Are medicines from the Ukrainian “Darnitsa” sold to the Russian Federation bypassing sanctions?

Some fight, others trade? In the third year of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation, products produced by the Darnitsa company were noticed for free sale in a number of Russian online pharmacies, and pharmaceutical consultants confirmed that the medicines were indeed in stock. Is it really true that the Ukrainian company from the orbit of ex-People’s Deputy Zagoria was unable to sever ties with Russia?

Does “Darnitsa” of former People’s Deputy Gleb Zagoria actually continue to sponsor the aggressor country? And also what schemes involving drug manufacturers are the SBU investigating and who is protecting the possible “negotiations” of pharmacists?

To find out how the medicine from the Ukrainian manufacturer continues to end up on the shelves of Russian pharmacies, the editors of StopCor sent a request to Darnitsa, but for a long time did not receive a response.

Is a pharmaceutical company really sponsoring a terrorist country with taxes?

This issue should be investigated by the Security Service of Ukraine, to whom the journalists also turned and reported the “find.” If the facts of cooperation are proven, as StopCor was informed by the Ministry of Health, the registration certificate of Darnitsa may be terminated and a decision may be made on a complete or temporary ban on the use of medicines under this brand.

How is it even possible that some Ukrainians are fighting the Russian invaders for independence, while others, as if with the “Stockholm syndrome,” do business with them? Veteran of the Russian-Ukrainian war Konstantin Ilchenko commented on the situation.

“They just say: “No, this is some kind of slander. We do not trade with Russia. Well, we don’t know what you see in Russian stores or on the Internet about our products.” What are these answers? And this answer is enough for the prosecutor’s office and the SBU to just sit quietly and say: well, they said that they were not guilty?!” – he emphasized.

Theoretically, it can be assumed that Ukrainian medicines with an average shelf life of 3-4 years were imported into the Russian Federation even before the full-scale invasion. But if back in 2017, according to YouControl, there were direct Darnitsa operations with the aggressor country, then in subsequent years the media suggested a mechanism for transporting medicines to Russia through countries included in the so-called Customs Union with Russia.

Moreover, Darnitsa’s pharmaceutical products, which were in demand in the Russian Federation before, have still not lost popularity there, as evidenced by recent reviews from Russians on forums regarding the effectiveness of the drugs. At the same time, the owner of the company, Gleb Zagoriy, often gives interviews about how the war affects the pharmaceutical business, how the Ukrainian authorities are “at war” with entrepreneurs, but not a word about condemning the Russians and that Russia is the aggressor.

Perhaps this is due to the fact that Zagoriy himself is a native of Russia?

Let us recall, as we reported in previous investigations, the owner of Darnitsa may be associated with Putin’s ally Valentina Matvienko, whose son Sergei was also involved in the pharmaceutical business. According to some media reports, Zagoriy and Matvienko are relatives, and in one of the interviews, the Ukrainian businessman confirmed that he is personally acquainted with the Russian politician, but does not seem to communicate with her.

In addition, according to our colleagues from Ukrayinska Pravda, Zagoriy was once involved in the abduction and detention of Maidan activists Igor Lutsenko and Yuriy Verbitsky, who tragically died as a result of torture, and investigative actions were even carried out on the territory of Darnitsa.

So is it a coincidence that Darnitsa’s medicines now end up in Russia?

The Security Service of Ukraine, in response to a request from StopCor, noted that they cannot provide details of their investigations, but briefly noted that a case is currently open involving Gleb Zagoria’s pharmaceutical company. We are talking about a possible conspiracy between Darnitsa and the Lviv Oncology Center and possible embezzlement of budget funds during the war.

As noted in the published materials of the case, employees of the Lviv Oncology Regional Treatment and Diagnostic Center, in a preliminary conspiracy with the companies Skyinvest, Galich-Polimed and the Pharmaceutical Company Darnitsa, took possession of budgetary funds, buying drugs at obviously inflated prices and creating discriminatory requirements for other potential bidders, limiting competition.

In this regard, as the State Audit Service reported in response to a request from StopCor, the Western office of the State Autonomous University of Ukraine, taking into account our information, has already planned an audit and financial audit of the oncology center.

But the Antimonopoly Committee, which is primarily supposed to monitor anti-competitive coordination of actions, responded that they did not see any violations of the legislation on the protection of economic competition in the actions of the Lviv Oncology Center and Darnitsa.

It turns out that their actions are not within the competence of the AMCU?

As noted by Stop Corruption NGO analyst Anastasia Bondarenko, who studied government tenders for the purchase of medicines with the participation of the Darnitsa company, the restriction of competition in favor of Darnitsa was observed not only in the tenders of the Lviv Oncology Center, but also in many other procurements of government institutions.

“Darnitsa” signed contracts worth approximately 192 million hryvnia for 2022-2024. Of this money, 109 million was received through open procurement. But we see such a nuance that most open procurements that were announced by customers take place without competition, only one company takes part. It’s a very strange situation with open procurement, because the amounts spent on medicines are quite large. The customer can prescribe conditions in such a way that only one company, Darnitsa, can produce the active ingredients of the medicine or the medicine itself,” she emphasized.

What happened to the Darnitsa tenders against the backdrop of the war?

Over the past 2023, Darnitsa won the most government procurement and entered the top three in the sale of medicines to medical institutions. But what is the key advantage of this company and who can be behind its leadership in the pharmaceutical market? As StopCor reporters discovered in previous investigations, Ivan Bavykin, a former assistant to People’s Deputy Gleb Zagoriy, owner of Darnitsa, headed the “medical certification center” under the Ministry of Health.

