Businessman from Crimea produced canned food for the occupiers and was suspected

Law enforcement officers served a notice of suspicion of collaboration to a Crimean businessman. After the occupation of the peninsula, he re-registered a Ukrainian company under Russian law, produced canned fish under Ukrainian brands, and worked for the occupiers.

This is evidenced by the text of the suspicion of the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine.

The suspicion was served on 61-year-old Volodymyr Nihar, a native of the village of Michurino, Bilohirsk district, Crimea. He is accused of collaborationism: after the occupation of the peninsula, the man not only remained working in the occupied territory, but also officially established a business in cooperation with the aggressor state.

According to the investigation, Nihar was one of the beneficiaries of the Crimean enterprise Interrybflot, which was based in Sevastopol before the annexation. After the seizure of Crimea, his partners withdrew the company from the peninsula and changed its legal address to Kyiv. Naryi himself remained in Sevastopol and began to cooperate with the occupation administration.

For his own benefit, the businessman re-registered the Ukrainian company under the laws of the Russian Federation, and the legal entity Interrybflot was created. And in May 2014, he registered a new company, the Aquamarine Fish Cannery. The main activity is the production and sale of canned fish.

Law enforcement officials note that he used Ukrainian trademarks, including Aquamarine, Wild Fish, and Golden Sprats, which he actually appropriated. The products were sold in Crimea and Russia. Moreover, for this purpose, he illegally seized production facilities belonging to another Ukrainian company, the beneficiary of which is Athena LLC.

The investigation believes that the suspect deliberately violated Ukrainian law, realizing the consequences and committing the crime for political reasons. His activities are classified as collaborative under Part 4 of Article 111-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, which means up to 15 years in prison with confiscation of property.

In March, Ukrainian special services gathered evidence against an official who, after the occupation of Crimea , took a ministerial position in the illegal administration and forced local residents to pay taxes to the Russian budget. This official demanded that landowners register their property in accordance with Russian law. In case of refusal, citizens were threatened with fines and confiscation of their property.

Анна Бальчінос