Ukraine - November 15, 2024

Moscow’s Plunder of Occupied Ukraine

In occupied Ukrainian territories, Russians are taking control of agricultural holdings, factories and mines. More than a thousand companies have been found in Melitopol, Berdiansk, Mariupolm Lysychansk and Sievierodonetsk that are now registered as Russian entities.

The head of Zaporizhia Ukrainian region estimated that Russia have seized and transferred nearly 500 Ukrainian companies to Russian control since March 2024. Anton Koltsov, head of the local occupation government, claims that all such assets are now owned by the Russian administration and will not be transferred to any new owner.
The Russian military has taken control of granaries, food production facilities, manufacturing workshops, markets, pharmacy chains and shopping malls. Russian officials and actors linked to the regime as well as the Russian state have exploited Ukrainian economic assets for personal, military and financial gains.

According to Ukrainian data, 90% of all buildings in Mariupol were damaged by the bombings and 40% were completely destroyed. The main beneficiary of the destruction here is the Russian construction industry. During the first year of the war alone, Russians founded at least 17 construction companies in Mariupol.
The Russian BBC reported, for example, that Chechen businessman Valid Korchagin became co-owner of the Mariupol metallurgical plant (Ylich Irin and Steel works in Mariupol) and a Russian chain of restaurants and cafés in Mariupol. Korchagin is related to Chechen senator Suleyman Geremeyev, whom the director of Transparency International Russia suggested the Kremlin is rewarding for the Geremeyev family's struggle in Ukraine.
Another example is the Tokmak granite quarry, which is the largest producer of crushed stone in the Zaporizhzhia region. In November 2022, the quarry appeared in the Russian register with a new founder, a Crimean company called the Center for Economic Interaction of Republics. Its director, Sergey Ageev, was awarded the medal for “the defense of Crimea” for his participation in the annexation of the peninsula.

The military administration in Melitopol nationalized enterprises abandoned by the Ukrainians. The decree allowed real estate, land, and equipment of companies that refused to register with the Russian tax authorities to be entered into the register of “abandoned property” and then transferred to state administration or new owners. During the first year of occupation, the authorities in the occupied region registered more than 4,000 “abandoned facilities,” from pharmacies to granite quarries.

Russian seizures include coal, oil, and gas deposits, large factories, and agricultural land (by July 2022, Russia had occupied 22% of Ukraine’s agricultural land). The factories are used for the needs of the Russian army, often being converted to military needs.
After capturing the south of the Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine’s agricultural stronghold, Russia began to take out grain and agricultural machinery. During the first year of occupation, it is estimated that 6 million tons of grain were stolen by Russia.
But it is not only the Russians who are doing business in the occupied territories. The mayor of Melitopol claims that 30% of all Ukrainian entrepreneurs have not left the city and continue to do business there. The opportunity to make a lot of money due to the shortage of food and other goods and services was their chance during wartime.

Bourgeoisie has no homeland, only businesses to defend. The Ukrainian bourgeoisie and oligarchy have positioned themselves over time to the ruler of the day. They have been “pro-EU” or “pro-Putin” depending on the occasion. Meanwhile, Ukrainian workers have put their blood and muscles into filling these people’s pockets. That is why it is the Ukrainian working class the one who, by uniting its ranks, can and must stop the catastrophe.