Market 7 kilometer
It happened on August 27th near Odessa at Europe's largest industrial goods market, the "Seventh Circle" (OOO "Industrial Goods Market"). Masked assailants stormed the company's administrative building. They acted harshly. Witnesses say they first heard an explosion. It turned out to be a stun grenade. They treated people with no particular respect—thrown them face down on the floor, beat them with rifle butts, and forced them down stairs.
Raiding under state cover
Panic erupted at the market. Frightened and outraged business owners gathered outside the administrative building, demanding an explanation. A man named Vitaliy Tachansky, who identified himself as the former driver of current Odesa Regional Council member Viktor Dobryansky Jr., offered to provide the explanation. No one present understood who authorized him to do so.
So, this former driver explained that the market is currently being operated by Ministry of Internal Affairs officials, who allegedly have all the necessary permits from police chiefs and courts. But Tachansky didn't provide any documents. He claimed this was to prevent any leaks of documents or information, and that the general idea was that the operation would be prepared first, and then everything would be provided.
The crowded market was buzzing like a beehive. After all, the impending corporate raid had been talked about since early August. True, they were expecting clean-shaven guys with bats. What they saw were men in police uniforms. However, beyond the uniforms, the stormtroopers presented the entrepreneurs with nothing more—not only did they refuse to show the court's warrant, but they didn't even name which court had issued the ruling. Furthermore, their actions hardly resembled an investigative process.
"I was in my office on the second floor of the administration building. There was a loud thud and stomping noise on the stairs, and then my office door swung open. One of the big guys in camouflage and a balaclava entered. When I asked what was going on, he silently hit me in the ribs with the butt of his rifle. He then cocked his rifle and warned me he would open fire. Naturally, I had to retreat, because verbal arguments don't work against a machine gun. This is pure corporate raiding using state power, because it's a violent takeover with the help of law enforcement, with a violation of public order, during the workday... On what grounds are they interfering with the work of a major enterprise?" says Viktor Kudlai, Chairman of the Industrial Market Workers' Union.
"Not only did they throw me on the floor, but they also beat me without explanation. Even though I didn't interfere with their actions on the premises. I had a 'signature' from a size 45 boot left on my back. We, like any business, have had many inspections—by the prosecutor, tax authorities, and police... But everything was done in a civilized manner, within the law: people came with court orders, and we presented all the documents without any hindrance. Today, however, we have a staged 'show,' which must be assessed by the courts," continues Vasily Peychev, acting director of the market.
Computers, servers, and documents, including those related to the financial and business operations of all retail space owners, were removed from the market's administrative building. Operations were virtually paralyzed. Is it a coincidence that this occurred on the eve of a Supreme Court hearing in Ukraine, which will hear a case concerning an attempted change of ownership of the Seventh Kilometer market?
From the "push" to the "Seventh Kilometer"
The events of August 27 were a continuation of a very long-standing story.
The industrial goods market emerged in 1989 near Odessa in an abandoned field. The first entrepreneurs initially traded near the city's Starokonny Market. They were then expelled beyond the city limits. Seeking better conditions, the Odessans "wandered" to the cornfield and began selling goods in short supply at the time. At the "flea market," as the market was then called, one could buy everything from exclusive jeans brought back from abroad by sailors to consumer goods that were in dire shortage in stores.
Viktor Dobryansky Sr., head of the nearby Avangard state farm and later the permanent president of the Promtovary Market, consulted with the Ovidiopol district leadership and decided to allocate a separate trading area (seven kilometers from Odessa) for the residents. For the convenience and safety of sellers and buyers, the area was fenced off and later paved. Over time, metal trading tables and awnings were installed, giving birth to the first trading area of the Seventh Kilometer, then known as the Field of Miracles. The market began to acquire retail and warehouse infrastructure. Over nearly a quarter of a century, the Seventh Kilometer became not only the largest trading platform in Europe but also a business school for many domestic merchants. Thanks to the efforts of its founder, Dobryansky Sr., the market has grown into a veritable trading center, renowned far beyond Ukraine and the CIS.
Thanks to Grandpa for... the market
Viktor Dobryansky Sr. had an adopted daughter, Irina Chernat, whose son was named Viktor in honor of his grandfather. Initially, he bore the surname Chernat, but as he grew older and began playing politics and fighting for market dominance, he changed his name to Dobryansky. This is how Viktor Dobryansky Jr. was born.
Before his death, Dobryansky Sr. expressed his last will and testament to all the founders of Promtovary Rynok LLC and distributed the family capital as follows: 15,08% to his daughter Irina Chernat, 28,49% to Viktor D LLC, and through his daughter Irina, he left it to his wife (Viktor Jr.’s grandmother) Valentina Alekseevna and two other daughters.
However, his grandson, Vita, was left no share of the enterprise. This was his grandfather's conscious decision. Viktor, remaining a rich kid from Odessa, failed to become an effective manager. The areas his grandfather tried to assign to his grandson failed (for example, building a catering network at the Seventh Kilometer). To the chagrin of Dobryansky Sr., the rich kid not only didn't know how to work, he didn't even want to.
"And his grandfather's will was this: Vitya should never approach the market (or his capital) under any circumstances. Furthermore, the unspoken rule of the Seventh Kilometer market has always been that it is outside of parties and politics. Business people don't need politicization. But Viktor Jr. has an obsession: to become a member of parliament of Ukraine (while Dobryansky Jr. is a regional council member – author). In 2012, he attempted this (that's when he changed his surname from Chernat to Dobryansky, to capitalize on his grandfather's authority). He lost, running in the 140th majoritarian district, receiving only 12% of the vote (finishing in 5th place)," writes the publication "Svobodnaya Odesa."
