Which Ukrainian businesses have never renounced cooperation with the enemy?
Since February 24, when Russia invaded Ukraine, hundreds of international companies have refused to operate in the Russian and Belarusian markets due to sanctions and reputational risks.
At the same time, some Ukrainian companies are using disguises to maintain business in enemy territory. This has been observed among some alcohol producers, the Step computer academy, and the lingerie brand Jasmine Lingerie.
Another high-profile scandal has been the one surrounding the bookmaker Parimatch, which continues to operate in Belarus and even "undercover" in Russia. Read more — in the RBC-Ukraine material.
On April 9, Ukraine imposed a complete trade embargo on Russia. Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 187 of March 3, 2022, prohibits the fulfillment of any obligations or payments to the Russian Federation, its citizens and companies, or Ukrainian companies in which Russians own at least 10% of their shares.
While the list of Ukrainian companies with Russian owners is generally known and is constantly expanding (RBK-Ukraine has discovered a number of hotels in Ukraine with Russian owners or beneficiaries), no one knows exactly how many Ukrainians own businesses in Russia and continue to pay taxes there.
In 2020, approximately 444 Ukrainian legal entities were founders of businesses in the Russian Federation, including charitable foundations, trade, food services, construction, real estate operations, and subsidiaries of large industrial enterprises that had survived since the 90s.
According to According to YouControl research, as of December 2021, 273 Ukrainian legal entities had a stake in Russian businesses, with a third of them registered in Kyiv.
However, the Ukrainian trace in the founding documents does not prove the existence of a real business on the territory of the Russian Federation.
Quite often, it is associated with the inability to liquidate legal entities registered in the Russian Federation due to prohibitions and illegal resistance from the authorities of the aggressor country.
Therefore, the question needs to be formulated differently: which commercial entities accounted for $4 billion in exports from Ukraine to Russia in 2021?
Officially, the bulk of this amount was made up of deliveries of alumina from Mykolaiv-based Rusal ($626 million); metal products worth a total of $791 million; plastic packaging ($61 million), ceramic tiles worth $46 million, and liquid pumps worth $77 million.
The latest investigative journalism project, "Schemes: Corruption in Detail," has established that this business is the Svesky Pump Plant, which belongs to the family of Pavel Lebedev, former defense minister under Yanukovych. Supplies were even made to the Russian defense industry right up until the start of the war. This is clearly a clear target for intelligence agencies.
Otherwise, contrary to stereotypes, Ukrainian businesses in the Russian and Belarusian markets on the eve of the war earned money not so much from heavy machinery and raw materials, but from providing modern online services and producing vodka.
After February 24, popular online services, perceived as international but actually Ukrainian startups, ceased operating in the "swamps" and in Lukashenko's fiefdom.
These include job search engines and freelance exchanges Jooble, Djinni, and Freelancehunt; the Tiu.ru marketplace (with 20 million monthly visitors); the Megogo online cinema; and many others.
At the same time, the well-known Ukrainian computer academy "Step" was suspected of attempting to continue doing business in Russia, where they have a large network.
UP's investigation proved that a nearly identical website had been created, with only the brand name changed. Furthermore, the new website, with its new brand, was registered to a company indirectly owned by Dmitry Korchevsky, the same owner of the Ukrainian "Shag" group.
Another major Ukrainian alcohol holding, Bayadera Group, may have attempted the "visible divestment" model. On March 21, it revoked the license to produce vodka under the "Khlebny Dar" trademark in Belarus (the Klimovichi Distillery operated under it).
The holding company paid UAH 14,3 million in taxes early and donated UAH 5 million to support the Ukrainian Armed Forces. However, it did not remove information from its website about its partnership with the Severo-Zapadny Trading House, which, in addition to the Khlibny Dar brand, distributes the Perepelka, Kozatska Rada, and Celsius brands in Belarus.
