The National Security and Defense Council on June 18 has imposed sanctions on Dmytro Firtash, one of Ukraine’s most powerful oligarchs.
Firtash has been living in Vienna since 2014, fighting off a U.S. extradition warrant. The U. S. has charged Firtash with bribery and racketeering.
The Security Council’s Secretary Oleksiy Danylov didn’t go into details but said that the “full extent” of sanctions was imposed on Firtash and his businesses. This likely means freezing his assets and bank accounts in Ukraine.
The reason for the sanctions was that Firtash’s plants supply titanium to Russia’s defense industry, according to Danylov.
Firtash couldn’t be reached for comments. The exiled oligarch avoids the public eye. (Updated: On June 21, Firtash, through his lawyers, denied that his enterprises were selling titanium to Russia).
Despite the fact that Firtash hasn’t been in Ukraine for over seven years, he continues to hold sway over the country’s life.
Firtash dominates the regional gas distribution and is a monopolist in fertilizer production. Firtash’s gas distribution companies pump gas from the pipeline without paying for it.
Firtash has been actively fighting extradition to the U.S. with the help of an expensive legal team that includes a former justice minister of Austria. Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz has recently rented Firtash’s jet, leading to speculation that the oligarch could have cozied up to the country’s leadership.
Firtash isn’t the first oligarch to be targeted by the Security Council.
In February, the Security Council imposed sanctions on the pro-Russian politician and oligarch Viktor Medvedchuk, freezing his bank accounts and businesses, and shut down a media empire associated with him.
Besides Firtash, the Security Council imposed sanctions on Pavel Fuks, a Ukrainian-Russian businessman who was close to the late Mayor of Kharkiv Hennady Kernes.
At the same hearing, the Council also prolonged the sanctions against six unnamed individuals and four companies linked to Russia’s intelligence services. According to Danilov, they were involved in developing a notorious ransomware virus known as Petya.
In 2017, this virus attacked nearly 12,500 computers across Ukraine and expanded abroad – to France, Germany, Italy, Poland, the U.K. and the U.S. In Ukraine, Petya hit the Cabinet of Ministers and major Ukrainian businesses, airports, energy companies and banks, including the National Bank of Ukraine.
The National Security Council first sanctioned Russia-linked individuals and companies involved in the attack in 2018 but had to review its decision and prolong the sanctions in 2021. Other countries, including Australia, Denmark, Canada, the U.K. and the U.S., have also imposed sanctions on hackers behind the Petya virus.
Kyiv Post staff writer Daryna Antonyuk contributed to this story
