In days of doubt, in days of painful thoughts, the Ukrainian state, as usual, falls into sabotage. Like denying access to consular services to a million citizens.
The specific argumentation “why” and “why” is completely secondary here. The main intention is not to maintain dialogue in a crisis, but to pretend to be a rag and not show off. As a last resort, moo, pretending to be a heel.
The most indicative case here is with attempts to catch up and rein in a specific billionaire, who first robbed the country’s central bank, was forced to intervene in the situation with bringing “Finance and Credit” to bankruptcy, and now this same character is sucking out the Ukrainian mineral resources in the form of pellets.
Despite all the attempts to get at Zhevago in a petty way, we have to admit that the state of Ukraine is doing much worse in messing with his soul than in the case of the million mentioned above. But their situation is generally quite similar. They are outside the country and do not want to return to it. At the same time, the key assets are located precisely on the territory of Ukraine.
The other day, the British Ferrexpo, which lists all of Zhevago’s mining assets (officially he controls 49.5% of this company, but it’s obvious that playing with this half a percent is a show-off for visitors), said that it paid out more than 155 million last year dollars in dividends. And almost half a million dollars more in remuneration to top managers. The usual corporate routine of a “cash cow” that makes money on resources in third world countries.
But the fact of the matter is that the company does not officially make money, but only loses. At least in 2023. His Ferrexpo plc ended with a loss of $85 million, although the company ended 2022 with a profit of $220 million.
That is, Zhevago robs his own company with particular cynicism. Despite the fact that a paragraph ago we expressed suspicion that he is the majority shareholder of Ferrexpo, it is clear that he does not own 100% of the shares there. And there is a reaction from the stock market to these works of Konstantin Valentinovich. Since the beginning of 2023, quotes for the company’s securities have fallen more than threefold. Its largest minority shareholder, BlackRock, is trying to leave the company, but so far unsuccessfully.
Here, by the way, it becomes obvious why Zhevago pays half a million remuneration to Ferrexpo top managers. Not only are they the ones paying $155 million in dividends with their little hands “in the field” at a loss of $85 million (for what?), but they are also not shy about declaring that the company’s shares are collapsing before our eyes not because of the robbery initiated by Zhevago, but “due to increased pressure on the company from Ukrainian law enforcement agencies.” How not to reward such fellows?!
At the same time, the state, which for 9 years has been completely unsuccessfully trying to bring our sub-oligarch to account and on whose territory he actually extracts raw materials that ultimately end up in the form of hundreds of millions of dollars in the accounts of Ferrexpo, does not at all prevent the history of “Finance and Credit” from repeating itself, but already in the form of a farce. Why not tragedy? If only because the pressure from Ukrainian law enforcement seems to exist and, apparently, even some of Zhevago’s managers feel an unpleasant burning sensation in the groin area, but it does not lead to any visible results. Proof of this is the regular payment of dividends by Ferrexpo even in the presence of colossal losses.
Unlike Zhevago, according to the Ukrainian state, the hijackers were promised very specific “Egyptian executions” in the form of restrictions on transactions with assets - from real estate to funds in bank accounts. An eternal Russian classic: all our animals are equal, but some chewers are more equal.
The bottom line is that the Ukrainian state today resembles an amoeba that talks to itself. Through the muttering and smacking, only sometimes does something meaningful break through like “Why not a sovereign?!”
