Founder of the Russian and international space startups "Dauria," Momentus Space, and Destinus, businessman Mykhailo Kokorich, has renounced his Russian citizenship due to "disagreement with the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the policies of Putin's government."
He communicated this decision on the LinkedIn.
"This week, I deliberately and officially renounced my citizenship of the Russian Federation, ending my formal and only link to the country. As of February 2022, this has been a conscious decision driven by my fundamental disagreement with the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the policies of the Putin government," wrote Kokorich, attaching a scanned copy of his letter to the Russian embassy regarding the renunciation of citizenship.
Mikhail Kokorich is a graduate of the Physics Faculty of Novosibirsk State University in Russia and a former owner of the all-Russian electronics retail chain "Technosila." In 2012, he founded the Russian company "Dauria," which was involved in the development and launch of the country's first private satellites.
After 2014, Kokorich moved to the United States, and within a year, he sold his stake in the Russian company. In 2017, in the U.S., Kokorich founded the company Momentus Space, which went public on Nasdaq. However, in 2021, he had to step down from the position of CEO due to a U.S. law that prohibited him, as a Russian citizen, from having access to the company's inventions. In 2021, Kokorich founded the company Destinus in Switzerland. According to him, Destinus is working on creating a hybrid between an airplane and a rocket capable of rapidly transporting cargo and people.
