Vadim Ermolaev and Oksana Kaletnik. How traitors continue to steal

The summer of 2024 has been surprisingly lucky for Ukrainian businessman Vadim Yermolayev, who has been under sanctions by the National Security and Defense Council since December last year. He was included in the sanctions list due to his activities in occupied Crimea and paying taxes to the budget of the occupying country.

According to the decision of the National Security and Defense Council, Yermolayev’s assets must be blocked, and any trading operations of his companies must be completely stopped. However, at least five companies associated with Yermolayev have stepped up their activities this summer, and state structures have helped them in this.

The communist flavor of Kyiv construction

In the spring and summer of 2024, when Vadim Yermolayev had already been under sanctions by the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine for six months, the deputies of the Kyiv City Council made a decision regarding land lease agreements for two companies where the businessman is a direct beneficiary. Moreover, the decisions have a touch of scandal.

On July 4, 2024, a decision was published on the website of the Kyiv City Council to renew the lease agreement of FIM Office Center LLC for the land plot at 25 Volodymyro-Lybidska Street. The explanatory note noted that the lease is renewed for a period of 5 years.

In accordance with the urban development conditions and restrictions of March 26, 2021, a non-residential two-story building is being reconstructed on the land plot into a multifunctional public complex. The house on Vladimiro-Lybidskaya Street, 25, with a total area of 384.20 sq. m has been owned by the LLC on the basis of a purchase and sale agreement since May 2006.

According to the rendering, the site is planned to be used for the construction of a 14-story Class A office building with 85 parking spaces.

The same explanatory note to the decision taken notes that the ultimate beneficial owners of FIM Office Center LLC are sanctioned Vadim Ermolaev and current UK resident Oksana Kaletnik.

Oksana Kaletnik is a former people’s deputy from the banned Communist Party of Ukraine. Her cousin Igor Kaletnik is the odious former head of Customs under the fugitive president Yanukovych. Grigoriy Kaletnik is a deputy of several convocations from the Party of Regions, and is Oksana Kaletnik’s cousin.

She is the founder of the FIM-group, which is also involved in construction. About 10 years ago, the Alef group, which unites Ermolaev’s companies, bought half of the Kaletnik company, and they became business partners.

So, the Kyiv City Council, realizing that FIM Office Center LLC is partially owned by a sanctioned person, did not blink an eye before extending the lease agreement for land in the center of Kyiv.

It is interesting that if one rendering at 25 Vladimiro-Lybidskaya Street shows an office center, then according to information on real estate sales websites, a 30-story residential complex with a multifunctional roof and an outdoor swimming pool may appear at this location.

Ermolaev and Kaletnik have another company with a similar name - LLC "FIM Office Center-3". It is known for the fact that for a long time it has been leasing a land plot in Kyiv at 17 Lineyna Street for the construction of an office building. In 2020, when Ermolaev’s company received urban development conditions for the facility, a major scandal occurred. Law enforcement officers detained a "middleman" who, for a bribe, promised to obtain construction documents for LLC "FIM Office Center 3" through the mediation of the first deputy head of the Kyiv City State Administration Mykola Povoroznik.

Povorotnik was then removed from his post, but then resumed. The "middleman" who transferred the bribe admitted guilt and received a fine through the court. When the scandal died down a little, Ermolaev’s company received urban development conditions and the right to build an office center at the specified address.

On July 7, 2024, the Kyiv City Council is to consider a decision on renewing the lease for FIM Office Center 3 LLC. However, the decision has been postponed for now, but it will most likely receive a lease extension, as was the case with Ermolaev’s previous company.

The explanatory note to the decision contains even more interesting information than in the previous case. According to the inspection report of March 15, 2024, unauthorized occupation of land plots with a total approximate area of 760 square meters by FIM Office Center 3 LLC is observed. The report also states that, in accordance with the data of the State Land Cadastre and the City Land Cadastre, part of the fence is located outside the land allocated to FIM Office Center 3 LLC.

