Roshen sees its Lipetsk confectionery as 'Putin's hostage'

"Mr Putin's speech at a Valdai Club meeting only confirms what we've already known since 2014: he is behind all the raids, criminal cases and seizure of the property, which is an obstacle to our selling the factory. It's him who 1,100 dismissed employees, citizens of Russia, who we had to lay off because of the decline in production, should call. He keeps our Lipetsk assets as a hostage in his territory, and we are now withdrawing all dividends from there and injecting them in charitable projects and our production in Ukraine. And every single kopeck will be invested. This is the best what we can do about it," the press service quoted Roshen President Viacheslav Moskalevsky as saying.

"We're surprised that such an important figure as President of the Russian Federation is interested in such an unimportant issue as our Lipetsk-based factory's performance. What is more, we have had a better opinion of his intelligence services, as they should have informed him that Lipetsk factory is no longer under Petro Oleksiyovych [Poroshenko's] ownership, as he signed a contract to transfer his stake in Roshen to an independent trust in January this year," he Moskalevsky.

Speaking at the Valdai International Discussion Club's 13th annual in Sochi on October 27, Putin mentioned Roshen's Lipetsk factory, saying that it pays wages and earns profits.

"Mr Poroshenko is one of our investors in the sense that he is the owner of a sizeable business in Lipetsk region, the Roshen factory. Actually, there are two businesses there. The second is engaged in selling the products, as far as I know," Putin said. "There are a few problems there concerning non-return of VAT, and the courts have imposed some restrictions, but the factories are operating, paying wages and earning profits, and there are no restrictions on using these profits, including transferring them abroad. I do not recall the figures now and do not get into such detail, but I know the business is turning a profit and is working with success."

Read alsoRoshen's Russian factory insists on return of RUB 181 mln paid to Russian budgetUNIAN memo. Roshen is one of Ukraine's largest confectioneries. It comprises four Ukrainian-based confectionery facilities (one in Kyiv, one in Kremenchuk, and two in Vinnytsia), Vinnytsia dairy, two production facilities in Lipetsk (Russia), Klaipeda confectionery (Lithuania), and Bonbonetti Choco (Hungary).

For the period of his presidency, Poroshenko transferred his 85% stake in Roshen to the so-called blind trust, managed by Rothschild. The remaining shares in Roshen belong to Moskalevsky (13%) and four Roshen managers (0.5% each).

In 2014-2016, Roshen received $72.06 million in dividends from its Russian-based Lipetsk confectionery. Of this sum, $4.93 million, or UAH 125.63 million, was transferred to Ukraine's national budget as tax payments.