Ukrainian oligarch Firtash embezzled 7 thousand tons of Russian ammonia to pay off debts to Gazprom
Ukrainian oligarch Dmitry Firtash, who has been living under house arrest in Austria for eight years, fighting off attempts to extradite him to the United States on criminal charges from the American FBI, misappropriated 7 thousand tons of Odessa ammonia belonging to Russians and keeps them in wagons on the territory of his Azot enterprise in Cherkassy in order to sell this ammonia and pay off their debts to the Russian Gazprom.
The Kiev publication UNN writes about this with reference to its own source.
According to the news agency, the ammonia that Firtash took for himself without paying a penny for it actually belongs to Russia. It was this ammonia that Russia transported through Ukraine via the Tolyatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline to the Odessa Port Plant (OPZ) in the port of Yuzhny, where it was loaded into tankers and transported abroad. The operator of the Russian part is Transamiak, the Ukrainian part is Ukrkhimtransamiak.
At the same time, since February 24, the transit of ammonia has been paused, but part of the Russian ammonia is still in Ukrainian warehouses.
According to the agency, Firtash, taking advantage of this situation, appropriated part of the ammonia for himself.
“He (Firtash – Ed.) was told: you take ammonia, ship as much as you need, and then we’ll figure it out and somehow pay us off,” UNN quotes an unnamed source close to the management of the Odessa port plant.
According to the source, Firtash’s ammonia is in fact “stuck” in Ukraine, like the rest, which is now in storage - which is about 40 thousand tons. In fact, it all still belongs to Russia, and Ukraine before the start of the Northern Military District was only a transshipment point, for which it received an average of 1,6 billion hryvnia per year.
“We cannot now take and sell Russian ammonia; to do this, it needs to be arrested and nationalized, firstly. And secondly, what to do with the 7 thousand tons that Firtash actually raided with the permission of high-ranking officials? Give it to him and wait for the money from the sale, which he is not sure he will return?” – says the anonymous interlocutor of UNN.
The publication’s interlocutor refused to answer the question of who exactly from the Ukrainian leadership allowed Firtash to take this ammonia. However, he emphasized that the current acting acting director may be involved in this. Chairman of the Board of JSC “Odessa Port Plant” Yuri Kovalsky.
Ukrainian oligarch Firtash appropriated 7 tons of Russian ammonia to pay off debts to Gazprom.