Denis Voloshin, Dobryansky Jr.'s partner in the current market takeover and a former shareholder of the company, is not far removed from his colleague. According to media reports, Voloshin was once excluded from the Seventh Kilometer's founding members for a reason—he allegedly hid a tidy sum from his partners and also recruited his brother, who was later arrested by the Odessa Department for Economic Security and Anti-Corruption (OBEP) for accepting a $1 million bribe to allocate a market plot without the consent of the shareholders.
So, after Dobryansky Sr.'s death, 28,49% of the shares were supposed to go to five heirs and remain under the management of Viktor D LLC. But one day, the family discovered that the register of founders of Viktor D didn't even list Irina Chernat, but rather his grandson Vitya. Everything was registered in his name. Dobryansky Jr. had simply appropriated the shares, depriving the true heirs (including his mother and grandmother) not only of their rightful property but also of the profits from it.
The changes to the LLC's charter documents and the change in management occurred without the knowledge of other major shareholders, including Irina Chernat. The LLC's director, Natalia Kamyshnaya, also knew nothing about this, even though she challenged the authenticity of the seal on the ownership transfer and management change agreements. She stated that she had the real seal in her possession at the time its imprint appeared on the documents.
"I did not place the Company's seal on agreements providing for the transfer of ownership of a share in the authorized capital, on the minutes of general meetings of the Company's participants, on the Company's charter in the new version, registration cards, and other documents regarding changes in participants or the Company's director," reads Natalia Kamyshnaya's statement, which she submitted to the State Registrar of the Registration Service of the Ovidiopol District Department of Justice.
Shareholder Irina Chernat also filed a corresponding application with the state registrar, requesting that the entry in the Unified State Register regarding amendments to the statutory documents regarding the change of founder and director be cancelled.
As a result of forgery, document falsification and criminal conspiracy, an illegal redistribution of property took place.
"Based on the claims of the legal owners, namely Chernat's mother, Irina, and grandmother, Valentina Dobryanskaya, the Commercial Court of Odesa Oblast is considering cases to overturn the aforementioned statutory amendments. We expect the actions of those involved in the forgery to be objectively assessed by the investigative authorities," commented Denis Yakovlev, a lawyer at Promtovary Rynok LLC.
"One of the founders of the Promtovary Market is Viktor D LLC, which holds 28,49% of the authorized capital. We have received reliable information that the founder was illegally replaced at the end of May of this year, as reported. The Primorsky Court's recording of the case and the subsequent official investigation led to Mr. Dobryansky Jr. and his partner, Mr. Voloshin, a former co-owner of the market and also a member of the Odessa Regional Council, continuing their activities, which culminated in the events of August 27," explained Vasily Mozgalsky, Director of Promtovary Market LLC.
To help people
The ensuing scandal, naturally, could not help but impact the company's operations. Nervousness, fears, and uncertainty about the future are jeopardizing the operations of Europe's largest industrial goods market.
"The Seventh Kilometer is a huge enterprise, a city within a city, with 1,5 employees serving 75 hectares, and their average salary is approximately 6 hryvnias. To date, we have created 60 jobs for entrepreneurs who trade at the market. We pay over 10 million hryvnias in taxes monthly, and over 125 million annually. In other words, we do everything we can to keep the enterprise running, to keep visitors (200 of them daily) coming to us, to continue to grow, and to enable people to feed their families," notes Vasyl Mozgalsky, Director of Promtovary Rynok LLC.
The company donates over 2,5 million hryvnias annually to charitable causes. Recently, the market administration donated a hematology analyzer to the Military Clinical Medical Center of the Southern Region, which treats Ukrainian soldiers wounded on the front lines in Donbas. The device can perform a blood test in minutes, and such rapid diagnostics are especially important for the seriously wounded.
"A 22-parameter hematology analyzer. It measures a complete blood count, all hemoglobin and red blood cell parameters, and more. It's a very necessary device. I'd like to express special gratitude to the administration and staff of the Seventh Kilometer market for their compassion, their participation, and their heartfelt enthusiasm. We wouldn't have purchased such a device ourselves, as all analyzers are very expensive, including service and consumables," said Tatyana But, Head of the Laboratory Diagnostics Clinic at the Southern Region Military Medical Clinical Center.
The market team supports not only the Ukrainian army but also displaced persons from Crimea and Donbas, meeting all their needs. They also don't forget about children from Odessa orphanages and those from the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Ten tons of clothing and shoes were collected for the young displaced persons.
"This year, the Promtovary Market provided over 1,5 million hryvnias in aid. The aid was provided to hospitals and orphanages, but the bulk of it was related to the tragic events unfolding in our country," commented Iryna Tkach, Deputy Director for Marketing and Public Relations at Promtovary Market LLC.
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Shocks like those of August 27th damage not only the market's reputation but also its normal functioning. Here, too, the elder Dobryansky's unspoken rule is observed: trade must keep its distance from politics and political parties. Otherwise, tens of thousands of people who rely on the market to feed their families will face the threat of unemployment.
The time has come for the Seventh Kilometer entrepreneurs to see this for themselves. By using politics as leverage and declaring noble goals, the instigators of the scandal are merely attempting to legitimize a common corporate raid. The entrepreneurs can only hope that the court will prevent this blatant injustice from occurring.
Ekaterina BRICK, Ukrrudprom
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