suppliers of food for the army have saved twice as much since the beginning of the war
In 2022, the profit of suppliers of food for the army, who disclosed reporting, grew to five billion rubles. Most of them were related to the probably dead head of PMC “Wagner” Evgeny Prigozhin. This was found out by “Verstka”.
In total, the Russian army is fed by 32 companies-contractors of Voentorg JSC, which is engaged in providing Russian soldiers. In 2022, 27 of them were disclosed. By law, a company may not publish data on income and expenses if they contain, for example, hospitality. According to the documents, during the war, the profit of food suppliers more than doubled, and compared to 2020, it almost tripled.
Most of them – 18 out of 32 – worked in Prigozhin’s interests, “Vyorstka” found. In 2022, they accounted for 89% of the profits of all industry contractors: since the beginning of the war, companies associated with Prigozhin earned at least 4.4 billion rubles.
The failed rebellion of Prigozhin in June 2023 and his probable death in August did not lead to the termination of the contracts, “Vyorstka” believes. According to her, this is evidenced by the lawsuits that “Voentorg” continues to file against companies due to “improper performance of obligations” under contracts.
Voentorg’s contractors in the field of clothing tailoring, laundry and bathroom services also increased profits. Many of them also hide reporting.
Having analyzed the available reports of 14 companies-suppliers of clothing, “Vyorstka” found out that they earned 2.5 billion rubles – while in 2021, 36 companies that published reports earned 2.1 billion rubles. In total, 43 contractors of “Voentorg” are engaged in sewing and supplying clothing.
Laundry and bathroom services of the Russian army are provided by eight companies. Only half reported income. Their total profit in 2022 has grown one and a half times – almost to 139 million rubles. At the same time, one of the companies offshore belongs to the French company Elis. The company did not respond to Verstka’s request for comment, but its 2022 report states that it was not “directly” harmed “as part of the Ukrainian conflict.”
