SBU: Ukrainian companies control gas stations in Crimea
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) reports that “several Ukrainian commercial companies” continue to manage at least nine gas station in Russian-annexed Crimea. Earlier, reports appeared that the OKKO gas station network was being searched.
“The management of the gas stations’ business activity was carried out by the parent company’s managers. With the income acquired from the gas stations’ product sales, the dealers paid so-called ‘taxes’ into the ‘budget’ of the occupation administration,” the SBU statement reads.
The SBU clarified that during the searches, it supposedly discovered printed material where the mentioned gas stations were documented, as well as other documents and computer equipment which “confirm the illegal activity”.
The SBU did not mention the name of the company whose offices it searched, but according to Interfax-Ukraine, it was Galnaftogaz (the OKKO network).
Galnaftogaz confirmed earlier that the SBU searched its Kyiv and Lviv offices on August 21. However, the company claims that it has not worked with the occupied regions of the Donbas or with Russian-annexed Crimea since 2014.
The OKKO Group is an all-Ukrainian holding, whose flagship is the OKKO gas station network. The company’s shareholders and institutional investors are the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, GoldmanSachs, Horizon Capital, Renaissance capital, Genesis Asset Managers, LLP and others.
Ukrainian companies left Crimea after it was annexed by Russia. Their property was “nationalized” by the peninsula’s Russian administration.
International organizations have recognized the annexation of Crimea as illegal and condemned Russia’s actions. Western countries have introduced a number of economic sanctions against Russia and Crimea. Russia denies that it is occupying the peninsula, instead calling it “a restoration of historic justice”. The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has declared February 20, 2014 to be the official starting date of “Russia’s temporary occupation of Crimea and Sevastopol”.