Helping to restore Russia's oil, gas complex: leadership of Ukrainian design institute is exposed

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has exposed the management of a leading oil research and design institute in Kyiv for collaborating with Russia.

According to the SBU press service, the detainees include the chairman of the board, two heads of specialised departments, as well as the chief engineer and one of the engineers of the Kyiv-based institution.

According to the case file, they helped the aggressor restore its oil refineries, which had suffered significant damage as a result of Ukrainian drone attacks.

At the request of the Russian Federation, officials prepared design documentation for the reconstruction of three key refineries. The total cost of the Russian ‘contracts’ was almost half a billion hryvnias.

This amount also included remote support by designers of technological processes for the restoration and modernisation of the damaged refineries of the aggressor country.

During the searches of the defendants' offices and residences in Kyiv, Lviv and Kharkiv, the SBU seized mobile phones, system units, laptops, flash drives and draft records with evidence of cooperation with Russia.

Based on the evidence, SBU investigators served the five detained officials of the project institute a notice of suspicion under Part 1 of Art. 111-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (aiding the aggressor state).

Four of them are currently in custody. The investigation is ongoing. The offenders face up to 12 years in prison with confiscation of property.