Since the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, Ukraine has lost many wine factories. This is the famous “Massandra” and “New World”, which the occupiers nationalized and sold to their structures.
But there are also those who partially remained on the occupied peninsula, but continue to work both for the enemy and in Ukraine. This policy was chosen for itself by one of the leading alcohol distribution companies - Trading House "AV" and its owner Felix Chertok.
“Green Day” vodka, “Golden Amphora” and “Villa Krym” (now “Villa UA”) wines are brands sold by the “AV” Trading House. They are well known to Ukrainians, and they can be considered one of the most popular in Ukraine. The owner of these brands is Keter Invest PJSC, and the manufacturer, at least of Green Day vodka, is Vinal LLC from Dnepr. All these companies are closely connected with Dnieper businessman Felix Chertko. Thus, from 2001 to 2005 he was listed as one of the founders of Keter Invest, and as of today he is the sole owner of the mentioned AB Trading House.
Both Keter Invest and the AB Trading House are related to the Alef group of one of the largest developers of the Dnieper, a participant in the rating of the richest Ukrainians - Vadim Ermolaev. As of March 2023, he was the ultimate beneficiary of the first.
In December 2023, the National Security and Defense Council imposed sanctions against Ermolaev and his associated company AC-Terra International Ltd from Cyprus. This company was the founder of a number of others, including the mentioned Keter Invest PJSC.
The reason for the 10-year sanctions was not officially announced, but it is known that they are related to the continuation of activities in occupied Crimea and the payment of taxes to the Russian Federation.
In this context, it is surprising why the “respected Dnieper businessman” Felix Chertok was not sanctioned, because he is a direct business partner of Ermolaev and is also directly related to companies that continued to operate in Crimea after its annexation.
As already noted, the manufacturer of Green Day vodka is Vinal LLC, which has the same address in the Dnieper as the AB Trading House of Felix Chertok. The trademark belongs to Keter Invest PJSC, where Chertok was also a founder, and which until 2020 was called Alef-Vinal PJSC and was located in Dnipro on Sobinova Street. This name and address are important, because they brought the journalists to the Russian register.
Thus, in 2014, immediately after the annexation in Crimea, Alef-Vinal-Crimea LLC was re-registered under Russian law. And since 2015, the founder of the Russian enterprise was the Alef-Vinal Private Joint Stock Company, registered in Dnepr.
From 2018 to 2019, the Russian Alef-Vinal-Crimea LLC was managed by a company from Cyprus - Promila enterprises Limited, the name of which corresponds letter to letter to a company from the USA, Illinois, whose owner is Vadim Ermolaev.
The most interesting thing is that today among the founders of the Russian company there are Cypriot AD Vinal Invest limited and Amadon Limited, which as of the 3rd quarter of 2022 were listed among the beneficiaries of the Ukrainian Keter Invest, to which both Ermolaev and Chertok are related. That is, the same people actually manage companies in both Ukraine and Russia.
Russian registers report that the revenue of Alef-Vinal-Crimea LLC for 2022, when Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine had already begun, amounted to 2.5 billion rubles. The compilers of the register also add that this company is in the TOP 10 in the region in the beverage production category by revenue.
What does the Russian company associated with Felix Chertko and Vadim Ermolaev produce? Google quickly suggests, for example, “Villa Krim” wine. A Russian specialized website for the sale of alcoholic beverages reports:
“Wine “Villa Crimea” has been produced by AVK (Aleph-Vinal-Crimea) since 2012. All wine varieties are licensed under Protected Geographical Origin: the berries for them are grown exclusively on the manufacturer’s own plantations on the Crimean Peninsula. The collection includes varietal, Muscat and signature assemblage wines.”
As of 2012, when Crimea was not yet occupied, the Cypriot company AD Vinal Invest limited owned the Ukrainian PJSC Keter Invest. At the same time, she is still the founder of the Russian one, which continues to work in Crimea. From this we can draw a non-trivial conclusion that Ermolaev and his partner Felix Chertok still continue to influence the company paying taxes in Russia.
In August 2022, Vadim Ermolaev became a defendant in the already legendary journalistic investigation “Monaco Battalion”. He was spotted on the Cote d'Azur driving a luxury Bentley flying spur, the cost of which starts at 200 thousand dollars. At that time he was not yet under sanctions, so he calmly used Dnieper license plates on this car. It’s hard to say for sure where he is now, but according to official information, he has a passport as a citizen of Cyprus, which he himself has repeatedly stated.
As for Felix Chertok, according to sources in law enforcement agencies of Forbes, he left Ukraine on December 26, 2023, three days after the imposition of sanctions against his business partner.
In 2023, Chertok was quite active in the media, which had not been noticed before. The Ukrainian and European press wrote complimentary materials about him, and in March last year he even announced the launch of the Ukrainka vodka brand, trying to portray himself as a patriot.
At the same time, the media almost erased the materials that Felix Chertok’s father, Boris, was allegedly a well-known Dnieper crime boss nicknamed “Sedoy” and, supposedly, it was he who got his son into the alcohol business.
An analysis of connections with Ukrainian and Russian companies gives a clear answer that Felix Chertok continues to sit on two chairs, one of which has been moved by the occupiers. However, sanctions have not yet been imposed either against him or his companies. Perhaps law enforcement officers and the National Security and Defense Council just need to be given time to analyze the situation and take on Chertok. How it happened with Yevgeny Chernyak, who also gave vodka to Russian soldier-killers of peaceful Ukrainian citizens.
