Airplanes and helicopters owned by business owners in Crimea have been transferred to ARMA's management

The assets of businesspeople who operated in occupied Crimea and paid more than 35.7 million hryvnias to the Russian Federation’s budget have been transferred to the ARMA for management. Among the seized assets are airplanes, helicopters, cars, and real estate

According to the Office of the Prosecutor General, the indictment against the group’s organizer and seven of its members has already been submitted to the court.

The investigation established that the defendants were the founders and managers of a number of interconnected companies registered in the temporarily occupied territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.

<picture></picture>Photo: Office of the Prosecutor General.

According to law enforcement, between 2017 and 2022, these companies continued their business operations on the peninsula and paid taxes to the Russian Federation’s budget. The total amount of these payments exceeded 35.7 million hryvnias.

During the investigation, law enforcement officials seized the defendants’ assets with a total value of over 57.4 million hryvnias. The assets were transferred to the ARMA for management.

<picture></picture>Photo: Office of the Prosecutor General.

Among the seized assets is a list of property that is quite unusual for such cases:

• 6 aircraft—4 Mi-2 helicopters and 2 An-2 airplanes;
• 59 vehicles;
• 5 apartments with a total area of over 540 square meters;
• 10 land plots covering nearly 12 hectares;
• more than 50 non-residential premises—offices, warehouses, and garages with a total area of over 43,000 square meters;
• corporate rights in 11 companies with a registered capital of over 7 million UAH.

In addition, the materials of the criminal proceedings were forwarded to the Cabinet of Ministers, the Verkhovna Rada, and the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) office in Cherkasy Oblast. These materials may serve as grounds for initiating sanctions against members of the group.

The defendants’ actions were classified under Part 4 of Article 110-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine— financing activities aimed at altering the territorial boundaries or state border of Ukraine. If found guilty, they face 8 to 10 years of imprisonment with confiscation of property.

Ірина Глухова