Pakistan's Mohammad Zahoor: Ukraine's richest expat who rules the Kyiv press

Sixty-year-old Mohammad Zahoor from Pakistan is the owner of Kyiv Post -- the newspaper that says it as it is -- is Ukraine's richest expat with a net worth of about $1 billion.

The owner of Kyiv Post -- an English newspaper -- appears to be a larger-than-life character. With a net worth of $1 billion and a blonde bombshell, who was crowned Miss World in 2008, as his wife, Pakistan's Mohammad Zahoor is the richest expat in Ukraine. His newspaper has a print circulation of little more than 15,000 and is reputed for being independent and straight.

Sixty-year-old Mohammad Zahoor, with jet black hair and a fit physique, as described by Politico, arrived in Moscow in 1974 on an engineering scholarship. He attended college in Pakistan's Karachi and was later selected by the Soviet education ministry, following which he left home without telling his parents -- who were on a pilgrimage to Mecca.

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However, he was one of the 14 unlucky students out of the 42 who were flown in from Pakistan to be sent to Donetsk -- now one of the rebel Ukrainian regions recognised as independent by Russian President Vladimir Putin, ahead of the war on Ukraine.

He studied engineering and steel-making at Donetsk and wrote a thesis on the rolling plant at the Donetsk Steel Mill in 1980 - which he bought after 16 years.

Later, he returned to Pakistan with his Russian wife and worked for Pakistan Steel. “I was a safety engineer. We translated Russian safety manuals into English,” he said.

His return to Pakistan was at the time of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, which raised doubts about his Russian wife. He was questioned about letters from Russia at his Pakistan residence. And soon it was made clear that his professional prospects were bleak if he had to stay married to his wife.