REUTERS
Former Vice Governor of Russia’s Irkutsk region Vladimir Pashkov is believed to be a general director of Vneshtorgservice, the company overseeing several Ukrainian enterprises located in the eastern Ukrainian territory temporarily controlled by de facto authorities of the so-called "DPR" and "LPR," Kommersant-Vlast magazine reports.
In early April, "DPR" leader Alexander Zakharchenko signed a decree, appointing Vneshtorgservice the "temporary administrator" of Ukrainian factories in the occupied territories, including DonetskStal steel-making plant, Yenakieve and Makiyivka steel-making plants, Yenakieve Coke Plant, Yasinovsky Coke Plant, Makiyivkoks, and Khartsyzsk Pipe Plant, according to the publication.
The report notes that over the past month, Vneshtorgservice has not launched a website, and neither has it opened up an office.
Read alsoSeizure of enterprises in "DPR," "LPR" destroyed Ukraine there - Poroshenko"None of the documents issued by the self-proclaimed republics indicated who is in charge of this company and who it belongs to," the magazine writes.
However, the name of the company’s likely CEO was mentioned once. A March 20 message by the Krasnodon territorial organization of the coal miners’ trade union addressed to the workers of the local enterprise Krasnodonvuhillia said that coal enterprises and steelmaking plants would merge with Vneshtorgservice.
"It is proposed to build a vertically integrated company that will operate in the territory of the"LPR "and "DPR." Company CEO is Vladimir Pashkov," the publication reported.
Read alsoKremlin permits "LPR" to loot enterprises seized from Ukraine – NGOThe so-called “minister of industry and trade” of the “DPR”, Alexei Granovsky, confirmed to the publication that Vneshtorgservice is run by a person named Vladimir Pashkov, who is a Russian citizens.
"Before that, he was an economy adviser to the ‘head of the republic,’ and we will not disclose who stands behind him, not to harm our partners," Granovsky said.
He refused to answer the clarifying question regarding the partners he had been talking about.
According to the workers of the Yenakiyeve Steelmaking Plant, Khartsyzsk Pipe Plant and the coal mining enterprise Ordzhonikidzevuhillia, control over these enterprises was transferred to a fugitive businessman from the Viktor Yanukovych entourage, Serhiy Kurchenko.
The publication also draws attention to the fact that after completing his civil servant’s career, Pashkov also became president of the Charitable Foundation for Support of International Humanitarian Projects, which was registered in Moscow in December 2015.
Read alsoBloomberg: Putin quietly detaches Ukraine's rebel zones as U.S. wafflesIn mid-February, the Security Service of Ukraine accused Pashkov of using the fund to inject money into the “LPR” budget. The report noted that in the first quarter of 2017, the budget of the self-proclaimed republic should be replenished by more than RUB 11 billion. At the same time, according to the SBU, the “LPR” authorities could allocate only RUB 2 billion, while the rest was planned to be received as financial assistance from the Russian government.
"To conceal the Russian funding of the pseudo-republic and to avoid additional economic sanctions against the Russian Federation, one of the mechanisms for filling the terrorist budget was the pocket Charitable Foundation for the Support of International Humanitarian Projects (President - Russian citizen Vladimir I. Pashkov)," the report said.
SBU says that the Foundation transfers the funds to the “State Bank of LPR” through the accounts of the Russian NGO Center for International Settlements.
As UNIAN reported, on March 1, militants declared "nationalization" of Ukrainian enterprises located in the occupied Donbas.