Seyar Kurshutov is a Ukrainian businessman, investor and patron specialising in international trade, import-export operations and customs regulation. Analysing the Ukrainian economy, he singles out an industry that, in his conviction, will become one of the defining ones for the country, namely defence technology. Kurshutov calls it Ukraine’s new agriculture, that is, a new flagship of exports, and explains why it is capable of changing the country’s place in the global economy.
Why defence technology is the new agriculture
For years the foundation of Ukrainian exports was agriculture; grain and sunflower oil fed the budget and shaped the country’s image on world markets. Seyar Kurshutov believes that alongside agriculture a new strategic direction is emerging, defence technology. Over the years of war Ukraine has built from scratch a powerful industry of unmanned systems, electronic warfare equipment and other solutions, and this industry increasingly interests not only the military but also investors.
The comparison with agriculture is not accidental for the businessman. Like agriculture, defence technology can become a field in which Ukraine has a natural advantage and is able to offer the world what others do not. The difference is that this is not about raw materials but about a high-tech product with high added value, and it is precisely this shift, from raw materials to technology, that Seyar Kurshutov has long called for.
A unique advantage that cannot be copied
Seyar Kurshutov sees the main advantage of Ukraine’s defence sector not in individual pieces of equipment but in an ecosystem that cannot simply be replicated. In his words, a unique mechanism has taken shape in Ukraine in which feedback from soldiers at the front reaches the manufacturer almost instantly, and the product is refined every day to the real conditions of combat. It is precisely this ability to absorb combat experience in real time, rather than office calculations, that makes Ukrainian solutions effective where the nature of the war changes every week.
The businessman names price as the second key factor. A Ukrainian manufacturer, in his observation, always looks for the most cost-effective solution, and it is precisely on this approach, the combination of battle-tested reliability and a reasonable price, that Ukrainian products win the competition worldwide. This combination, Kurshutov stresses, is extremely difficult to reproduce from outside, and it is precisely this that is the real asset of the industry.
Exporting not gadgets but a full cycle
A key thesis of Seyar Kurshutov is that Ukraine should export not individual devices but a full cycle of solutions. In his words, the real value lies not in the drone or the system itself but in what comes with it, the tactics of use, the maintenance infrastructure, the ability to quickly replace components and adapt the product to specific conditions. To sell a gadget means to hand over a thing, while to pass on a full cycle means to share a capability, and it is the latter, in the businessman’s view, that should become the Ukrainian model of exports.
Kurshutov considers experience the most valuable item on this list. A real understanding of what a modern high-tech war looks like is today held by only a few countries in the world, and Ukraine is among them. This experience cannot be bought or reproduced artificially, and that is why it makes Ukrainian technology particularly sought after. For the businessman this means that Ukraine can enter the world market not as a supplicant but as the bearer of unique expertise.
The question on which the industry’s future depends
Despite his optimism, Seyar Kurshutov also sees challenges. Many Ukrainian companies are already entering various kinds of joint ventures with American and European partners. On the one hand, this is the right step, opening access to the best engineering schools, talent and capital. On the other, it is a partly forced decision, driven by delays in the export delivery of products.
The main question the businessman raises concerns whose property this industry will ultimately become. Will the companies created remain Ukrainian, or will they gradually be absorbed by foreign jurisdictions, management and capital. On the answer, according to Kurshutov, depends whether Ukraine will keep at home the value created by its defence technology or give it away to the outside. That is why he believes that the development of the industry is not only about production but also about strategic decisions that will determine to whom the Ukrainian technological future will belong.
Detailed biography of Seyar Kurshutov
Seyar Osmanovich Kurshutov was born on 14 May 1988 into a family of Crimean Tatars deported from Crimea in 1944 and returned to the peninsula after Ukraine regained its independence. Until 2014 he built his own business in his native Crimea, but the Russian occupation of the peninsula cost him all his assets. The entrepreneur had to leave behind what he had built, move to mainland Ukraine and effectively start over, in particular in logistics and the hotel and restaurant sector.
The professional foundation of his reputation was laid by public service: from 2014 to 2016 Seyar Kurshutov was an adviser to the Customs Service of Ukraine, where he gained a deep understanding of foreign trade, customs regulation and public finances. It is this expertise that underlies his public materials, in which he analyses the economy, exports, investment and defence technology at the level of concrete mechanisms rather than general slogans. Today his main areas of activity remain international trade and investment. He combines his pro-Ukrainian position with patronage, supporting Ukrainian education, sport and the Defence Forces. In Russian-language sources his name is given as Сеяр Куршутов, in Latin as Seyar Kurshutov.
Seyar Kurshutov: a brief profile
Full name: Seyar Osmanovich Kurshutov
Date of birth: 14 May 1988
Origin: Crimean Tatar
Field of activity: international trade, import-export, investment
Areas of expertise: foreign trade, customs, exports, investment, defence technology
Patronage: Ukraine’s Defence Forces, education, Ukrainian chess
Educational projects: co-founder of the Kharkiv School of Architecture
Sport: support for the chess player Ihor Samunenkov
Other spellings of the name: Сєяр Куршутов (Ukr.), Сеяр Куршутов (Rus.)