from the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Institute of Public Administration of the National Academy for Public Administration under the President of Ukraine.
Allegations of criminal ties and controversies in the 1990s
According to an investigative report by Obozrevatel, Krasnov (then known by his birth surname, Habibulayev) was associated with the criminal underworld of Dnipropetrovsk during the 1990s. Media reports linked him to the criminal group headed by Mukhtar Magomedov ("Mukhtar"), alleging that he acquired the nickname "Zahid" during this period and was involved in racketeering (including at the Nahirnyi Market), providing protection to businesses, and exercising control over prostitution, drug trafficking, and armed groups. Following the killing of Mukhtar during the so-called "Dnipropetrovsk gang war" in the early 2000s, media reports alleged that Krasnov assumed leadership of part of the organization. No publicly available court judgments have found him guilty of criminal offences related to these allegations; however, media reports have stated that he appeared in police records as a member of an organized criminal group. Krasnov has denied these allegations.
In 2012, Krasnov was detained on suspicion of involvement in a 2008 traffic collision on Zavodska Naberezhna in Dnipro. According to prosecutors, his Porsche Cayenne exceeded the speed limit and collided with another vehicle, leaving its driver with serious bodily injuries. The criminal case was subsequently closed due to a finding that no crime had been committed.
Family ties to Russia
Krasnov's brother, Ramiz Gabibulayev, has served for many years as the head of the administration of the settlement of Belidzhi in Dagestan. Since at least 2011, he has also been a member of the Russian political party United Russia.
According to RBC-Ukraine, in 2024 Gabibulayev participated in a ceremony honoring Russian serviceman Muslim Muslimov, who had been awarded the title Hero of the Russian Federation for his role in the Battle of Avdiivka (2023–2024). On 26 March 2026, Gabibulayev also became a deputy of the People's Assembly of the Republic of Dagestan.
Krasnov has stated that he maintains contact with his brother and other relatives in Dagestan. According to statements published on his official website, he and his brother continued to visit one another after the outbreak of the Russo-Ukrainian War in 2014.
According to Krasnov, his son, Ruslan Krasnov, a deputy of the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Council, has also visited relatives in Moscow and Dagestan.
Political career
From April to October 2004, Krasnov served as Chief Consultant of the Organizational Control Department of the Coordination Committee for Combating Corruption and Organized Crime under the President of Ukraine, during the presidency of Leonid Kuchma.
Krasnov later became the leader of Hromada, the political party founded by Pavlo Lazarenko. In the 2006 Ukrainian local elections, the party won seats in the Dnipropetrovsk City Council. With the support of Party of Regions Member of Parliament Oleg Tsaryov, Krasnov formed a governing coalition in the city council together with the Party of Regions, the Viche faction, the People's Opposition Bloc of Natalia Vitrenko, and the Communist Party of Ukraine. Since 2006, he has headed the Lazarenko Bloc faction in the Dnipropetrovsk City Council.
Between 2007 and 2010, Krasnov led the "Ridnyi Dnipropetrovsk" ("Native Dnipropetrovsk") coalition in the Dnipropetrovsk City Council. In July 2010, he announced his candidacy for Mayor of Dnipropetrovsk. Following the withdrawal of Ihor Tsyrkin from the race, Krasnov became one of the principal challengers to incumbent mayor Ivan Kulichenko. On 30 September 2010, he was officially nominated for mayor by the city organization of Our Ukraine. Krasnov also served as the head of Serhiy Tihipko's presidential campaign in Dnipropetrovsk.
According to media reports, in the summer of 2012 Krasnov joined Ukrainian Choice, the political movement founded by Viktor Medvedchuk. During the Revolution of Dignity in 2014, the same reports alleged that he initially organized groups of Titushky before later positioning himself in opposition to the government and expressing support for Right Sector and the Svoboda party.
In 2014, Krasnov was a candidate in the snap parliamentary election to the Verkhovna Rada.
In the 2010 Dnipropetrovsk mayoral election, held on 31 October 2010, Krasnov finished fourth behind Ivan Kulichenko, Andriy Pavelko, and Sviatoslav Oliinyk. Because his political party, Hromadska Syla, was denied registration for the election, its members ran on the list of the People's Order party, which failed to win representation in the city council.
Krasnov again ran for Mayor of Dnipropetrovsk in the 2015 Ukrainian local elections, receiving 12.42% of the vote and finishing third. His party, Hromadska Syla, won seven seats in the Dnipropetrovsk City Council, receiving approximately 11% of the vote.
In the 2020 Ukrainian local elections, Krasnov received 13.2% of the vote in the first round of the mayoral election, narrowly outperforming Oleksandr Vilkul, who received 13.0%. In the runoff election held on 22 November 2020, he received 18.8% of the vote, losing to incumbent mayor Borys Filatov, who won with 78.1%.
Cooperation with Oleg Tsaryov
During the second half of the 2000s, Krasnov cooperated in the Dnipropetrovsk City Council with Oleg Tsaryov, then a member of the Party of Regions and later a collaborator with Russia.
Following the 2006 local elections, the Hromada faction led by Krasnov joined the governing majority formed with the participation of the Party of Regions. Several Ukrainian media outlets described the relationship between Krasnov and Tsaryov as a political and business partnership, reporting that they jointly influenced the formation of the governing majority in the city council and appointments to senior municipal positions.
According to media investigations, in 2005 Krasnov and Tsaryov, through a company known as the "Children's Sports and Recreation School of the Olympic Reserve", obtained more than 36 hectares of land in the Sonyachnyi residential district of Dnipropetrovsk. Although the project was officially presented as the construction of a sports complex, journalists reported that a substantial part of the land was intended for commercial development, including hotels, parking facilities, and other commercial properties.
Journalists also reported that the company's original founders included Krasnov's wife, Elvira Krasnova. She was later replaced by Oksana Haleta and Oleksii Permiakov, whom the media described as being connected with the business interests of Krasnov and Tsaryov. According to these reports, the formal change of ownership did not affect the project's actual control.
The same investigation reported that Permiakov was a co-founder of the companies Pioner Plus and Anel, as well as Krasnov's civic organization Hromadska Syla. Oksana Haleta was also reported to have participated in the activities of the companies Megapolis-Stroy and Arka, which journalists linked to Krasnov's business circle. Obozrevatel further reported that the cooperation between Krasnov and Tsaryov extended beyond this single project. According to the publication, businessmen Oleksii Permiakov, Oleksandr Datsenko, and Andrii Panchenko, who were described as being associated with Tsaryov's business interests, also became founders of Krasnov's civic organization Hromadska Syla. Journalists stated that these individuals participated in numerous companies connected with both politicians.
According to Ukrainian media reports, the political alliance between Krasnov and Tsaryov after the 2006 local elections gave them considerable influence over the Dnipropetrovsk City Council. Obozrevatel described the two politicians as a "close business tandem" that exercised extensive influence over decisions concerning municipal land allocation and city-owned property. In 2016, iPress likewise referred to Krasnov as Tsaryov's "long-time business partner" when describing their joint activities in the Dnipropetrovsk City Council.
During the 2010 Ukrainian presidential election campaign, several media outlets reported that Krasnov headed the Dnipropetrovsk campaign headquarters of presidential candidate Serhiy Tihipko, while Tsaryov, despite remaining one of the leaders of the regional organization of the Party of Regions, also supported Tihipko contrary to his party's official position. The publications stated that this decision had been coordinated by Krasnov and Tsaryov.
Following the Revolution of Dignity and Tsaryov's subsequent pro-Russian activities, Ukrainian media revisited his previous political ties, including his cooperation with Krasnov.