In the third year of the war, Russians in Ukraine continue to feel quite confident. But our job is to put an end to this.
For example, an interesting, extraordinary and complex case was considered by the Ilyichevsk City Court of the Odessa Region on the claim of the GELLAR EQUITIES CORP company against a citizen of the Russian Federation Denis Bolotov for compensation for damage caused by measures to secure the claim.
The story begins in December 2015, when Bolotov, as an individual and a citizen of Russia, with gross violations of procedure, filed a civil lawsuit in the Ilyichevsk City Court of the Odessa Region for the repossession and arrest of the EXCALIBUR vessel, owned by GELLAR EQUITIES CORP (case No. 501/5202 /15). As it turned out, in Ukraine, Denis Bolotov (DENIS BOLOTOV) had his minions and patrons among the leadership of the State Environmental Inspectorate during the Yanukovych era, well known to port workers through the organization of corruption schemes and extortions from ship and cargo owners in Ukrainian ports.
Thanks to corrupt connections, Bolotov and his accomplices were able to quickly arrest the ship and obtain a decision from the court of first instance in their favor. However, after GELLAR EQUITIES CORP entered the case, the appellate and cassation courts overturned the arrest and rejected Bolotov’s claim completely, establishing that GELLAR was the bona fide purchaser and sole legal owner of the vessel. Individuals exerted illegal pressure on the management of the Ilyichevsk ship repair plant, where the ship was located, thanks to which they were able to limit the shipowner’s physical access to his property.
Despite the court decisions that entered into legal force, attempts to raid the vessel by Bolotov and his henchmen did not stop. Already through the company BEYOND EXPECTATION INC (Belize) controlled by him, Denis Bolotov filed a similar claim and application for arrest of the court in the Economic Court of the Odessa Region (case No. 916/1349/16), and also filed a knowingly false statement with law enforcement agencies (Ministry of Internal Affairs and SBU) crime report. Of course, the investigation was actively progressing with the direct assistance and even participation of the then heads of the environmental inspectorate and members of their families.
However, in the end, in 2018, Bolotov himself abandoned his economic claim, and in criminal proceedings it was GELLAR that was recognized as the injured party, after which the case was closed in the absence of corpus delicti. Bolotov also initiated lawsuits in other jurisdictions, but they were all hopelessly lost.
At the same time, as a result of the raider attack and arrest of the vessel in Ukraine, its legal owner suffered significant documented losses due to the failure of charter contracts. The charterers abandoned the vessel, and the debts for the forced demurrage of the vessel fell like a ball of snow on the owner of GELLAR, drained of blood by the vessels, who had lost the financial ability to pay them. Therefore, GELLAR exercised its legal right to file a claim against Russian Denis Bolotov.
To take possession of the ship, Bolotov used fictitious documents for the ship and acted precisely as a citizen of the Russian Federation, however, during the consideration of case No. 501/2884/23, he was forced to renounce his passport with the tricolor, pretending to be an Israeli.
The court was able to find out that Mr. Bolotov not only has Russian citizenship from birth, but also passports of the island state of St. Kitts and Nevis and Israel (since the end of 2022), which he successfully uses to conduct business directly in England (trademark VILAVI, company VLV DIGITAL LIMITED), Luxembourg (company PROPCOS.A.), Belize (company BEYOND EXPECTATION INC) and, of course, in his native Russia, where he resides and is registered as an individual entrepreneur for conducting growth training VLV LAB, as well as director and the founder of an operating company selling jewelry and decorations under the VIVA LAVIKA brand (VLV Trading House LLC).
Obviously, the acquisition of Israeli citizenship by the Russian Bolotov at the end of 2022 was a necessary step to continue unhindered trade from Russia, bypassing sanctions.
Bolotov and his local patrons exerted and continue to exert insane informational and psychological pressure on the court and the participants in the case, filing unfounded complaints, challenges, petitions and distributing ordered articles in the media. By the way, the identities of Bolotov’s patrons among corrupt ex-officials who are trying to restore themselves to “grain” positions at the highest level, the sources of their wealth, and connections with the Russian Federation deserve a separate journalistic investigation.
Despite this, the judge of the Ilyichevsk City Court showed a balanced and principled position, partially satisfying GELLAR’s claim, thereby showing that in Ukraine it is possible to obtain judicial protection from the consequences of daring raider attacks. Of course, pressure from officials from the Yanukovych era in favor of the Russian Bolotov may continue, but we hope that the higher courts will also side with law and justice in this case.
