The SSU has shut down the activity of an entity engaged in illegal extraction of Ukrainian subsoil resources on an industrial scale. It was run by an influential russian businessman who owned an entire financial-industrial group.

The companies used their million profits to finance russia’s full-scale aggression and to support occupation administrations in the Crimea and eastern Ukraine.

Following an investigation by the SSU, the court seized russian oligarch’s personal property, assets of controlled enterprises and illegally extracted resources worth over UAH 1 bln (USD 34 mln).

The oligarch organized illegal business in Kyiv and Zhytomyr regions. There, his commercial entities were engaged in large-scale extraction of sand and gravel without paying taxes to the state budget of Ukraine.

The suspect is also involved in raider seizures of specialized enterprises engaged in subsoil extraction in Ukraine.

The companies transferred the earned ‘profits’ to Russia through an extensive network of offshore companies.

In addition, the businessman systematically justified russian aggression, denied the occupiers’ crimes of and supported terrorist organizations in eastern Ukraine. According to the investigation, he also founded a russian company together with the so-called ‘minister of DNR.’

The SSU is working to bring the organizers and participants of this criminal activity to justice.

The SSU carried out the operation together with the State Bureau of Investigations and under the procedural supervision of the Prosecutor General’s Office.