Ukraine establishes register of Russian oligarchs' assets

The expert organization StateWatch and the online service YouControl have created a register of Russian oligarchs who have assets in Ukraine. The presentation of the resource took place at the Ukraine Media Center.

The register contains information on 53 Russian individuals from the "200 richest businessmen" rating of the Russian Forbes for 2021, as well as a number of other Russians who are under Ukrainian sanctions and are the beneficiaries of business in Ukraine.

"Among such figures as Mikhail Fridman and Oleg Deripaska, there are several dozen persons little-known to Ukrainians who have extensive business networks on our territory. They own hotels, retail chains, malls, and mining companies that can influence the politics of entire regions and certain branches of the energy industry," said the head of StateWatch, Hlib Kanievskyi.

Within the limits of sanctions against the Russian Federation, these assets, in his opinion, should be seized in the first place, because they belong to the richest people of the aggressor state.

Currently, the register contains files on 112 Ukrainian companies with a total value of corporate rights of UAH 6 billion ($162.3 million). In particular, the assets of 12 companies have already been nationalized through administrative lawsuits in the High Anti-Corruption Court, the corporate rights of 21 assets have been seized within the framework of various criminal proceedings.

Persons from the list of Russian Forbes who are not under the sanctions of Ukraine and do not have connections with Ukrainian assets were not included in the register.

The statuses of companies in the register are divided into arrested (within criminal proceedings) and confiscated (within the decision of the HACCU).

The confiscation of assets within the framework of the Law of Ukraine "On Sanctions" began in September 2022. However, assets were confiscated from only a few Russians, so this register will help track the effectiveness of the confiscation process.

As of today, about 230 assets of sanctioned accomplices of aggression against Ukraine have been discovered in Ukraine, said Inna Bohatykh, director of the Department of Sanctions Policy of the Ministry of Justice. However, there are currently about 30-50 assets that can be called significant, and the owners of which are subject to a blocking sanction after May 24, 2022, which allows for further recovery by a HACCU decision.