Russian occupants appointed a new “director” of the state research farm “Askaniyske” in Kherson oblast

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Станислав Шеремет, коллаборант, назначенный оккупантами «директором» госпредприятия «ДГ «Асканійське» Фото: Facebook

Russian military appointed a new «director” of the state owned enterprise «Askaniyske” of the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences of Ukraine, which is located in Tavrychanka, Kakhovka District. Stanislav Sheremet, the sales manager of Syngenta Ukraine, became a new “director”.

It was reported to the Center for Journalist Investigations by Viktor Naidyonov, the Director of State Enterprise «DG Askaniyske».

«I found out about it on June 1. On this day, Russian soldiers armed with machine guns came to our enterprise, gathered a team and introduced new «director» – Sheremet Stanislav Serhiyovych. I am not familiar with him, except that we met somewhere at seminars,» said Naidyonov.

Sheremet works as a sales manager for plant protection products at Syngenta Ukraine in Kherson oblast. He previously worked in a similar position at Alfa Smart Agro. He graduated from the Kherson State Agrarian and Economic University with a degree in «Agronomy».

The Center for Journalist Investigations tried to contact Sheremet, but his phone is out of reach. We also reached out to Syngenta Ukraine for comment. The company representative wrote down our questions and promised to provide answers later.

According to Naidyonov, when he was still in Kherson oblast, he was brought to the Russian «military commandant`s office» in Nova Kakhovka.

«They demanded that I cooperate with the occupants. I refused. Then, there were threats to me and my family. Therefore, I was forced to leave for the controlled territory of Ukraine at the beginning of May. Now I am safe. About 60-70% of employees remained at the enterprise and in Tavrychanka. The rest left evacuated to Ukraine. «DG Askaniyske» was not physically damaged. As far as I know, there were no robberies. The only thing is that we suffered financially very much, because we had no opportunity to sell the products and for two months we gave them away free of charge
to people,» said Naidyonov.

SE «DG Askaniyske» is the base farm of the Askaniy State Agricultural Research Station of the Institute of Irrigated Agriculture of the National Academy of Sciences. It has about 10,000 hectares of agricultural land, 350 employees. It produces 20-23 thousand tons of grain every year. It specializes in the cultivation of grain, technical, oil and fodder crops, as well as animal husbandry. As reported, Russian occupants seized administration of almost all nature reserves and national parks in Eastern and Southern Ukraine. Invaders set fire to forests because they believe guerrillas are hiding there, and hunt down national park workers because they think they are «Nazis».

Material is prepared by non-profit «Information press center» within IWPR project under the support of the European Union and the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.