SBU blocks UAH 1B worth of assets of Russian oligarch's mining companies

Ukraine's SBU State Security Service has blocked the assets of a Russian oligarch's mining companies for more than UAH 1 billion.

The SBU wrote this on Telegram, Ukrinform reports.

"The Security Service has terminated the activity of an organization that was engaged in the illegal extraction of Ukrainian subsoil on an industrial scale. It was run by an influential Russian businessman who owned an entire financial and industrial group," the statement said.

The company directed millions of profits to finance Russia's full-scale aggression and to provide financial support to the occupation administrations in Crimea and eastern Ukraine.

In the Kyiv and Zhytomyr regions, the businessman's commercial entities were engaged in large-scale extraction of sand and crushed stone without paying taxes to the state budget.

According to the SBU, the culprits are involved in schemes on the illegal takeover of specialized enterprises in the extractive industry of Ukraine.

In addition, the businessman systematically justified Russian aggression, denied the crimes of the occupiers and supported terrorist organizations in eastern Ukraine. He also co-founded a Russian company together with the so-called "DNR minister," the intelligence service said.

"According to the SBU, the personal property of the Russian oligarch, the assets of controlled enterprises and illegally extracted minerals totaling more than UAH 1 billion have been seized," the statement read.

Work is underway to bring to justice the organizers and perpetrators of this criminal activity.