According to the agreement, such violations may become a reason for refusal to renew the lease, however, judging by the loyalty of the Kyiv City Council, this is unlikely to happen.

The FIM Center business center is located close to this site, the land under which is leased by OOO FIM Office Realty. Vadim Ermolaev was a co-founder of this company earlier. Oksana Kaletnik is currently listed as the beneficiary.

The site at 17 Lineynaya Street is located in the Protasova Yar area. The urban planning conditions for designing it have certain restrictions, since the land is located within the historic center of the city. That is, the documentation must be coordinated with the cultural heritage protection authorities.

Ermolaev’s assets include another interesting property in Kyiv - a modernist puck-market on Kudryashova Street, 1, near the Railway Station. In 2021, the site under the market was leased by the decision of the Kyiv City Council to Zheleznodorozhny Rynok LLC, the ultimate beneficiary of which is Vadim Ermolaev. The lease term is 10 years.

At the same time, activists feared that the new owner would demolish the building, built in 1973 according to the design of modernist Alla Anishchenko. However, representatives of Ermolaev’s firm promised not to do this, and the building has remained derelict to this day.

At the beginning of 2024, when Yermolayev was already under sanctions from the National Security and Defense Council, the market was put up for sale. Moreover, in the ad, in addition to real photographs of the object, there is an image of what Yermolayev’s company obviously wanted to build instead of promising to preserve the market building. The visualization, as was accurately noted in the communities of the Solomensky district, is more reminiscent of a shopping center or even a residential complex.

Before the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation into Ukraine, the location of the puck-market could be considered quite successful for the construction of offices. Nearby is a railway station and a metro station. But, most likely, the war destroyed Ermolaev’s plans for a successful investment, and now this site can be considered potentially dangerous, since it is located close to critical infrastructure facilities. This may be the reason for selling the property. Unless, of course, this is not just a formal transfer of the building from one company to another due to sanctions.

Gosgeonedr in the service of a sanctioned businessman?

This summer, Yermolayev received a big gift from the National Security and Defense Council. On June 24, 2024, the decision on sanctions against him was amended. Two days later, the State Service of Geology and Subsoil renewed the special permits for subsoil use that had been suspended due to sanctions against the ultimate beneficial owners. Among the companies whose permits were renewed were PAO Korostyshevsky Quarry and OOO Potoki. Both companies are part of Vadim Yermolayev’s Alef Group.

The National Security and Defense Council does not explain why such concessions were granted to a person who conducted business in occupied Crimea and thus supported the aggressor.

On July 29, 2024, the State Service of Geology and Subsoil made another bow to Ermolaev. Based on the decision of the Chernihiv District Court, the service postponed the cancellation of the special permit for subsoil development for Trends System LLC. Ermolaev left the company’s founders in the same July 2024 in favor of Anna Ermolaeva. Among the co-founders of this company is also former Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko.

The essence of the legal dispute is the right to develop the Fedorovskaya oil and gas condensate area. OOO Trends System claims that it transferred the special permit in favor of OOO STK Real Estate in December 2023, even before sanctions were imposed on Vadim Ermolaev, so the cancellation on their basis should not occur.

The nuance is that OOO STK Real Estate is part of Vadim Ermolaev’s Alef group, and one of the co-founders is his long-time business partner Stanislav Vilensky. So even if the right to a special permit was transferred to another company, he did not leave the business group.

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It is difficult to say what the loyalty of the authorities to the Cypriot citizen Vadim Ermolaev is connected with. But the tendency that sanctions against him are gradually being reduced, and the business continues to operate, is very clear. If a person who openly traded with the occupiers during the period after the occupation of Crimea, which financed, among other things, the Russian army, can so easily escape sanctions, then this should become a bright beacon for the authorities - something did not go according to plan. Especially in the third year of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation into Ukraine.