Donetsk plant plundered, equipment siphoned to Russia

In October 2018, Russian proxies in Donbas shut down a former state-owned Topaz Plant located in Donetsk, once a regional center in eastern Ukraine and now one of the two major militant strongholds in the area, along with Luhansk.

All employees have been laid off, while papers are being drafted to complete the liquidation of the once prominent plant, according to a report by Depo.Donbas referring to a coordinator of the "Information Resistance" OSINT Group, Dmytro Tymchuk.

Local de-facto authorities are "trying to destroy the evidence of embezzlement, as well as unauthorized use of production capacities for personal purposes," the report said.

It is noted that dismissals began in June 2018, since a so-called permit was granted for registering the company in the militant-controlled territory of the "DPR".

At that time, it was done at the instructions of a former self-styled "minister of taxes and duties" Alexander Timofeev (aka "Tashkent "), with a view to dismantling the company, preparing it for seizure and further division, IR reports.

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Back in 2016, the enterprise, like many others in the occupied territories, was transferred to be managed by a local "managing company," although no official salaries or social benefits were provided to the employees.

"By 2018, the managing company tried to exploit the plant's production capacities, allegedly in the interests of "DPR defense" purposes, but saw no success, only accumulating significant debts in company accounts.

According to the IR Group, in 2015, proxy administrations in Donetsk, with the help of Russian experts, planned to set up production of radio detonators, repair UAVs, and modernize the existing Kolchuga radars, including those based in the illegally annexed Crimea.

Also, most skilled employees were recruited to work for defense companies across Russia.

In June 2014, militants from the "Vostok Battalion" seized an experimental military product "Mandat", worth $10 million, as well as KrAZ trucks, equipped to install Kolchuga radars on them.

"It is established that valuable industrial equipment, technical papers, and the above-mentioned products in June-August 2014 were smuggled to Russia by what Moscow claimed were "humanitarian convoys," the report said.

Since August 2014, the plant preises has mainly been used as a base hosting military equipment and personnel of illegal armed groups as well as troops from Russia's regular army units.

According to the report, nearly 20 other enterprises in the occupied areas of Donbas are now at the same stage of liquidation and mass layoffs.