The Prosecutor General’s Office has launched an investigation against German-Swiss businessman of Ukrainian origin Oleg Tsyura for assisting the aggressor state and implementing a scheme to circumvent anti-Russian sanctions.
Oksana Kotomkina, coordinator of the legal publication Conflicts and Laws, wrote about this in her blog for Gordon.ua.
The journalist recalled that Oleg Tsyura is a businessman of Ukrainian origin from the orbit of the former head of the State Property Fund of Ukraine (SPFU), Dmytro Sennychenko, who was naturalised in Switzerland and Germany and organised a scheme to circumvent sanctions for the Russian group MidUral. According to Kotomkina, the Prosecutor General’s Office registered a criminal proceeding under Article 111-2, part 1 of the Criminal Code (aiding the aggressor state) based on her statement regarding Zurich.
An extract from the URPTI, quoted by the journalist, states that starting in 2022, Oleg Tsyura, a foreign national, "realising the strategic importance of MidUral’s products for the Russian military-industrial complex, organised a scheme to re-export Russian metals, including to the United States, bypassing sanctions" through controlled companies in Switzerland, using "relabelling" the origin through India and Estonia.
Kotomkina recalled that the scheme to circumvent sanctions, organised by Sergei Gilvarg’s MidUral group, was described in detail in her previous publication, as well as in investigations by State Watch founder Alexander Lemenov. It involves the resale of products through Swiss companies (in particular, Phoenix Resources AG), followed by formal imports to India (Vardhman Ferro Alloys) and re-export to the EU and the US via Estonia under the guise of Indian origin. According to Kotomkina, the facts of deliveries via this route in 2024 are confirmed by the analytical databases ImportGenius and 52wmb.
"Imagine a box that says ’Made in Russia’. Such a box is not accepted in the EU because of sanctions. Then it is first taken to a third country, where new documents are drawn up — ’Made in India’ - and then sold to Europe. This is called re-export and substitution of the country of origin. If this is done deliberately to circumvent sanctions, we have a criminal history. And in the case of a Ukrainian organising the scheme, it is a shameful betrayal of the motherland," writes Oksana Kotomikna.
In her opinion, Ukrainian law enforcement officers should cooperate with their colleagues from Europe, because in order to prove material assistance to the aggressor state, direct links between goods, money and counterparties must be established through contracts, invoices, certificates of origin, bills of lading, SWIFT messages, insurance policies, etc.
"This is important for Ukraine because it is a critical raw material for a number of military applications. Ferrochromium is used for armour, engines, artillery barrels, commonplace stainless steel and much more. Every tonne that brings profit to the Russian Federation extends its warfare resource. Secondly, sanctions credibility. If re-exports "under a different flag" work, trust in the EU/US/Ukraine sanctions architecture is weakened. Therefore, this case is a test of the coordinated actions of the investigation, customs and financial monitoring. And it is a matter of honour, first and foremost, for Ukrainian law enforcement officers," Kotomkina said.
She also addressed Oleg Tsyura, who threatened to file lawsuits against her and other investigative journalists.
"Mr Tsyura, you will not be able to intimidate us, we will continue to defend our country not only from the enemy, but also from Russian collaborators and traitors," said the coordinator of the Conflicts and Laws publication.
As a reminder, State Watch founder Oleksandr Lemenov conducted an investigation that revealed that Oleh Tsiura is connected to Serhiy Bairak, a person involved in the NABU case against the former head of the State Property Fund, Dmytro Senychenko, and helps the world’s largest methchrome producer, Russian MidUral, to circumvent sectoral sanctions. Subsequently, Oksana Kotomkina conducted her own investigation, in which she revealed the essence of the scheme to circumvent sanctions and supply Russian ferrochrome to the European market.
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