17.06.2024 Ecology

How are Ukraine’s mineral resources given to Russia during the war?

Российский олигарх Фукс получил новые лицензии на недра в Украине | Экономическая правда

Dozens of gas fields in Ukraine, which should be the exclusive property of the people, are still under the control of the sanctioned oligarch Fuks. The latter has long held Russian citizenship and ties to the local elite. It was Fuks who founded the Russian MosCityGroup, which built the Moscow City skyscrapers and still oversees Ukraine’s gas production and the construction of the Oasis residential complex in Kyiv through a number of fronts.

To recap: Pavlo Yakovlevich Fuks is a philanthropist, chairman of the board of directors of MosCityGroup, co-founder of CJSC Tekhinvest, co-owner of the Atrium shopping center. He is also a person who adapts quite well to the conditions of today. Life in Moscow, ties with criminals, problems in Russia, moving to Ukraine, and sharing the blanket of influence among the local oligarchy – a brief description of the businessman’s path to success. But how did Fuchs manage to establish his own control over a strategic sector of Ukraine’s economy?

How did Fuks take over the gas business?

In 2015-2017, the Cypriot offshore company Hartlog Limited, whose beneficiary is named by the media as Fuks, bought 67% of Golden Derrick shares from the former Minister of Ecology of Ukraine Eduard Stavytskyi (the company was also linked to the former Minister of Agrarian Policy Mykola Prysiazhniuk).

Later, the company received a new name – East Europe Petroleum LLC. 33% of the authorized capital was owned by the national joint-stock company Nadra Ukrayiny. The remaining 67% was held by Hartlog Limited, an offshore company from the orbit of MosCityGroup owner Pavlo Fuks. Later, Nadra Ukrayiny voluntarily withdrew from the founders of East Europe Petroleum. The share was transferred to Avant Trade Limited. Fuks himself denied the acquisition of East Europe Petroleum and stated that he was only interested in a few of its licenses.

In 2017, Golden Derrick, through Fuks’ efforts and with the help of the courts, restored a dozen and a half licenses for oil and gas fields in Poltava region. Subsequently, the oligarch, realizing the potential for returning such areas to the state, transferred the special permits to close structures. For example, to GLK-Invest LLC, which was granted the rights to develop the Gulakovske oil and gas field, ZVS Invest LLC – the Zuivska field, NDK Invest LLC – the Novo-Dykanska field, and RNK Invest LLC – the Runovschynska field.

In 2018, the State Service of Geology and Mineral Resources of Ukraine decided to grant special permits for subsoil use for a period of 20 years to Sens-D, Elion Invest and Twins Group. The companies were granted oil and gas acreage in Poltava region for exploration with the possibility of further pilot development. The special permits were issued on the basis of geological information purchased from the state-owned enterprise and the approval of mineral reserves on the areas. The companies submitted documents to the Ministry of Ecology on the same day and received approval at the regional council session on the same day.

Then the journalists discovered that some of the documents submitted for the special permit were signed in a very similar handwriting to the certified acts of East Up Petroleum (formerly Golden Derrick). That is, it became obvious that Fuchs had taken over the management of the oil and gas fields.

It is noted that Fuchs has never been a member of Petro Poroshenko’s inner circle, but it was during the fifth president’s term that the Kharkiv businessman formed an empire in Ukraine’s gas business

In 2021, the situation with Fuks’ influence on gas production changed. The State Service of Geology and Subsoil canceled special permits for the use of subsoil for 19 companies that were previously subject to sanctions by the National Security and Defense Council. These are Geoconnect, Global Geoinvest, Transsetgeo, Geopost, GeoVertical, GeoTarget, Nadra Pryde, Geoforce, Geostens, Nadra West Group, Best Oil Company, Nadraprostir, InfoGeotrend, Eijin Marko, Eco Gas Alliance, Epival Energy, Unolit Oil, Profi Oil, Best Geotech, which were part of Fuchs’ orbit.

And despite the concerns of the National Security and Defense Council, the Bureau of Economic Security of Ukraine, the Security Service of Ukraine, numerous sanctions, arrests of Sakhalinske, Sirius-1, and East Up Petroleum, Fuchs still has direct access to subsoil extraction in Poltava and Kharkiv regions.

Going back to Fuks’ past and his formation as a businessman, there are speculations as to whose interests the oligarch is so persistently undermining Ukraine’s gas processes. Recall that while living in Moscow, the man was involved in barter deals between former Soviet industrial enterprises, for example, between the structures of the Russian Gazprom and the Belarusian Beltransgaz. So isn’t Gazprom interested in seizing our fields? And why do the Ukrainian authorities not care about the oligarch’s influence on mineral extraction and his ties to Russia?

Doesn’t it look like Fuks has opened a bridgehead for the transfer of mineral resources to Russia? And what about the constitutionally provided ownership of the people?

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