The gas has given everything to Serhii Kurchenko, entrepreneur born ago 36 years in Kharkov (Ukraine), pro-Russian and based in the country presided over by Vladimir Putin since 2014. Kurchenko bought natural gas at knockdown prices from suppliers of the Russian Gazprom, using his contacts with the former president of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych, and resold it later on the market at stratospheric prices.
This fortune, together with the support of the pro-Russian separatists from Ukraine, allowed him to keep metallurgical, chemical and energy plants in the Donbas areas. The oligarch returned support to the country that supplied him with gas by selling key Ukrainian assets, such as coal from Donbas mines, which Russia then sold to other countries through ports, thus avoiding European Union sanctions. In addition to gas, he brokered coal and electricity and sold fuel to Crimea, where he also exploited oil deposits. His main company was Gaz-Alliance. He came to own a football club, Metalist Kharkiv, and to have interests in the media – such as Ukraine’s version of Forbes magazine – or banks.
“In this way, he profited from the Russian politicians responsible for the annexation of crimea and the destabilization of eastern Ukraine, carried out operations with separatist groups in the Ukrainian region of Donbas and actively supported actions and policies that undermine or threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine. This is confirmed by the European Council, which has just included Kurchenko on the black list of people who promote the undermining or threat of the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine. Joining him has been Yevgeniy Viktorovich Prigozhin, “founder and unofficial head of the Wagner group of mercenaries closely linked to Putin and the Russian Defense Ministry.”
With these last two entrepreneurs, they are already 1,093 people and 80 entities those subject to EU restrictive measures for having harmed the territorial integrity of Ukraine. Being part of this blacklist, they are subject to an asset freeze, which includes the prohibition of making funds available to them. People, in turn, are prohibited from entering or transiting through the territory of the EU.
Brussels and the group of member states have managed to immobilize the assets of oligarchs and companies for a value greater than 50,000 millions of euros. This figure includes ships, helicopters, real estate and works of art worth 6.7 billion. Transactions for 196,000 million have also been blocked. Spain contributes to these items and in this direction is framed the decision of the Council of Ministers the day before yesterday to create a mechanism to speed up the blocking of assets of Russian oligarchs in the name of figureheads.
José Manuel Muñoz Puigcerver, a professor at the University of Nebrija, highlights that Kurchenko “is un typical profile» of the businessmen closest to Putin, to whom they owe a large part of the assets they treasure. “With the sanctions on this group and with the loss of their assets, the European Union thought that they were going to turn against the Russian president and the invasion of Ukraine. But this has not been the case and they have chosen to remain on Putin’s side,” explains the academic, who still blesses the sanctions because they isolate Russia from the international community.
Related news
In this line, it is necessary to understand the five packages of sanctions economic and individual against the country that the European Council has imposed. The last one, agreed on April 8, includes the prohibition of buying, importing or transferring coal and other solid fossil fuels to the EU if they originate from Russia or are exported from Russia, as of August 2022. It is also prohibited facilitate access to EU ports for ships registered under the Russian flag, among other measures.
Brussels, which has restricted the activity of 21 Russian airlines, is now working on the sixth package of measures, although agreeing on these restrictions is becoming increasingly difficult, according to diplomatic sources familiar with the negotiations. This is so given the depth of the areas subject to the next restrictions:_oil and gas, according to the same sources. The sixth package was expected for this week, but, for now, it is still not materialized. It is not ruled out that the difficulties in agreeing on the packages will increase if the war continues.