Businessmen, former customs officers, and crime boss: who has been put under Zelensky's sanctions for smuggling

Author

Yulia Ustymovych

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has put into effect the NSDC's decision to impose sanctions on a number of Ukrainian citizens as part of the fight against smuggling.

In addition to individuals, Russian companies have been put in the list, including those operating in the occupied Crimea. This is stated in the message of the press service of the Office of the President.

Ukrainians who have been put under sanctions

Ivan Bokalo. The former Head of the Rava-Ruska customs. He was dismissed from the ranks of the State Customs Service of Ukraine in December 2010. At that time Bokalo said that for the past four years he had been engaged in private business and over the past year earned 1.259 million UAH.
Valerii Peresoliak. The former Deputy Head at the Department of Risks and Counteraction of Offenses of the Zakarpattia Customs, dismissed in 2016. In 2015 he founded the football club Minaj. Peresoliak as the curator of smuggling was discussed at a meeting of the Committee on Finance, Taxation and Customs Policy. After more than a dozen years of service at customs upon dismissal, Peresoliak declared 13 land plots in Uzhhorod and the Zakarpattia region, with a total area of more than 10,000 square meters.
Yurii Kushnir. Entrepreneur, founder of the company Chernivtsi Plant of Construction Materials and the security agency Sokol. He was elected a deputy from the Party of Regions to the Chernivtsi Regional Council in 2010. In 2020, he was involved in the case of a bribe to the former Head of the Regional Council in the amount of $200,000. He also appears in the decision of the Supreme Court, according to which the then Chairman of the Chernivtsi Regional Council from the Batkivshchyna (Fatherland) party Ivan Muntyan, for Kushnir's money, was supposed to enhance the lens lease of the sanatorium Brusnytsia for 49 years. During the searches, $64,000 was seized from Kushnir.
Oleksandr Yeremechuk. Bukovyna entrepreneur. According to local media reports, he was allegedly an overseer from the People’s Front for smuggling in Bukovyna. Also, according to media reports, he controlled the flow of consumer goods from China and Turkey.
Orest Firmaniuk. Zakarpattia businessman, who is called the organizer of "shady" customs schemes in the smuggling of household goods and fabrics. The former Head of customs Maksym Nefodov dubbed him one of the "main smugglers".
Vadym Alperin. Odesa businessman, in 2019 the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) accused him of tax evasion and fees, and the creation of a criminal organization. In particular, in November 2017, the President of the Institute of Law and Society, Yurii Karmazin, said that Alperin was involved in a number of companies that allegedly imported goods into Ukraine at low customs payments.
Oleksandr Chudakov. Figure in the criminal case of cigarette smuggling. During the smuggling, it was stated that Chudakov was an employee of the Security Service of Ukraine accompanying the transfer of cigarettes. In September 2018, the cigarettes were smuggled from the warehouse Agat 2016. After that, they were sold in Ukraine through online stores, and most of them were exported abroad.
Vyktor Sherman. Odesa businessman, whose firms are engaged in sea freight. He specialized mainly in the import of clothing, mainly from China. Local media call Sherman one of Vadym Alperin's partners.
Oleksandr Kravchenko. Former Deputy Head of the Kherson customs.
Volodymyr Didukh. Lviv crime boss. He is a former sponsor of the party Svoboda, although this is denied in the party itself.

Russian companies that have been put under sanctions

Also, by the decision of the NSDC, 79 companies have been sanctioned, including 11 Russian ones:

Russian Federal Agency Rossotrudnichestvo;
Volga-Dnepr Airlines;
technical base Zvezdochka;
SNABCOM;
shipyard Dalzavod;
Aircraft Repair Plant No 514;
"Aircraft Repair Plant No 322;.
SpetsAgregat;
plant Molot;
Sevmormash-2M;
Sevastopol Aggregate Plant.

Restrictions for companies and individuals will last for three years. In particular, their accounts and property are blocked and trading operations are restricted, licenses and other permits are canceled or suspended.

At the same time, according to the law "On Sanctions", the application of such measures to citizens of Ukraine is possible only in the event of terrorist activities, notes Zoya Yarosh, President of the Ukrainian Bar Association.

In addition, smuggling is not a terrorist activity, so she considers such a decree to be contrary to the law.