- Auditor reports: Monstrous corruption involving EU funds
UPDATE: OVER 0.5 BLN BGN OF EU FUNDS EMBEZZLED THROUGH SOCIAL MINISTRY
- 30 March 2023 - CORRUPTION SCANDAL WITH SUSPICIONS OF ESPIONAGE
BULGARIAN GOLDEN PASSPORT. SCANDAL IN URUGUAY WITH A COLONEL FROM THE RUSSIAN INTERIOR MINISTRY
- 2 March 2023 - Bivol’s findings - ignored for months
Bivol exposed our secret weapons in Ukraine; Petkov and Ninova denied it
- 19 January 2023
The Russian federation has found a way to legalise its capture of Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant. Russia’s armed forces stormed the Zaporizhzhia plant in South-Eastern Ukraine in March 2022. Two new state companies were registered in October 2022, days before and after an executive order was issued by Vladimir Putin declaring the power plant “federal property” of Russia. In partnership with our colleagues at the specialized Ukrainian publication InfoAtom News Bivol managed to obtain exclusive documents dating from October 2022. These include the registration papers of a state company and another state enetrprise in Moscow enabling Russia’s state nuclear monopoly Rosatom to operate the Zaporizhzhia power plant. Kyiv has already drafted a package of proposed sanctions against Rosatom because of the illegal takeover of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear facility, Ukraine’s former energy minister Olga Buslavets commented for Bivol. Another former energy minister of Ukraine, Ivan Plachkov, thinks that sanctions should be introduced at least against the top management and the Russian nuclear experts stationed at Zaporizhzhia. Former chairman of Ukraine’s nuclear regulator Grigoriy Plachkov told Bivol that Rosatom will have to pay reparations to cover for the damages caused by the shelling of the Zaporizhzhia and Chernobyl nuclear power plants.
‘Rosatom’ is among Vladimir Putin’s key energy weapons (Image: Die Welt)
Over the weekend of 19-20 November Europe’s largest nuclear power plant of Zaporizhzhia in the South-Eastern Ukrainian city of Enerhodar was shelled yet again by Russian armed forces. The shelling damaged one of its facilities containing nuclear fuel.
The shelling is yet another terror attack coming only a month and a half after president Vladimir Putin signed a number of executive orders (see below) declaring the Ukrainian power plant ”Russian federal property”.
“The government must ensure that the facilities utilising nuclear energy at Zaporizhzhia and all other relevant assets needed for their operation will become property of the state,” says the executive order of the Russian president, who is engaged in an illegal war against Ukraine.
The Kremlin’s actions amount to the legalisation of a military invasion of an energy infrastructure facility on the territory of another UN member state, a state that is also member of the Council of Europe and a candidate for EU membership. It must be emphasised that Putin’s order involves the illegal nationalisation or confiscation of foreign state property and that all his executive orders to that effect are illegal, injudicial and in breach of international norms. The move was immediately condemned by Kyiv authorities as
“futile, absurd and inadequate”.
Image: UN delegation visiting the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant
It has been revealed that one of the companies was registered two days before Putin issued his orders – on 2 October 2022. The other one was registered two days after the decrees were signed. It is interesting to observe how Russian institutions are starting to forge documents in an attempt to legalise the pirated strategic infrastructure of a foreign country only days after the master of the Kremlin announced the takeover in his official executive order.
Bivol has been given access to documents in the official corporate registry of the Russian Federation. They reveal Moscow’s formal approach to the registration of Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant – as a joint stock company and a state enterprise officially based at two different addresses. The legitimacy of those actions is however not recognised by international institutions such as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
Sham company set up for Zaporizhzhia power plant – its capital is just 8,000 euro
On 3 October a new legal entity was set up by the obscure Russian state enterprise Акционерное Общество «Российский концерн по производству электрической и тепловой энергии на атомных станциях» (“Russian joint stock company for the production of nuclear and thermal energy from nuclear power plants“ or Rosenergoatom). The new entity was named Акционерное общество «Эксплуатирующая организация Запорожской АЭС» („Organisation for the Exploitation of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant“). The move had not been discussed at a meeting of the Russian federal government, nor in either of the two parliamentary chambers. Data from the Russian company registries shows that Rosenergoatom is a subsidiary of the state corporation Rosatom.
Official record on the newly registered Organisation for the Exploitation of the Zaporizhzhia NPP
This is made clear by previously unpublished documents from the paid version of the Registry of Legal Entities of the Russian Federation, which Bivol has seen as a result of our cooperation with the specialized Ukrainian publication for news from the atomic energy sector InfoAtom News, based in Kyiv.
