During the investigation, it was established that the mentioned oligarch, together with the leadership of the Russian Federation and other accomplices, seized coal, metallurgical, and coke-chemical enterprises in the occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions for personal enrichment, organized the production of metallurgical and coke-chemical products, and plundered coal. The produced products and coal were exported from the territory of Ukraine to the Russian Federation, and subsequently to other countries around the world.

More than 1 million files have been obtained, revealing the criminal scheme and the individuals involved in its organization and implementation. Among the documents received are scanned copies of customs declarations with accompanying packages regarding the export of coal and other products from the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine to the Russian Federation, relevant contracts, as well as electronic correspondence of the individuals involved, which provides a detailed understanding of the stages of the illegal actions, the contributions of accomplices, the enterprises involved, export routes, recipients, etc.

The analysis of the mentioned documents confirmed the export from the temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine during the period from March 21, 2017, to December 31, 2021:

- coal products in a total quantity of 6,566,018.510 tons, with a total value of 227,607,364.34 USD (6,068,945,200.77 UAH);

- metal products in a total quantity of 3,993,744.348 tons, with a total value of 1,780,735,538.72 USD (47,339,492,296.64 UAH);

- coke-chemical products in a total quantity of 294,336.596 tons, with a total value of 62,765,165.04 USD (1,669,586,249.72 UAH).

The recipients of the mentioned products included at least 441 companies from the Russian Federation, as well as 31 companies from other countries, including: the Republic of Poland, the Republic of Latvia, the Republic of Lithuania, the Republic of Estonia, the Republic of Finland, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Republic of Georgia, the Republic of Tajikistan, the Republic of Georgia, and the Republic of Belarus.

Additionally, it was established that "clean" documents were produced in the Russian Federation for the products and raw materials exported from the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine, indicating that the country of origin was the Russian Federation, which allowed for their free sale (without potentially negative economic consequences due to the sale-purchase of coal extracted and products manufactured in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine).

Considering that the mentioned actions were carried out during and using the ongoing international armed conflict, which was well known to the accomplices, and that these actions are prohibited by international humanitarian law, the indicated illegal activity constitutes a war crime.

To date, 8 individuals have been notified of suspicion for committing a crime under Part 2 of Article 28, Part 1 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, namely for violating the laws and customs of war as provided by international treaties, the obligation of which has been accepted by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, committed by a group of individuals in conspiracy.

The suspects are:

-    a citizen of Ukraine, a fugitive oligarch who has been hiding in the Russian Federation since the 2014 Revolution of Dignity;

-    the Deputy Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation;

-    the head of the Department of the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation;

-    the former first deputy head of the government of one of the regions of the Russian Federation and the head of the main enterprise involved in this criminal activity;

-    a citizen of Ukraine appointed as the director of one of the Russian companies involved in the criminal activity;

-    a citizen of Ukraine who acted as a representative by power of attorney of one of the foreign companies involved in the criminal activity;

-    a citizen of the Russian Federation appointed as the director of one of the Russian companies involved in the criminal activity;

-      a citizen of Ukraine who acted as a representative by power of attorney of one of the foreign companies involved in the criminal activity.

All of them are located in the territory of the aggressor state and in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.      

It should be noted that the analysis of the information obtained as a result of investigative actions, which amounts to over 2.5 TB, took more than two and a half years.

To enable work with this amount of information and types of files, specialists from the State Cyber Security Department of the Security Service of Ukraine created special software that allowed for the systematization of documents and the establishment of the scale of the plunder.

As a result of searches conducted this week in Ukraine of individuals who may also be involved in the mentioned crimes, digital storage devices were seized containing accounting documentation that also confirms the indicated criminal activity. Currently, it is being verified to establish other involved individuals, and a corresponding criminal-legal assessment will be provided.

The pre-trial investigation is being conducted by the Main Investigation Department of the Security Service of Ukraine with operational support from the State Cyber Security Department of the Security Service of Ukraine.