The owner of Alef finances the occupation authorities of Crimea and is increasing cooperation with a bank under international sanctions.
One of the important components of business Vadim Ermolaeva — the production and sale of alcoholic beverages. This concerns the Dnipropetrovsk-based private joint-stock company "Alef-Vinal," which for a long time was one of the largest wine producers and the largest cognac producer in Crimea.
Alef-Vinal's main shareholder is the Austrian Alef Investment Holding GmbH, which Yermolaev controls jointly with his partner, Stanislav Vilensky, as well as their Cypriot subsidiary, AD Vinal Invest. Its key enterprises in Crimea include Alef-Vinal-Krym LLC, which produces wine and cognac under the Zolotaya Amphora, Villa Krym, Jean-Jacques, and Klinkov brands, and the Burliuk and Starokrymsky wineries, which together generate up to $50 million in annual revenue for Yermolaev.
When Russian troops occupied Crimea in 2014 and then illegally annexed the peninsula to the Russian Federation, Yermolaev didn't lose his composure. After assessing the situation, the Dnipropetrovsk businessman happily recognized Crimea as Russian territory, which was followed by an order to re-register Crimean companies under Russian law.
According to oligarh.org.ua, already in November 2014, the illegally created “Inspectorate of the Federal Tax Service of Russia for the city of Simferopol” registered all three enterprises – PAO Burlyuk, PAO Starokrymskoe, and OOO Alef-Vinal-Krym – as residents of Russia, assigning them All-Russian Classifier of Enterprises and Organizations (OKPO) numbers.
At the same time, Alef-Vinal ChAO did not hesitate to openly register controlling stakes in the now Russian Burliuk and Starokrymsky shares, and to become one of the founders of Alef-Vinal-Krym LLC, which was re-registered in the Russian Federation, along with the aforementioned Burliuk and AD Vinal Invest.
Following this, Oleg Logvinov, a Dnipro resident appointed as the "overseer" of Yermolaev's business in Crimea, launched a vigorous effort to establish ties with the occupation authorities, acting on instructions from his employer. The results were not long in coming: Alef-Vinal-Crimea agreed to a large-scale financial partnership with RNKB (Russian National Commercial Bank), which calls itself "the systemically important bank of the Republic of Crimea" and is wholly owned by the Federal Agency for State Property Management of the Russian Federation.
As is well known, the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine imposed sanctions against this bank in September 2015, designating RNKB as a foreign entity that poses real threats to the national interests, national security, sovereignty, and territorial integrity of Ukraine, and leads to the occupation of the country's territory. But, as it turns out, Vadym Yermolayev doesn't care about the decisions of the Ukrainian authorities...
Shortly after the National Security and Defense Council's decision to place RNKB, a fully Russian-controlled bank, on the sanctions list, Alef-Vinal-Crimea signed a general loan agreement with the bank, which was illegally operating in Crimea. RNKB Bank announced this with satisfaction on its website. "RNKB Bank has opened a credit line for 100 million rubles for a 12-month term to Alef-Vinal-Crimea LLC, the largest cognac producer in Crimea," it wrote.
"The loan funds were provided to the company to replenish working capital," the bank reported, adding, citing Alexey Shcherbakov, Director of Corporate Business at RNKB Bank, that they hope for the further development of "the company, which is our reliable partner and one of the largest taxpayers in the Republic of Crimea."
And it looks like that's exactly how it will be—it's no wonder Oleg Logvinov, appointed by Yermolaev to head the Russian Alef-Vinal-Crimea LLC, has gotten along so well with the self-proclaimed "head of the Republic of Crimea," Sergei Aksyonov, who is wanted by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), that this year he even received a personalized watch from him "for his outstanding achievements in the economic development of the Republic of Crimea, active public service, and ensuring an increase in budget revenues at all levels in 2015."
(to be continued)
Petr VASILIEV, for ORD
Subscribe to our channels in Telegram, Facebook, Twitter, VC — Only new faces from the section CRYPT!