Ukraine to privatise confiscated assets of two Russian oligarchs - official

Ukraine plans to privatise a plant and a shopping centre in Kyiv which were confiscated from Russian oligarchs.

Rustem Umerov, the head of Ukraine’s state property fund, said in an interview with Forbes that the Mykolaiv alumina plant, linked to Oleg Deripaska, and the Ocean Plaza shopping mall in Kyiv, seized from Arkady Rotenberg, would be put up for sale.

Earlier in March, Ukraine’s high anti-corruption court gave green light to confiscating the Ocean Plaza shopping centre, whose owners used it to fund Russia’s war machine.

The state property fund of Ukraine "has already handed over the assets of fugitive president Viktor Yanukovych and Russian businessman Vladimir Yevtushenkov", as well as the Demurinsky mining and processing plant linked to Russian businessman Mikhail Shelkov, Mr Umerov said.

"We are preparing to offer the Demurinsky mine for privatisation. We are still working on the other assets," he stressed, adding that his agency aims to finish the process as quickly as possible.

According to Mr Umerov, the Mykolaiv alumina plant, valued at $1 billion before the war, might be put up for sale through Prozorro, Ukraine’s state procurement platform, before the end of the year.

"The plant is not working now, we will look for a way to make it work. … Until the auction is announced, the fund will act in the same way as at the Demurinsky mine. There, in order to start the enterprise, we needed UAH 40 million (nearly $1 billion). We looked at the existing assets and decided to put the existing production, which was preserved at the mine, on Prozorro. And with those funds, we launched the enterprise and paid salaries", he explained.

As for the Ocean Plaza shopping mall, the auction will also go ahead without delays, Mr Umerov assured.

"We are interested in putting it [Ocean Plaza] up for auction as soon as possible. A legal, technical, and financial audit needs to be done beforehand. The timing is the same as with the Mykolaiv plant – 90 days for the audit, and we can announce the auction. The main thing is for this asset to come to us legally," the head of Ukraine’s state property fund added.