Occupiers’ Corruption at Azovstal: A Massive Scheme Unfolds in Plain Sight
In the temporarily occupied Donetsk, amid an economic crisis across Russian regions and the search for additional funds to cover budget deficits, a large-scale corruption scheme is taking shape aimed at embezzling funds under the guise of restoring the legendary metallurgical plant “Azovstal.” According to the National Resistance Center (NRC), the mastermind behind this scheme—so-called leader of the occupation, Denis Pushilin, in collaboration with Senator Oleksandr Voloshyn, regularly turns any “reconstruction projects” into personal enrichment.
Officially, the initiative is presented as a ‘patriotic project’ for eliminating the consequences of hostilities and creating a technopark on the “Azovstal” site.
In reality, as reported by NRC, this is merely cover for stealing metal, equipment, and remnants of the former plant.
The sources of income for the occupiers include over one million tons of scrap metal stored at the plant, 250,000 tons of finished metal and rebar worth up to 60,000 rubles per ton, and hundreds of unique machines, which Pushilin ordered to be declared as ‘scrap metal.’ Although the decision on this project has been postponed until late October, the scheme is already in motion.
According to NRC, the scheme’s curator, Yakov Khachanyan, has started selling the metal for cash, bypassing official approval.
This project, cloaked in rhetoric of patriotism and rebuilding the country, serves primarily as a source of enrichment for the DNR leadership and a means for resource looting from the former strategic enterprise.