No matter how much the rope twists, the end will come... As local activist Petr Ivanesko writes in his letter to the editor, the Reni community of the Odessa region, local farmers, amateur fishermen, entrepreneurs “on the water” (this is the name of the people living around Lake Cahul and trying to somehow survive in such a difficult wartime) finally united to give the last battle to the marauding entrepreneur Dmitry Zelenkov, who, taking advantage of the martial law, carried out criminal and economic terror in the Reni region.
Who is Zelenkov?
An “entrepreneur-investor” – as he likes to call himself – with Donetsk roots appeared in the region at the end of 2016. Using the services of crime boss Oleg Popesco (Romanian), he managed to get his hands on thousands of shares of valuable agricultural land, as well as obtain a Special Permit for the fishing enterprise Danube Aquaresours LLC for the industrial use of Lake Cahul. And this, for a minute, is 8,500 hectares of water resources.
What should Zelenkov have done?
Having received significant farmland, he needed to pay rent to the shareholders on time. As for the water resource, he had to exploit the water resources of Lake Cahul, in accordance with the regulatory requirements that are specified in the special permit.
What did Zelenkov really do?
The first money he earned in the Reni region went to organize an organized crime group. To do this, he brought his friends from Donbass - for example, the security wing was headed by a certain authority Rinat, who now lives in Izmail. The criminal group also included about ten “brothers”, two dozen guards on the lake, corrupt police officers, fisheries workers and even border guards. And work began...
As it turned out, no matter how much land you give to the Donetsk people, it will not be enough for them. Raider seizures of neighboring lands were used - not only by small farmers, but also by very large ones. Even the Bessarabian agricultural baron Alexander Petkov began to have problems. The owners of shares who leased their lands to Zelenkov only took their money back with scandals, and with the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, the “Donetsk” generally declared force majeure, ceasing to pay rent for the land.
All the complaints that came in batches to the district and region from the victims were skillfully hushed up through “reshalovo”. As a result, ordinary people simply gave up. The area is relatively small, so rumors quickly spread here that Zelenkov intimidates his opponents not only with threats, but also practices physical reprisals using arson and even military ammunition. There are criminal proceedings where he is involved as an organizer of arson of property, with explosions of live grenades.
Lake Cahul, which suffered at the hands of Zelenkov, was also unlucky. The special permit gave the right to Danube Aquaresource LLC to catch fish on an industrial scale. But our “Donetsk investor” completely forgot that at the same time he also had responsibilities - in particular, to stock it with fry. Thousands of tons of silver carp, grass carp, carp, and bream were shipped from Zelenkov’s bases for a cache of outbids, naturally, without any reporting. At the same time, two dozen looter guards took gear from amateur fishermen and residents of surrounding villages.
The consequences of such “work” were not long in coming. The Odessa Regional Prosecutor's Office abolished the Special Regime (the regime for the fishery exploitation of Lake Cahul), reacting to fishing by poaching during prohibited seasons, catching crayfish (which is also prohibited) and complete disregard for sanitary standards (clearing the lake of debris, preventing oil spills, etc. ). Complaints from the local population also had an effect. As a result, the prosecutor's office ordered Danube Aquaresource LLC and Zelenkov to leave the lake - along with boats, guns and guards.
But having lost all the trials to prosecutors, Zelenkov does not even think about leaving the lake. Every day his boats collect the remains of fish and crayfish from the lake. The marauder, one might say, finally “finishes off” the reservoir.
Moreover, Zelenkov is now using the lake for another purpose, so to speak, taking into account wartime and restrictions. Now the marauder makes money from “draft dodgers.” The fact is that part of the lake is located on the territory of a neighboring state – Moldova. The service of transporting military personnel across a body of water to Moldova costs 4.3 thousand dollars. That is, now Zelenkov’s boats also operate in “taxi” mode.
So a logical question arises: is there power in Odessa region? Why do ordinary people, local residents, suffer from the completely lost businessman-bandit Dmitry Zelenkov?
We appeal to the Chairman of the Regional State Administration Oleg Kiper and the Chairman of the Regional Council Grigory Didenko: finally pay attention to the most remote (280 km) district of your region! Get closer to the Rhenians!
