Who is more important in Ukraine: President Vladimir Zelensky or the head of his office Andriy Ermak? If the answer to this question seems too simple and obvious to you, don’t rush.
Today we will tell the story of the Presidential sanctions. It is well known that sanctions can destroy any business, so they are always trying to get around them. The sanctioned Ukrainian businessman Vadim Novinsky re-registered his companies to other owners. The sanctioned company Parimatch tried to return to the market under a different brand. There are many such examples, and they are all about how to cheat the system.
Our hero today - Vadim Ermolaev - unlike others, decided not to cheat the system, but... to pretend that nothing happened. How did he manage to do this and what role did people from the circle of the head of the OP Ermak play in this - in the investigation of hromadske journalists.
Sanctions by sanctions, business by business
In December 2023, President Vladimir Zelensky imposed economic sanctions against Vadim Ermolaev. The full package: from blocking assets to banning trade operations and participation in the privatization or leasing of state property.
The National Security and Defense Council, which is headed by President Zelensky, never publicly explains the reasons for imposing sanctions. In the case of Ermolaev, this was also not explained.
But when Ermolaev began to sue, it turned out that the sanctions were imposed on the basis of SBU data. In short, according to the Security Service, back in 2014, Vadim Ermolaev re-registered his alcohol business in Crimea as dummies and continued to work there, paying taxes to the Russian budget. In 2021 alone, he paid 490 million Russian rubles, which at that time was approximately $6.5 million.
Therefore, since the beginning of 2024, Vadim Ermolaev has been listed as a sanctioned businessman in Ukraine. But already on February 1, the company “Potoki” controlled by Ermolaev received a lease of 6 hectares on the banks of the Danube River, on the border with Romania. I received them, in fact, for the construction of my own port. The Odessa Regional State Administration leased the land for 49 years.
Strange, isn't it? The President prohibits Ermolaev from renting state property, and the head of the Odessa Regional State Administration Oleg Kiper leases land on the border to his company. The journalists decided to go to the Danube to see what kind of land it was.
How to build a port despite sanctions
Geographically, Ukrainian Bessarabia is very unique. This is a considerable piece of territory, which is actually cut off from the rest of Ukraine by the huge Dnieper estuary. For us it was a whole bureaucratic epic with approvals, letters and the like. Therefore, it is impossible to simply get six hectares in Bessarabia, and even right on the border, on the banks of the Danube.
This is a strictly controlled border area. Here, where the plot of land allocated by the Odessa Regional State Administration to the Potoki company is located, there is a separate customs control zone, warehouses, security, everything is serious. The guards, of course, are not aware of the subtleties of the sanctions, but they promise to call the responsible person to the place. Just wait a little, and everything will be fine.
You can get here only by two roads. The first is across Zatoka, where there is a bridge that has been constantly under fire since 2022 and is now officially not working. The second is on the territory of Moldova. And it is clear that due to the martial law, travel there is now difficult.
While journalists were waiting for someone who has the right to speak on behalf of the company, they noticed a lot of interesting things. Ermolaev, among other things, is prohibited from transporting across the territory of Ukraine. But trucks arrive at his company’s warehouses one after another.
“Flows” received land here for a “multimodal transshipment complex.” In essence, this is its own mini-port - the same company is a carrier both by land and by water, without transferring cargo between different legal entities. In the end, our wait, unfortunately, was in vain: none of the management ever arrived.
Subsequently, Streams decided to send a letter to the editor. They noted that Ermolaev is a patriotic pro-Ukrainian businessman and that they had ownership rights to the leased plot even before the introduction of sanctions (both are obvious lies).
The letter contains another interesting quote: “With regard to land plots, the Law of Ukraine “On Sanctions” contains only one type of sanctions - “prohibition on the acquisition of ownership of land plots”... At the same time, the Law... does not contain prohibitions on leasing state-owned land plots companies controlled by sanctioned entities.”
One of the authors of the Land Code of Ukraine, Viktor Kobylyansky, explained that by definition (Article 181 of the Civil Code) a land plot is real estate. At the same time, part one of Article 3 of the Law of Ukraine “On Lease of State and Communal Property” specifies leased objects for the scope of application of this law, and land plots are not included here. Thus, “Potoki” found a loophole in the law and now calls state land non-state property, the lawyer explained.
As for the sanctions imposed on Ermolaev, they directly contain “a ban on participation in privatization, leasing of state property by residents of a foreign state and persons who are directly or indirectly controlled by residents of a foreign state or act in their interests.”
