Oligarch Dmytro Firtash’s company was reportedly denied a titanium mining license in Zhytomyr Oblast for allegedly financing terrorism.
The company, Group DF, claimed it was cheated.
Ukraine’s state-owned United Mining Chemical Company won the Aug. 9 tender to mine for titanium in the area with a bid of Hr 123 million ($4.5 million).
According to Group DF, its subsidiary, the Mezhyrichensky mining and processing plant, had already won the bid but didn’t receive a permit after it was accused of “financing terrorism and acting in the interests of the Russian Federation,” which the group called “baseless accusations.”
The company plans to appeal the decision.
This is the latest chapter in the fight between the exiled oligarch and the Ukrainian government.
On Aug. 4, the state stripped Firtash of his minority share in Europe’s only titanium sponge plant in Zaporizhzhia, an industrial city 510 kilometers southeast from Kyiv.
Titanium production is a core business in Group DF and includes mining and enrichment, the production of titanium dioxide, titanium slag, sponge ingots and slabs.
The National Security and Defense Council imposed sanctions on the oligarch on July 18, saying his plants supplied titanium to Russia’s defense industry, which Firtash’s lawyers denied.
Firtash has been living in Vienna since 2014, where he is fighting extradition to the U.S. The American government has charged Firtash with bribery and racketeering, which he denies.
The Security Council’s secretary, Oleksiy Danylov, said that Firtash and his businesses were sanctioned to the “full extent,” which likely means that the oligarch’s bank accounts and assets in Ukraine were frozen.
Despite the fact that Firtash hasn’t been in Ukraine in over seven years, he continues to hold sway here. Firtash dominates the regional gas distribution network and the production of fertilizer.
