Large Polish distributor cooperates with oligarch family circumventing EU sanctions against Russia.
Despite EU sanctions, Russian coal gets to Poland – through Kazakhstan. Thus, one of the largest companies importing coal to Poland in 2022 entered into an agreement with AB Energo AG, a company registered in Switzerland. The subject of the contract is the supply of coal from Kazakhstan to Poland. Theoretically, coal is mined in Kazakhstan. However, AB Energo AG itself is part of a disparate network of companies with Russian capital. A member of the board of AB Energo AG is a citizen of Kazakhstan, Anar Korobovskaya, the wife of Russian oligarch Nikolai Korobovsky.
Portal Informacyjny writes about this.
Anar Korobovskaya conducts her business in Switzerland, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine and other countries. The wife of a Russian oligarch also runs a business in the field of nuclear energy through companies she founded in Ukraine – Inter Premier LLC and TPBS Production LLC, the publication writes.
According to media reports, in 2021, Korobovskaya and her business partner Vyacheslav Erkes shipped 2,000 tons of pipes to various nuclear power plants, and more than 90% of these products went to facilities built by the Russian Rosatom: Akkuyu NPP (Turkey), “Rooppur” (Bangladesh) and “Kudankulam” (India).
According to media reports, AB Energo, founded by Korobovskaya in Kazakhstan, became the main character of the scandal, she was found guilty in rigging the results of tenders and reselling electricity at five times the price. Another company of the same name, AB Energo, registered in Kyrgyzstan, for its part, received a lucrative contract for the construction of a 660-megawatt coal-fired power plant in the Jalal-Abad region worth 2.3 billion US dollars.
Nikolay Korobovsky received a Certificate of Honor from the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin in gratitude “For services in the development of entrepreneurship, active social activities and many years of work.”
Among these merits, including the acquisition of significant assets in the post-Soviet space through companies registered in Russia with minimal capital. Korobovsky is the owner of AB Energo-Aktiv, a company registered in Omsk (Russia) and which is a micro-enterprise under Russian law. However, this small company owns 28% of the shares of the Russian thermal power giant OJSC Podolsk Machine-Building Plant, located in the Moscow region.
Korobovsky also owns Belalma Coal Mine LLC, which employs only one person, but nevertheless owns the Bel-Alma coal mine in Kyrgyzstan.
Another Korobovsky micro-enterprise, the Kyrgyz company Global Exploration Limited LLC, received the right to use the Kara-Tit coal deposit in the Jalal-Abad region. And this is where the interests of Korobov’s marriage companies intertwine. As mentioned earlier, it is planned to build a coal power plant in Jalal-Abad by the Kyrgyz company Arina Korobovskaya AB Energo, and coal for the constructed power plant will be supplied by her husband’s mine, Portal Informacyjny suggests.
“The Russian oligarch's tangled web of connections needs to be carefully examined, as a scheme involving a Polish company importing Russian coal since 2005 may be a key element in circumventing sanctions imposed directly on Russia in order to hide the origin of raw materials,” writes edition.
Journalists note that the secret sale of Russian coal is a serious threat to Poland's energy security.
“Even if it (coal – ed.) is actually mined in Kazakhstan, it is still a source of profit for the Russian oligarchs who create Russia's war economy and participate in financing the brutal war against Ukraine. The difference between Vladimir Putin and Nikolai Korobovsky should be a warning sign against doing business with any of the companies he and his wife own,” summarizes Portal Informacyjny.
Recall that the Krasnodar region of Russia was attacked by drones on the night of April 27th. The strikes were carried out on the Slavyansk-EKO oil refinery, the Ilsky oil refinery and the Kushchevsk military airfield. After the attack, fires broke out at some facilities. As sources told TSN.ua, explosions in the Krasnodar region are the result of a night “hunt” by SBU drones.
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