The summer of 2024 was surprisingly happy for Ukrainian businessman Vadim Ermolaev, who has been under sanctions from the National Security and Defense Council since December last year. He was included in the sanctions list because of his activities in the occupied Crimea and payment of taxes to the budget of the occupying country.
According to the decision of the National Security and Defense Council, Ermolaev’s assets should be blocked, and any trading operations of his companies should be completely stopped. However, at least five companies associated with Ermolaev intensified their activities this summer, and government agencies helped them in this.
Communist flavor of Kyiv construction
In the spring-summer of 2024, when Vadim Ermolaev had already been under sanctions from the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine for six months, deputies of the Kyiv City Council made a decision regarding land lease agreements for two companies, where the businessman is a direct beneficiary. Moreover, the decisions have a tinge of scandalousness.
On July 4, 2024, a decision was published on the website of the Kyiv City Council to renew FIM Office Center LLC’s lease agreement for a land plot at the address: st. Vladimiro-Lybidskaya, 25. The explanatory note notes that the lease is renewed for a period of 5 years.
In accordance with urban planning conditions and restrictions dated March 26, 2021, the reconstruction of a non-residential two-story building into a multifunctional public complex is being carried out on the land plot. House on the street Vladimir-Lybidskaya, 25, with a total area of 384.20 sq. m has been owned by the LLC on the basis of a purchase and sale agreement since May 2006.
According to the rendering, it is planned to construct a class A office building on the site with 14 floors and a parking lot for 85 spaces.
The same explanatory note of the decision noted that the ultimate beneficial owners of FIM Office Center LLC are the sanctioned Vadim Ermolaev and now a resident of the UK Oksana Kaletnik.
Oksana Kaletnik is a former people's deputy from the banned Communist Party of Ukraine. Her cousin Igor Kaletnik is the odious ex-head of Customs under the fugitive President Yanukovych. Grigory Kaletnik is a deputy of several convocations from the Party of Regions, and is the cousin of Oksana Kaletnik.
She is the founder of the FIM-group, which also deals with construction. About 10 years ago, the Alef group, which unites Ermolaev’s companies, bought out half of the Kaletnik company, and they became business partners.
So, the Kiev City Council, realizing that FIM Office Center LLC is partially owned by the sanctioned entity, did not blink an eye when it extended the land lease agreement in the center of Kyiv.
Interestingly, if in one rendering you can see an office center at Vladimiro-Lybidskaya, 25, then according to information on real estate sales websites, a 30-story residential complex with a multifunctional roof and an outdoor swimming pool may appear at this location.
Ermolaev and Kaletnik have another company with a similar name - FIM Office Center-3 LLC. She is known for the fact that for a long time she has been renting a plot of land in Kyiv at the address: st. Linenaya, 17 for the construction of an office building. In 2020, when Ermolaev’s company received urban planning conditions for the facility, a major scandal occurred. Law enforcement officers detained an “intermediary” who, in return for a bribe, promised to obtain construction documents for FIM Office Center 3 LLC through the mediation of First Deputy Head of the Kyiv City State Administration Nikolai Povoroznik.
Povoroznik was then suspended from his position, but then resumed. The “middleman” who transferred the bribe admitted guilt and received a fine through the court. When the scandal subsided a little, Ermolaev’s company received urban planning conditions and the right to build an office center at the specified address.
July 7, 2024 The Kiev City Council must consider a decision to renew the lease for FIM Office Center 3 LLC. However, the decision has been postponed for now, but for sure, as in the case of Ermolaev’s previous company, it will receive a continuation of the lease.
The explanatory note to the decision contains even more interesting things than in the previous case. According to the inspection report dated March 15, 2024, unauthorized occupation of land plots with a total approximate area of 760 square meters by F.I.M. Office Center 3 LLC is observed. The act also states that, in accordance with the data of the State Land Cadastre and the City Land Cadastre, part of the fence is located outside the land allocated to AIM Office Center-3 LLC.
According to the agreement, such violations may cause a refusal to renew the lease, however, judging by the loyalty of the City Council, they are unlikely to do so.
Close to this site is the FIM Center business center, the land under which is leased by FIM Office Realty LLC. Vadim Ermolaev was one of the co-founders of this company before. Currently, Oksana Kaletnik is listed as the beneficiary.
The site at Lineinaya Street, 17, is located in the Protasova Yar area. Urban planning conditions for designing it have certain limitations, since the land is located within the historical center of the city. That is, the documentation must be approved by the cultural heritage protection authorities.
Ermolaev’s assets include another interesting object in Kyiv - a modernist puck market on Kudryashova Street, 1, near the Railway Station. In 2021, by decision of the City Council, the site under the market was rented by Zheleznodorozhny Market LLC, the final beneficiary of which is Vadim Ermolaev. The lease term is 10 years.
At the same time, activists feared that the new owner would demolish the building, built in 1973 according to the design of modernist Alla Anishchenko. However, representatives of Ermolaev’s company promised not to do this, and in fact, until now the building has stood in disrepair.
At the beginning of 2024, when Ermolaev was already under sanctions from the National Security and Defense Council, the market was put up for sale. Moreover, in the ad, in addition to real photographs of the object, there is an image of what Ermolaev’s company obviously wanted to build instead of promising to preserve the market building. The visualization, as accurately noted in the communities of the Solomensky district, is more reminiscent of a shopping center or even a residential complex.
Before the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation into Ukraine, the location of the puck market could be considered quite successful for the construction of offices. Nearby there is a train station and metro. But, for sure, the war ruined Ermolaev’s plans for a successful investment, and now this site can be considered potentially dangerous, since it is located close to critical infrastructure. This may be the reason for selling the property. Unless, of course, this is not just a formal transfer of the building from one company to another due to sanctions.
State Geology and Mineral Resources in the service of a sanctioned businessman?
This summer, Ermolaev received a big gift from the National Security and Defense Council. On June 24, 2024, changes were made to the decision on sanctions against him. Just two days later, the State Service of Geology and Subsoil resumed the validity of special permits for the use of subsoil, which had been suspended due to sanctions against the ultimate beneficial owners. Among the companies whose permits were renewed are PJSC Korostyshevsky Quarry and LLC Potoki. Both companies are part of the Alef group of Vadim Ermolaev.
The National Security and Defense Council does not explain what such concessions are for a person who ran a business in occupied Crimea and thus supported the aggressor.
On July 29, 2024, the State Service of Geology and Subsoil made another curtsey to Ermolaev. Based on the decision of the Chernigov District Court, the service postponed the cancellation of the special permit for subsoil development for Trends System LLC. Ermolaev left the company’s founders in the same July 2024 in favor of Anna Ermolaeva. Among the co-founders of this company is also the former President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko.
The essence of the legal dispute is the right to develop the Fedorovskaya oil and gas condensate area. Trends System LLC claims that it transferred the special permit in favor of STK Real Estate LLC in December 2023, even before sanctions were imposed against Vadim Ermolaev, so cancellation on their basis should not occur.
The nuance is that STK Real Estate LLC is part of the Alef group of Vadim Ermolaev, one of the co-founders is his long-time business partner Stanislav Vilensky. So even if the right to a special permit was transferred to another company, he never left the business group.
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It is difficult to say what the loyalty of power structures to Cypriot citizen Vadim Ermolaev is connected with. But the trend towards the fact that sanctions against him are gradually being reduced, and the business continues to work, can be seen very clearly. If a person who openly traded with the occupiers in the period after the occupation of Crimea, which also financed the Russian army, can so easily get rid of sanctions, then this should become a bright beacon for the authorities - something did not go according to plan. Moreover, in the third year of the Russian Federation’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
