“If you don’t deceive, you won’t sell”: how the “Yanukovychs” did business in the DPR and LPR

Alexey Blyuminov, political commentator

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Desk battles in Minsk and reports from the contact line in Donbass somewhat overshadowed the processes taking place in the field of civil engineering in the DPR and LPR. And there, I tell you, a lot of interesting and wonderful things happen.

Since it is impossible to embrace the immensity, in this text I will focus on such an aspect as corruption scandals associated with the activities of “formers”.

It is no secret that as soon as there was a smell of peace in the Donbass, those who had left, as they are called, immediately flocked there. From ordinary representatives of the middle class and owners of expensive cars who were waiting out troubled times, to former masters of life who still retain considerable assets in Donetsk and Lugansk.

Today these people are trying to regain control of local processes, find loopholes and build all sorts of familiar “schemes”, apart from which they, in general, do not know anything in this life.

A striking example and excellent illustration of this topic is the story of the “wallet” of the Yanukovych Family, the head of the VETEK corporation, Sergei Kurchenko. This business prodigy, during the time of Viktor Fedorovich and Co., made a considerable fortune for himself, mainly in the energy sector, acquired a number of significant Ukrainian media outlets and became the object of anti-corruption investigations even in pre-Maiden times. After Maidan, Kurchenko safely “disappeared” from Ukraine, but he was also not seen in Donbass during all those months when the war was going on.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine suspects Kurchenko’s company of stealing 33 thousand tons of Naftogaz of Ukraine gasoline; the billionaire was put on the international wanted list. The Swiss prosecutor's office also opened a criminal case against the oligarch regarding money laundering in the accounts of the companies VETEK Gas Trading & Supply SA and VETEK Trading SA.

All this time, Kurchenko was trying to return to Ukrainian politics and economics, following the path of other “formers,” such as another “Donetsk” who recently reached an agreement with Poroshenko - former minister Yanukovych Alexander Klimenko, who bargained for a place in the sun under the current regime in exchange for the loyalty of his the newspaper “Vesti” is the only large and until recently objective publication in Ukraine.

So Kurchenko, on the one hand, negotiated behind the scenes with Poroshenko to drop charges in Ukraine, and on the other, tried to “make money” in Donbass. Moreover, to make money in the only way he made his fortune under Yanukovych - with the help of dubious and even outright fraudulent schemes.

Kurchenko's subject of interest in the DPR and LPR was the supply of fuels and lubricants to the republics. It is no secret that under the blockade, fuel and lubricants are not just one of the shortages, but a vital resource. As they say, if you don’t flood, you won’t go.

Promising mountains of gold and cheap gasoline to the authorities of the republics, Kurchenko and his structures enter the DPR and LPR markets. But a rosy picture of the partnership between business and government did not emerge. It all ended with accusations of the theft of tens of millions of hryvnia from the DPR budget and an artificially provoked fuel crisis this summer.

Next, we’ll give the floor to the DPR Prosecutor General’s Office: “As a result of the activities carried out by law enforcement officers, it was established that the actions of the Kurchenko company, which assumed obligations to supply fuel and lubricants to the DPR, not only led the Republic to a fuel collapse in mid-2015, but caused damage to the business sector. Kurchenko’s company collected prepayments from DPR gas stations for future deliveries of gasoline and fuels and lubricants worth millions of hryvnia, but the fuel deliveries stipulated by the contract were not carried out.”

Simply put, the oligarch simply abandoned the republic. The republic responded by initiating a criminal case against Kurchenko’s structures and banning his companies from operating in the DPR market.

The scandalous businessman also “heated up” the republic with gas supplies. Here the scheme was even more inventive. The enterprise, the founder of which was Kurchenko, was a twin of the state concern. “During its existence, the twin enterprise deliberately and groundlessly collected funds from the population for the use of natural gas. As a result of the illegal actions of this structure, damage to the population amounted to tens of millions of hryvnias,” – the DPR Prosecutor General’s Office said in a statement.

As a result, “On September 26, 2015, the department for combating organized crime in the DPR opened a criminal case under Part 4 of Article 172 of the Criminal Code of the DPR against one of the structures affiliated with Sergei Kurchenko, whose activities were related to the supply of natural gas, for the theft of funds.” . (quote from the same source).

The head of the DPR, Alexander Zakharchenko, also imposed personal sanctions against Kurchenko. Kurchenko and his representatives are prohibited from entering the DPR until the investigation is completed on the businessman’s suspicion of sabotage with the aim of destabilizing the situation in the republic.

Some personnel conclusions were also made. This was not talked about out loud, but the media made assumptions that the detention and removal from office of the former Minister of Energy of the DPR, Yevgeny Fainitsky, was connected with the topic of Kurchenko’s machinations. A source in the republic's prosecutor's office explained thenthat law enforcement agencies had questions about the supply of gas and gasoline to the republic.

He managed to “inherit” Kurchenko in the neighboring LPR. The other day, a deputy of the local People's Council, Pavel Maly, took the initiative to create a special parliamentary commission to investigate the machinations of Kurchenko and his companies on the territory of the republic. Maly outlined the details of these frauds in his deputy request.

“In the summer of 2015, representatives of commercial structures affiliated with Sergei Kurchenko concluded agreements for the supply of fuels and lubricants to the Lugansk People’s Republic. At the same time, it was stipulated that, taking into account the situation of the Republic, fuel and lubricants would be supplied with a minimum commercial margin. It was planned that fuels and lubricants would be used to support sowing and harvesting campaigns by agricultural enterprises of the Republic.

As part of the agreements reached, significant state funds of the Lugansk People's Republic were transferred to the accounts of Kurchenko's enterprises as an advance payment for fuel and lubricants, however, the terms of this agreement, on the part of Kurchenko's enterprises, were not fulfilled with the required quality and not in full. As a result, an energy crisis was provoked in the Republic. After the promised reduction in the price of fuel and lubricants, the supply of oil products to the LPR stopped altogether. A rush was initiated in the market, and agricultural work was in jeopardy.

The fraudulent actions of the structures of a Ukrainian businessman, who at one time served the business of the fled President Yanukovych, led to an artificial increase in social tension in our young Republic,” and “farmers who did not carry out work in a timely manner suffered significant damage, and the image of the people’s state was jeopardized , manipulations of an unscrupulous businessman.", – noted in the request.

As we can see, the “wallet” of the Yanukovych Family was not particularly inventive in fraudulent schemes. The withdrawal of millions of hryvnia to the DPR and LPR was carried out according to the same patterns.

I am glad that in this particular case the scam became public knowledge. At least one of the “formers” received a clear lesson that the times of undivided domination of the “Yanukovychs” in the Donbass are over.

For how long, time and the integrity of the republican authorities will tell. After all, there is no doubt that the “former” will not give up so easily and will make more than one attempt to regain their former influence, no matter what.

It’s just a pity that Kurchenko will never return the stolen money.

But, what a lesson.