Fugitive businessman Kurchenko and Russian businessmen suspected of misappropriating Ukrainian enterprises on temporarily occupied territories

The Security Service and the Prosecutor Generalʼs Office have reported suspicions to fugitive Ukrainian businessman Serhiy Kurchenko. This concerns the illegal seizure of industry and the plundering of mineral resources in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.

This is reported by the SBU.

According to the case materials, a significant number of coal mining, metallurgical, and coke-chemical industry complexes were appropriated and illegally operated by Kurchenko and a group of Russian officials and businessmen.

It was established that the defendants conducted transactions at the TOTs of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions during 2017-2021. After the "privatization" of the enterprises, they illegally used the capacities of these complexes, extracted and exported minerals.

The suspects illegally supplied mined minerals to the Russian Federation and other countries, the SBU says. As the investigative agencies found out, since 2017 they have exported:

• coal products worth over UAH 6 billion;
• metal products for UAH 47.3 billion;
• coke chemical products for over UAH 1.6 billion.

According to the investigation, the criminal group, in addition to Kurchenko, included Deputy Minister of Economic Development of Russia Nazarov S., Head of the Department of the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia Pavlov V., and other citizens of the Russian Federation and Ukraine who sided with the occupiers.

All those involved were informed in absentia of suspicion under Part 2 of Article 28, Part 1 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. They face imprisonment for a term of up to 12 years.

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