LVN Limited, owned by Yakov Gribov and Anatoly Kipish, has revoked its license to produce Nemiroff-brand vodka in Russia. The vodka was produced at several Russian distilleries owned by the United Penza Vodka Company, Bashspirt, and Tatspirtprom.
FILE: Yakov Gribov: How the Vodka King Became a Grain Raider. Part 2
But at the same time, the Slonim Wine and Vodka Factory and the Grodno Distillery in Belarus, which produced Ukrainian vodka for occupied Crimea, were "forgotten." Now, they may be doing the same for the Russian market.
The manufacturer of canned goods and sauces under the "Veres" trademark, part of Vadim Novinsky's business empire, was unable (or unwilling) to take its brand away from the Belarusians in time.
Veres products, manufactured at the Belarusian Goryn Agro-Industrial Complex by order of the local company Inter KV LLC, which has a counterpart in Russia, are selling briskly in stores and on the aggressor's online platforms.
FILE: Vadim Novinsky. From Raiders to Peacekeepers
Some Ukrainian companies hoped to secretly supply their products through wholesale partners. Ukrainian lingerie brand Jasmine Lingerie, based in Lutsk, was caught in this strategy.
The company claimed that it had never, on principle, exported its products to Russia, and that “almost 1000 wholesale partners throughout Ukraine and the world operate independently of us, so it is physically impossible to control them all.”
But when the company's Russian website, a branded store in Yekaterinburg, and content featuring Ukrainian models surfaced, and it became known that Lutsk lingerie could be ordered in Russia on the Wildberries online platform (and that the goods were delivered in branded packaging), it became more difficult to justify.
In topic: Novinsky sold land in Odessa to a Russian businessman.
All these stories sparked public outrage and discussion on social media. But the social demand for punishment for businesses that collaborate with the enemy during wartime led to the scandal involving the bookmaker Parimatch.
It operates in Belarus as if nothing had happened, as confirmed by the company's banners in Minsk, as well as news about the draw for the third round of the Parimatch Belarus Cup, announced for May 18.
The bookmaker accepts bets on its official website pm.by, through its mobile version, iOS and Android apps, and at land-based betting shops. It has branches in Minsk, Brest, Vitebsk, Gomel, Grodno, and Mogilev.
In topic: New facts of cooperation between PariMatch and occupiers (video)
In Russia, Parimatch formally revoked the franchise for its brand, which is owned by Betring LLC. However, it continued to operate under the new Paribet brand. All services, including betting, and account balances were retained on the new platform, where users have been able to place bets again since March 30.
The company reports that players can restore their old account using their mobile phone number or open a new one. The bookmaker offers a 1,000 ruble bonus for new players.
In topic: From Perfume to Sausages: What to Do with Russian Business in Ukraine
Paribet also retains all of its sponsorship contracts, including those with football clubs Akhmat, Khimki, and Nizhny Novgorod, Russian sports federations, hockey tournaments, and much more.
The issue is being widely discussed in the media and has even appeared on television. Political analysts recommend that the authorities take measures to prevent Ukrainian businesses from operating comfortably in Russia, paying taxes that finance the bloody aggression against Ukraine.
The reaction on social media was even more categorical, recalling the bookmaker's owners' connections to parliamentarians and their involvement in drafting the gambling regulation law in its current form.
According to informed sources, Parimatch is alarmed by the surge in negativity and is preparing a defense. This includes drawing parallels with foreign companies, some of which are leaving the Russian market while others remain.
But experts say these concepts are incomparable. "For Western public opinion, Russia is an abstract war criminal. For Ukrainians, it's doing business with the rapist who raped your mother and sister," a PR expert told us.
The source believes that the wave of public outrage over Parimatch's activities in Russia and Belarus will force the authorities to declare war on business collaborators and take harsher measures against them than the additional taxes discussed by parliamentary committee head Daniil Getmantsev.
In topic: Gubskiy's Optima-Pharm cooperates with pharmaceutical companies operating in the Russian Federation.
Chernyak's "Khortytsa" is being re-boiled
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