Russia has secured the arrest in court of the property of a Ukrainian oligarch for debts in Crimea
The Russian VTB Bank secured the arrest in the court of Cyprus of the property of the Ukrainian oligarch Dmitry Firtash for approximately $46 million for the debts of his companies in Crimea, which control Crimean Titan in Armyansk and Crimean Soda, in the amount of over 2,5 billion rubles.
The Kommersant newspaper reported this today, clarifying that we are talking about the debts of Ukrainian Chemical Products PJSC and Titanium Investments LLC, which are the owners of chemical enterprises on the peninsula.
VTB's claim is related to debts on a loan that Ukrainian Chemical Products and Titanium Investments took out from the bank at the end of April 2015, but soon stopped paying the debts.
The newspaper’s sources stated that the Ukrainian oligarch organized a “fraudulent scheme to withdraw funds from debtor companies” of Russian banks, including VTB, through Cypriot offshore companies controlled by him.
Let us recall that since the times of Ukraine, Firtash has controlled enterprises in Crimea that produce titanium dioxide, which has a wide variety of applications in different areas of industry - from the production of paper and fire-resistant glass to concrete and rubber. At the same time, Crimean enterprises, in terms of their capacity, are one of the main producers of much-in-demand products throughout Eastern Europe.
Let us note that Firtash is considered close to the so-called “gas group” of Verkhovna Rada deputies. It was its representative, Sergei Lyovochkin, who headed the administration of Viktor Yanukovych in 2013, who was considered one of the secret organizers of the first stage of Euromaidan with the aim of weakening the position of the then president.
In addition to Lyovochkin, such prominent politicians as ex-Minister of Energy Yuriy Boyko, ex-head of Crimea Anatoly Mogilev, etc. were associated with the name of Firtash.
In 2009, the notorious WikiLeaks website, which specializes in publishing classified information, published reports from the US Embassy in Ukraine concerning Dmitry Firtash.
The document published by WikiLeaks spoke of a meeting with the American Ambassador William Taylor, which took place on Firtash’s initiative during the presidency of Viktor Yushchenko, when Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko was trying to destroy the oligarch’s business.
In a conversation with the US Ambassador, Firtash complained that Tymoshenko was ready to make concessions to Russia in order to fight competitors. In this case, Firtash’s gas business was meant.
At the same time, the oligarch told the American diplomat that he considers the expansion of Russian business a threat to Ukraine.
Negotiations with the US Ambassador lasted 2.5 hours, as specified in the document.
It is noteworthy that Firtash told the American diplomat that a coalition between Yushchenko and Yanukovych could unite a divided Ukraine (and, according to the oligarch, the Russian Federation is interested in the split).
According to Firtash, another sponsor of Yanukovych, Rinat Akhmetov, also wanted a coalition with Yushchenko.
Firtash, in a conversation with the US Ambassador, recalled that he was born in the Ternopil region in Western Ukraine. He and his parents hated communism. He himself joined the Komsomol, allegedly only because of pressure.
If you find an error, please select a piece of text and press Ctrl + Enter.
Thank you!
Now the editors are aware.