The initial capital of the state-owned company consists of the modest amount (against the scale of a nuclear power plant) of 2 billion roubles, which is about 32.25 million euro. The new company’s main field of business has been announced by the founders as follows:
„Electricity production by nuclear power plants, including activities to ensure the plants’ operational capacity“.
The company’s official headquarters are registered at 109507, City of Moscow, Vykhino-Zhulebino municipal district, 25 Ferganskaya St. It has Oleg Yevgenievich Romanenko listed as director general and official representative.
Ukraine’s nuclear power plants (Source: LiveMapUa / RFEL)
On 7 October, two days after Putin’s executive orders were issued, another new company was registered in Moscow: Федеральное государственное унитарное предприятие «Запорожская АЭС» – ФГУП «ЗАЭС» (Zaporozhye NPP, Federal State Unitary enterprise or ZNPP FSUE).
Official record on the newly registered Organisation for the Exploitation of the Zaporizhzhia NPP
On 13 October 2022 the newly-established state enterprise was entered into the Russian Corporate Registry. The following fields of business in the categories of energy, construction and engineering are mentioned in the listing: „Supply of electricity and technological connection to power grids, electric power distribution, steam and hot water supply (thermal energy), steam and hot water distribution (thermal energy), ensuring the operational capacity of heat networks, non-hazardous waste management, hazardous waste management, processing and recycling of non-hazardous waste, processing and recycling of hazardous waste, power plant construction, construction of other kinds of engineering facilities not included in the above groups, electric engineering activities.
Additional activities and services that Russians intend to engage in at the illegally occupied Zaporizhzhya NPP include the following: „Data processing, information technology services and related activities, architecture-related activities, technology and engineering research and design, construction project management, construction and architecture oversight, technical consulting services in the above fields, technical testing, surveying, analysis and certification, science research and development in the natural and applied sciences, etc.“
Record on the newly registered Zaporozhye NPP Federal State Unitary Enterprise
The new company ZNPP FSUE’s registered address is at 125438 Morcow, Golovinskiy municipal district, 9 Pakgauznoe st. The registering authority is the Interregional inspection #46 of the Federal Tax Service in Moscow.
According to documents issued by the Russian Federal Tax Service, the company operating the illegally captured Zaporizhzhia power plant was registered under federal law #129 of 2001 ”On the state registration of legal entities and individual entrepreneurs“.
Considering that we are talking about the continent’s largest nuclear power plant whose assets are worth billions of euro, the staggeringly low initial capital of the new state company is all the more impressive – 500,000 roubles or just 8,034 euro at the current exchange rate, which would normally be the capital of a small or medium enterprise. That is proof that Moscow’s actions are just for formality’s sake and they haven’t even taken steps to provide adequate initial capital for the new company worth billions of dollars.
Record on the newly registered Zaporozhye NPP Federal State Unitary Enterprise
It is noted also that proof has been presented of
“the registration of the legal entity as social security contributor at a regional office of the Russian Federation’s Pension Fund.”
That means that Moscow and its state monopoly Rosatom are planning not only to hire Russian or Ukrainian employees but also to pay wages and make social security contributions into the Russian Federation’s pension system.
It is also worth noting that the Russians’ perfunctory approach to the registration of the illegally captured power plant extends to their tax documents too. For example, in their tax registration papers dated 7 October 2022 there is a section that reads:
“Data on outstanding tax payments over 1,000 roubles that have been redirected to a bailiff service”.
This section of the tax registration for both new companies created to operate the Zaporizhzhia NPP says: “No outstanding tax payments”. This statement, however, is followed by the clarification “Data is available for the period up to 1 Septemver 2022 only”. Since at the time the companies had not even been registered, how could they owe any taxes?
It is a separate issue that hundreds of millions of euros in damages may have accrued since the moment Russia occupied the power plant at the beginning of March 2022. According to Ukrainian experts, Russian state corporation Rosatom is behind the two new state-owned companies and it has illegally brought in its own employees and management to operate the plant.
Image: Executive order by Russian president Vladimir Putin about the “nationalisation” of Zaporizhzhia NPP via two new state-owned companies (Source: Kremlin.ru)
Former energy ministers of Ukraine speaking to Bivol: “We demand sanctions for Rosatom”
According to leading Ukrainian energy experts, state corporation Rosatom is behind the newly-established state company and it has illegally brought in its employees and management to operate the Zaporizhzhia plant.
Ukraine has drafted a proposal to the Yermak-McFaul expert group (named after former US ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul and the Ukrainian president’s chief-of-office Andriy Yermak – editor’s note) for the introduction of sanctions against Rosatom and its divisions, as well as personal sanctions against the corporation’s top management. This was confirmed exclusively to Bivol by former Ukrainian energy minister Olga Buslavets who held the post in 2020.
