Tetyana Rykhtun

While Mykola Azarov, ex-Prime Minister of Ukraine, who fled to Russia in 2014, continues to comment on Ukrainian politics from Moscow and act as a propagandist for the war, a mosaic of his legacy is gradually taking shape in Ukraine: estates, offshore companies, a collection of cultural artifacts, and criminal cases involving multibillion-dollar tax schemes. Whether the state will succeed, a decade after the former Prime Minister’s flight, in converting his assets – amassed through the backbreaking labor of the former head of the tax service and the government- into state revenue is currently being decided by several courts at once. The main battle is taking place in the High Anti-Corruption Court, where individuals whom the Ministry of Justice identifies as the nominal owners of Oleksiy and Mykola Azarov’s assets are participating in the hearings in person. Who are they, and how did the fugitive Prime Minister’s family amass wealth in Crimea during the Russian occupation of the peninsula? Find out in this investigation by the Center for Journalistic Investigations.

Ukrainian LLC «Budvistaproect» won the tender of Bila Krynytsya gymnasium in Kherson oblast about reconstruction of its building for basic kitchen. As an evidence of its experience, the company indicated the fulfillment of contract in a year when the company did not exist. The company is likely to be part of business empire of Maksym Yefimov, ex-member of Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and ex-member of Kramatorsk City Council from pro-Russian Party of Regions.

The company, implicated in criminal cases and journalist investigations, has kept winning multimillion public procurement contracts on education and civil defense facilities in Kherson oblast.

Soviet and Russian state propaganda glorified cases of heroic defense of Sevastopol, though, none of them was successful. Pro-Russian residents of Sevastopol love to say that they respect imperial and Soviet history of the city; they are proud of its achievements and respect the memory of its heroes. At the same time, they ignore official falsification of Sevastopol history and tolerate misappropriation of resources allocated for the preservation of this history.

Balaklava Bay has turned into a massive construction site. Both waterfronts—Nazukin Embankment and Tavriya Embankment—are cluttered with heavy machinery and fences, behind which historic buildings are being demolished and piles are being driven into the ground for new piers. Companies linked to Arkady and Boris Rotenberg, friends of Vladimir Putin since the days of the so-called «Ozero» [Lake] cooperative, have appropriated the bay and its cultural heritage sites for a dubious project. Russian occupants are making hotels and apartments the dominant feature of the «new Balaklava,» leaving no room for history or the city’s residents. (Watch the video version of the investigation here).

In April 2023, the Ukrainian government and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) signed grant agreement within the Program of Emergency Recovery (phase 2).  Its sub-project # 3 has focused on emergency improvement of energy supply in Ukraine. The plan has been simple: the Japanese government finances, international procurement agent buys, the Ukrainian factory manufactures necessary energy equipment and the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine (as an executive agent) transfers the equipment to the Ukrainian company providing energy supply & distribution. Transformers to replace damaged equipment in Kherson oblast have been purchased within this grant agreement.

However, five high voltage and thirty one low voltage transformers have not yet been supplied! More to that, their supply depends upon a chain of lawsuits between the Ministry of Energy and private energy distribution company JSC «Khersonoblenergo», part of the group of companies VS Energy.

After Russian occupation of Crimea in 2014, energy company «Sevastopolenergo», part of VS Energy, preserved it business and control over infrastructure in Sevastopol. VS Energy supplies electricity to the Russian Black Sea Fleet, other units of Russian Armed Forces and «ministries» of occupation government through its branches and Russian clones of Ukrainian legal entities.

This case seems to be separate from large case of VS Energy, now considered by the High Anti-Corruption Court of Ukraine. The CJI covered it in details in the material «Case of VS Energy as Corruption Mirror of Ukrainian Politicians, Oligarchs and Law Enforcement». However, this case contains direct evidence, necessary for sanctioning Russian criminal group «luzhnikovskie» and confiscating their assets for the benefit of the Ukraine state (or through special confiscation within criminal investigation).

Since 2000s, Russian business group «luzhnikovskie», tightly connected with Russian criminal gangs and Federal Security Service (FSB), has gradually turned into malignant tumor embracing various economic spheres and threatening Ukrainian national security. High level Ukrainian corruption boosted its survival even after Russian invasion into Ukraine in 2014 and 2022. The group still controls Ukrainian objects of critical infrastructure – electricity distribution companies. It uses the scheme of fake de jure owners from EU countries and Ukraine. FSB stands behind each of them.

The Center of Journalist Investigations initiates a series of materials highlighting the consideration by the High Anti-Corruption Court of Ukraine of the lawsuit of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine about nationalization of assets of sanctioned beneficiaries of company «VS Energy» founded by «luzhnikovskie». For the start, we will remind key aspects of this 25 years old story and its key figures.

У парламенті України оновили прихильників президента. Скандал навколо карального позбавлення мандатів народних депутатів Єгора Фірсова та Миколи Томенка поволі вщухає. Замість бунтівників у парламентську фракцію Блоку Петра Порошенка оперативно завели нових людей. Серед них – вимушений переселенець із Севастополя, 30-річний “ударівець” Дмитро Олександрович Білоцерковець. Хто він і за які заслуги став народним обранцем – у розслідуванні Тетяни…