Steel companies in the NGC areas of Donbas got a new investor

Vneshtorgservis’s steelmaking assets within the temporarily non-government controlled (NGC) areas of Donbas will be placed under control of the Russian businessman Yevgeniy Yurchenko, according to a post on The News of Donbass citing a joint statement made by the heads of self-proclaimed republics.

Since 2017, these assets have been controlled by Vneshtorgservis, a company registered in South Ossetia. Many media outlets link the company’s activities to the Ukrainian businessman Sergiy Kurchenko, whom the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine suspects of committing particularly serious crimes against the state. According to the statement, the new investor’s goal is to pay wage arrears.

“The new investor has undertaken to ensure the repayment of debts to current employees of the enterprises within three months, and within 6 months to those retired. The first tranche in the amount of the average monthly wage will be paid by June 11,” reads the statement.

In the NGC areas, Vneshtorgservis controls Alchevsk Iron and Steel Works, Donetskstal, Yenakieve and Makiivka Iron and Steel Works, Yenakieve Coke Plant, Yasynivka Coke Plant,  Khartsyzk Pipe Plant, as well as a number of coal companies: Rovenkianthracite, Sverdlovanthracite, Krasnodonugol.

As GMK Center reported back in April 2019, plants within the NGC areas of Ukraine receive raw materials from the Federal Agency for State Reserves of the Russian Federation.

The volume of industrial production in Donetsk oblast decreased by 3.8% in 2020. The maximum fall (-13.2%) was recorded in 5M. The output in the steel industry and production of finished metal products increased by 6%, while the output in the mining industry fell by 10.7%.