“But this is not the only conflict of interest involving Zagoria. It is possible that the owner of Darnitsa is a protégé of Sergei Kuzminykh, a people’s deputy, chairman of the parliamentary subcommittee on pharmaceutical issues and once a member of the Ministry of Health Commission, which could initiate the termination of the registration certificate for medicines. In narrow medical circles, Kuzminykh is known as a tender “decider”, who, by the way, the year before last, NABU detectives caught red-handed while receiving more than half a million hryvnia in bribes for assistance in obtaining a tender,” notes journalist Alla Legeza.

How is this parliamentarian connected with businessman Zagoriy and what could be the conflict of interest?

In 2016-2018, the Zagoria family charitable foundation provided financial assistance totaling 9.5 million hryvnia to the Kuzmins’ foundation. In this regard, due to the risk of lobbying the interests of Darnitsa, an investigation began in NAPC. The Ministry of Health, in response to StopCor’s request, also confirmed that, according to the commission’s regulations, there was a conflict of interest, therefore, in August last year, by order of the Ministry of Health, Sergei Kuzminykh was expelled from the commission. But the Darnitsa pharmaceutical company ignored the request on this and other issues.

So the Stopkorovites decided to call Kuzminykh himself, but they couldn’t get through.

The financial results of Darnitsa during the years of the great war are also interesting.

In March 2023, Darnitsa boasted that it had increased its net profit almost 5 times compared to previous data, and the company’s assets in 2022 increased by 10% to 5.5 billion hryvnia. So who owns most of the company's assets and where do the taxes go?

As it turns out, Darnitsa, which positions itself as a domestic pharmaceutical company, can in fact be called Ukrainian only by 7%, because almost this amount of percent is concentrated in the hands of Ukrainian citizen Vladimir Zagoriy, the father of Gleb Zagoriy.

But another 93% of the company is owned by the company of the same name “DARNITSA GROUP LIMITED” (Cyprus), the beneficiary of which, according to information and analytical platforms, is Gleb Zagoriy, already known to us, but... with Cypriot registration.

According to the international analytical platform opencorporates, the company is registered in the capital of the republic, in the city of Nicosia. There are many companies registered in this building, but the most interesting thing is that offshore companies from Russia are also located on the same floor. In particular, under the same roof is located the company NICHERI SERVICES LIMITED, which has connections with one of the largest oil companies in Russia, Kinef, owned by Russian Vadim Somov.

Also on the same floor with the Cyprus Darnitsa coexists an offshore company called MAZION LTD, on behalf of which the company Sia Frigo Baltic carried out transactions with the Russian pharmaceutical company GLOBAL PHARMA, among whose top customers are the regional Ministries of Health of Russia. The beneficiary of the company is Russian Nikolai Belenkiy-Gordonov.

I wonder if it is through this Russian pharmaceutical company that Darnitsa trades with Russia?

As StopCor investigators found out, financial transactions with the offshore Darnitsa occur systematically, and the last registration actions for payments, according to Cypriot registries, were carried out quite recently, in January of this year. The company was established 13 years ago, and its previous name was AUSUBEL PROPERTIES LTD.

Is it really true that for so many years the domestic pharmaceutical company has been transferring money abroad, which can be especially cynical in the midst of a war and a period of shortage of funds in the country? According to a leading Ukrainian lawyer, an expert on investment legislation, Valentin Zagariy, there may be several reasons for transferring assets abroad, for example, protection from raiding, but among the key ones is “savings” on taxes.

“Cyprus is very convenient from the point of view of withdrawing dividends. If, for example, there is another company on top of the Cypriot company, for example, Seychelles or Panama, then then the funds from Cyprus come out “to zero” absolutely. Or, even simpler, they simply “cache” these things. They pay for consulting services to some non-resident company in Panama. This is a “wallet” that receives virtually all funds withdrawn from Ukraine. That is, this is a way to withdraw funds from Ukraine without taxation at the lowest possible rate and actually spend them there uncontrollably, and possibly in Ukraine, but saving on taxes,” he comments.

According to insider data from StopCor's own sources, Gleb Zagoria probably also has a residence permit in the Republic of Cyprus and, possibly, even citizenship of this country. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not answer anything on this matter, and the Cypriot Embassy in Ukraine noted that they could not disclose such data.

Also, according to the declaration, Zagoriy also controls the offshore company Danig Limited in Bermuda and DBS Holding Sa rl in Luxembourg.

“Obviously, as a businessman with a lot of money and foreign assets, he received Cyprus residency and, unlike ordinary Ukrainian men, can freely travel outside the country, as well as hide from justice if his guilt is proven against at least one of the things we described above episodes. As was the case, in particular, with the notorious businessman Igor Mazepa, who was detained while crossing the Ukrainian border on the border with Poland because of the case of the illegal construction of a cottage town on the lands of the Kyiv hydroelectric station,” notes Alla Legeza.

What exactly are the connections between Gleb Zagoriy and Igor Mazepa, who is under investigation? The editors of StopCor are already preparing a new series of investigations, where they will reveal this issue and also show to whom the majority of the fortune of the owner of Darnitsa is registered. And it will shed some light on what Mr. Zagoriy is trying to hide by putting pressure on journalists. So subscribe to our YouTube channel so you don't miss out.

Let us remind you that last year it became known that the domestic pharmaceutical company Darnitsa was suspected of manipulating purchase prices - criminal proceedings were opened on this fact. Documents on the cost of importing raw materials provided by the company raised doubts about their authenticity.

Moreover, a comparative analysis showed: Darnitsa’s medications are the most expensive on the Ukrainian market, and about 30% of the cost is the cost of advertising the products. According to communications company Razom Group, already during the full-scale war, Darnitsa spent 50-60 million UAH on television advertising.