The Goloseevsky District Court of Kyiv found Kharkov businessman Alexander Romanenko guilty of conducting business in Russia during the war and paying 20 million rubles in taxes to the Russian budget.
The publication “Slidstvo.Info” notes that Romanenko was a business partner of Kharkov City Council deputy Alexander Vasilenko.
The court ordered the businessman to pay a fine of 170 thousand hryvnia and deprived him of the right to hold certain positions, in particular in government bodies, for 10 years. However, Romanenko will still be able to run for local government. The court commuted the sentence because the businessman is actively involved in volunteer activities.
"Frunze Plant" collaborated with Russian strategic enterprises
Alexander Romanenko is the founder of the Russian company Frunze Plant LLC. The company is registered in Belgorod and sells car parts, perforated metal products, furniture and timber. In total, since February 24, 2022, Romanenko has paid taxes amounting to more than twenty million rubles to the Russian budget.
According to the court verdict, in August 2022, the Frunze Plant supplied products to the Russian JSC Krasnodar RTI Plant and received 288 thousand rubles for it.
The Krasnodar RTI Plant cooperates with Russian strategic enterprises that produce railway cars—the kind of cars the Russians use to export stolen Ukrainian grain.
Connections with a deputy of the Kharkov City Council
Journalists have established that in Ukraine Romanenko is one of the largest shareholders of the enterprise of the same name, Frunze Plant. The controlling stake belongs to the deputy of the Kharkov City Council Alexander Vasilenko.
In Ukraine, the Frunze trademark was registered by the Vasilenko joint-stock company. The Russian company uses the same logo, and on the Russian website in the “About Us” section there is a link to the YouTube channel of the Ukrainian “Frunze Plant”, where Vasilenko personally advertises the products.
In Ukraine, the Frunze Plant carries out government orders: it supplies police vehicles, provides wires to state-owned companies and supplies military units with metal fencing.
The Russian Frunze Plant also carried out government orders: it supplied benches for the Russian bus station, nets for the Russian airport and metal products for Stavropolgaz.
The publication also notes that the Ukrainian company and its de facto Russian branch, which appears to have been registered to operate in Russia, continued to cooperate after the start of the full-scale invasion. In February 2023, the Ukrainian “Frunze Plant” entered into an additional agreement with the Russian “Frunze Plant” and even agreed with the National Bank on a payment from Russia to Ukraine.