In any case, in real life, since the founder of the company is under sanctions, a normal Ukrainian official should simply refuse to allocate land. And then Vadim Ermolaev could sue for a long time and, perhaps, even win (as well as lose). But instead of the court, the Odessa Regional State Administration itself decided to interpret the law.
Ermak's environment and "Streams"
Do you still think what could have prompted the Odessa regional administration to act so boldly in defiance of the president’s sanctions? Let's look at the owners of the company "Potoki".
50% of the company belongs to Ermolaev, who is under sanctions. And approximately 10% belongs to a certain Ivan Draluk through the Capital venture fund.
Dralyuk - Major General of the SBU. His highest position in his career is one of the leaders of the Main Directorate for Combating Corruption and Organized Crime, that same famous Directorate “K”.
Since 2023, Dralyuk has been the official adviser to Oleg Kiper.
And, according to four of our sources in Kyiv, Odessa and abroad, Ivan Draluk is also close to the head of the OP Andrey Ermak. “He still remains a freelance adviser to Ermak,” one of our interlocutors said in a conversation with hromadske. “The fact that he was in the position of a freelance adviser is 100%,” another interlocutor noted. However, the Office of the President itself ignored our questions regarding Ivan Dralyuk.
Another interesting partner in Potoki is State Customs Service official Vladimir Kovtun. His wife Oksana also has her 10% stake in Ermolaev’s company.
Kovtun is also a native of Directorate “K” of the SBU, like Dralyuk. Kovtun from Dnieper has a trail of dubious stories - from his alleged friendship with Alexander Yanukovych to his dismissal from the authorities after the Revolution of Dignity and subsequent running for the Dnieper Regional Council from the Opposition for Life in 2015. But now Kovtun has moved to Kyiv and become a customs officer, and the family business, as we see, is developing successfully.
“Ermolaev? Who is this?"
As we remember, the land was given to Ermolaev’s company by the Odessa Regional State Administration. However, the chairman of the Odessa Regional State Administration did not personally sign a single document. He probably initially understood that the story was rotten.
The order that allowed Potok to develop a land development project was signed by the Deputy Chairman of the Regional State Administration Dmitry Radulov. The second order, which gave a discount to Streams, bears the signature of another deputy of Kiper, Alexander Kharlov. The land lease agreement with Ermolaev’s company was signed by the head of the legal representation department, Roman Kravtsov, on behalf of the Regional State Administration.
And although Kiper’s signatures are nowhere to be found, it is still his responsibility.
“I acted as a representative. There was an order - I signed the agreement,” Roman Kravtsov said in a conversation with hromadske.
Hromadske journalist Vyacheslav Kasim wrote to Oleg Kiper personally and also submitted a request to the Odessa Regional State Administration. There were no answers. Therefore, journalist Yaroslava Volvach went to see Kiper in Odessa. And this time he started a dialogue, but in the format of correspondence.
Volvach: How did the land end up being leased from a company owned by a sanctioned entity? More precisely, why did the Regional State Administration lease it out?
Keeper: Let's officially tell you everything, I cannot comment on documents dated February without having them at hand. Moreover, you see that it is not my signature.
Volvach: Do you know Mr. Ermolaev?
Keeper: No. Who is this?
Volvach: Businessman Vadim Ermolaev. He owns the company “Potoki”, to which your Regional State Administration leased the land. The National Security and Defense Council imposed sanctions on him.
Keeper: Thanks for the additional information.
Volvach: Do you know that your advisor Ivan Draluk is Ermolaev’s business partner?
Keeper: No.
Volvach: We are interested in why the Regional State Administration allocates state land for almost 50 years to a person subject to sanctions by the National Security and Defense Council? Sanctions were imposed on Ermolaev because of business in the Russian Federation, so we are also interested in your private opinion. Are you okay that your advisor is collaborating with Ermolaev?
Kiper: You obviously haven't studied this issue deeply. The Regional State Administration does nothing in these matters unless the corresponding consent has been received from the ministries, then a number of departments study it, only then something is signed... We have about 20 such decisions.
Volvach: We are interested in one thing. We are talking about 6 hectares on the border allocated to the sanctioned person. The same could not pass by you as the head of the Regional State Administration. Could it?
Kiper: I knew and supported the fact that sites were being built on the Danube, that funds were being invested in the region, while the ports of Greater Odessa were closed, so that funding would flow to the region, additional jobs, I knew and supported. … As for the owners and the procedure, [this issue] is being studied by ministries and departments.
Oleg Kiper saw the journalists' request and promised an official response. But, apparently, the Regional State Administration did not find the appropriate words, because no response was received for the publication of the material.
