Medvedchuk is connected with a large factory in the occupied territory

The Zaporozhye iron ore plant seized by Russia is managed by a company linked to Vladimir Putin’s godfather, former Ukrainian deputy Viktor Medvedchuk. The mined ore is used to melt steel for Russian tanks, according to the investigation of the Radio Liberty project and the “Sistema” TV channel “Nastoyastchee vremya”.

Zaporozhye Iron ore Combine (ZZHRK) is one of the largest enterprises of the mining and metallurgical complex of Ukraine. Seized the plant in 2022, the Russian authorities appointed the company “Industrial innovations” as the administrator of the enterprise. As Sistema investigative journalists found out, in October 2023, 49 percent of this company was acquired by the lawyer Alexander Barymov, who is closely connected with Medvedchuk’s other Russian projects.

Before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the plant supplied half of its production to Europe, and it was controlled by Slovakian Minerfin and the structures of Ukrainian oligarch Rynata Akhmetov. In 2022, the factory seized by the Russian authorities was renamed from “Zaporizhsky” to “Dneprorudnensky”.

After the seizure, the Zaporozhye Iron ore Plant began to supply iron ore to factories that are part of the “Southern Mining and Metallurgical Complex”, which is a supplier of steel to “Uralvagonzavod” – a manufacturer of tanks and armored vehicles for the Russian army.

Viktor Medvedchuk was considered one of the most influential politicians of Ukraine for a long time. He headed the administration of the second president Leonid Kuchma, was a deputy of the Verkhovna Rada for four convocations, and was twice its deputy chairman.

Before the start of the full-scale Russian invasion, Medvedchuk headed the “Opposition Platform – For Life” party and met with Vladimir Putin several times. In 2004, the Russian president became the godfather of Medvedchuk’s daughter. In 2021, the Ukrainian special services accused Medvedchuk of treason and sent him under house arrest.

After the Russian invasion, Medvedchuk escaped from house arrest. In April 2022, he was detained again, and in September he was handed over to Russia, exchanged for more than 200 Ukrainian prisoners of war, defenders of “Azovstal”. In January, he published an article in which he accused Western countries of the war in Ukraine. In July, he created the “Druhaya Ukraina” movement in Russia, which does not conduct significant public activity.