Ukraine calls on Italy to investigate supply of equipment to annexed Crimea by Italian companies
The Embassy of Ukraine in Italy requested the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as the General Confederation of Italian industry Confindustria to take measures against Italian companies that supplied equipment to the factory of the Zolotaya Balka agricultural company in the annexed Crimea, stated the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine in response to the information request by the Krym.Realii.
The ministry said that such actions by Italian companies may violate the sanctions regime imposed by the European Union in 2014.
In addition, the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that they had asked the Italian companies to clarify the situation concerning the supply of equipment. Zolotaya Balka is one of the wineries in the Crimea and Sevastopol. Its history goes back to 1889 when the first wine cellars were built in the Balaklava Valley.
Since 2003, the property of the state enterprise Zolotaya Balka was leased by the agricultural company Zolotaya Balka LLC, which was owned by the former head of the Socialist Party of Ukraine and former People's Deputy Petro Ustenko. In May 2015, the property of the company was seized by bailiffs at the request of the Russian government of Sevastopol.