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The sale of the Massandra winery by the Russian invaders of Crimea can be considered a war crime.
This was stated in an interview with ZN.UA by the head of the Public Prosecutor of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevestopol, Igor Ponochovny. He recalled that the IV Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War A prohibition has been established for the aggressor countries to appropriate both public and private property in the occupied territories..
“The occupying state has the right to use public property only for military purposes. In this case, after the occupation of the peninsula by the Russian Federation, Massandra’s property was” nationalized “, in fact expropriated, transferred to federal property : the Office of the President of the Russian Federation, and then returned to “the property of the Republic of Crimea” Consequently, there was no military need for such appropriation and transfer of property, “explained Ponochovny.
According to the head of the Prosecutor’s Office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, in general, the Prosecutor’s Office is investigating various crimes of the occupiers and their accomplices associated with Massandra.
So, in addition to appropriating the plant, they sold land under vineyards in Gurzuf a company associated with the owner of Lukoil Vagit Alekperov. Another episode refers to the “director” of the company Yanina Pavlenko, who opened a 240-year-old bottle of Jerez de la Frontera for Russian President Vladimir Putin and former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi… Furthermore, the shares of the buyer “Massandra” are considered separately.
As Ponochevny pointed out, the previously announced amount of 1.8 trillion UAH in losses suffered by Ukraine does not take into account all that our country lost in the temporarily occupied Crimean peninsula. However, the prosecutor’s office is now working to establish the exact amount of damages. Furthermore, the illegal construction of the Crimean bridge by the invaders is considered a separate case.
As OBOZREVATEL reported:
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the invaders auctioned Massandra on November 17. Let us remind you that this plant is the oldest and largest wine company in Crimea.
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The holding includes 12 smaller entities, led by Yalta Vintage Wine Factory.
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As a result, on December 14 “Massandra” was sold for 5.327 billion rubles ($ 72.8 million). It was bought by the Yuzhny Project company, associated with businessman Yuri Kovalchuk, who is a close associate of Putin.
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Notably, the same company bought the Novy Svet Crimean sparkling wine factory in 2017.