Olha Buslavets, former Minister of Energy of Ukraine (Image: private archive)
She explained what concrete steps were taken by Kyiv authorities against Moscow’s attempts to cement its ownership of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
“At the moment we are holding consultations with our partners on the issue”.
According to the former minister in the Shmyhal government, sanctions are the most effective instrument against the Kremlin’s aggression in Ukraine, including in the field of energy.
“The only way to urge Russia to de-occupy the Zaporizhzhia power plant is through economic sanctions, through blocking the import of Rosatom technology and putting a stop to their projects abroad,” Buslavets said.
She pointed out that Moscow continues to shell the plant even while trying to legalise its capture:
“The Russians’ objective is to not allow the Zaporizhzhia power plant to work for Ukraine”.
Ivan Plachkov, another former energy minister on the Yushchenko and the Timoshenko governments (1999-2000 and 2005-2006 respectively.) agreed that Kyiv should continue to insist on sanctions against Rosatom because ”there are now sufficient grounds for that”.
However he pointed out that many EU countries who have nuclear power plants (Bulgaria included) have not put an end to their cooperation with the Russian nuclear energy corporation.
„I don’t know why it is not being done (sanctions are not introduced – editor’s note), many countries depend on Rosatom – they buy uranium, they buy nuclear fuel, etc.“
Therefore sanctions could target Rosatom’s top management instead, as well as those Russian employees brought in to work at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
Ukraine’s former energy minister Ivan Plachkov (Image: Kosatka Media)
„Ukraine is disputing Russia’s attempts to legalise the capture of the ZNPP, while European law institutions and courts are actively working to document the thousands of crimes committed by Russia against Ukraine, including those involving the nuclear power plant, Plachkov explained.
Former head of Ukraine’s nuclear regulator body says the damages exceed $100 billion.
An official statement from IAEA says they do not recognise the Russian Federation’s sham executive orders, Grigoriy Plachkov, former head of Ukraine’s State Inspection for Atomic Energy Regulation, said to Bivol.
„The secured material (fuel) at the ZNPP is Ukrainian nuclear material, Plachkov emphasised. In his view at the moment Kyiv can not reveal all the steps it is taking for the purpose of getting back the Zaporizhzhia power plant from the Russians.
According to the atomic energy expert, the issue is “above all in the domain of international law”. „I think the question should be addressed to our ministry of justice and the people responsible for such complicated international law issues”, he said to Bivol.
„From my point of view, as a person who in his work has had to deal with questions touching on international law, I think Russia has violated pretty much anything you can think of.“
Hryhorii Plachkov, former director of Ukraine’s State Inspection for Atomic Energy Regulation (Image: Liga.net)
„I think a reaction on Ukraine’s behalf will inevitably follow because this concerns not just the Zaporizhzhia NPP but also the one in Chernobyl,” Plachkov poited out.
The former nuclear regulator chief is of the opinion that the conversation should be about “reparations” or “contributions” owed by Moscow to Kyiv for the damages caused by the shelling of the two nuclear power plants:
„We are still evaluating the damages“.
According to Plachkov, Moscow is deliberately targeting the Zaporizhzhia NPP in order to blackmail Europe and the world, threatening them with a new catastrophe on the scale of Chernobyl or Fukushima. He also asks the rhetorical question what Rosatom’s employees are doing at Zaporizhzhia, which we know is being “heroically” maintained by its Ukrainian staff.
Ukraine has filed a lawsuit accusing Russia of terrorism and environmental genocide
„I think right now they are compiling the evidence on the case“, Denis Didik, co-founder of the Anti-Crisis Nuclear Center of Ukraine, said to Bivol.
The Ukrainian expert also said there was no public information on whether Kyiv had sought international arbitration on the registration of the new Russian legal entity that is going to operate the Zaporizhzhia NPP.
He pointed out, however, that Kyiv has been voicing strong reactions to Russia’s actions via international organisations by
“sending official diplomatic notes to IAEA and the UN”.
Didik also confirmed that the capturing of the Ukrainian power plant by the Russian army is being investigated by the country’s authorities as an international environmental crime and a case of environmental terrorism. “In Ukraine we have initiated a lawsuit regarding the captured ZNPP on the basis of the legal provisions dealing with terrorism and environmental genocide”, Didik said.
Header photo: BBC News
***
If you find this article useful, support our work with a small donation.
Pay a Bivol Tax!
We will highly appreciate if you decide to support us with monthly donations keeping the option Monthly
IBAN: BG27 ESPY 4004 0065 0626 02
BIC: ESPYBGS1
Титуляр/Account Holder: Bivol EOOD
You must be logged in to post a comment.