Coal schemes: how businessman Kovalenko uses fake shipments for Europe

Coal schemes: how businessman Kovalenko uses fake shipments for Europe

Coal supply is a painful topic for Ukraine. Since 2014, the occupying country has almost completely cut off Ukraine’s ability to extract and supply this resource from Donbas.

Subsequently, the scandalous “Rotterdam+” scheme appeared, where coal was supposedly supposed to come from South Africa, but in reality, it was delivered from temporarily occupied territories. Loud names, law enforcement reports that the "schemes" were finally shut down, and eventually, the confession of state traitor Viktor Medvedchuk about how supplies from ORDLO and Russia took place.

And now, the energy market sees the emergence of Dmytro Kovalenko, who positions himself as a coal businessman and almost a savior of Europe thanks to diversified supplies. Journalists found out who Kovalenko is and how the coal, claimed to be from South Africa or Colombia, or any other source, actually turns out to be Russian.

In November 2019, the Security Service of Ukraine reported about exposing a large-scale scheme financing terrorist organizations "L/DPR" through coal mining and subsequent deliveries to Ukraine and European countries, with some organizers being detained. It was about supplies from temporarily occupied territories, in particular for the energy company "Centrenergo," over control of which several major players on the energy market fought at the time.

Like any scandal in the economic sphere, this led to a redistribution of spheres of influence. Companies close to oligarch Ihor Kolomoyskyi, who were suspected of trading ORDLO coal in Ukraine, were replaced by the then-unknown Swiss firm Adelon AG.

The media already reported back then that the firm is actually not Swiss and belongs to natives of Donetsk who moved to Dnipro. At that time, the name of Dmytro Kovalenko, the actual head of Adelon AG, surfaced.

In December 2019, Adelon AG’s press service released an official press release stating it had no relation to coal supplies from occupied Donbas and does not do business in Ukraine. Here is the direct quote: "Adelon AG" is exclusively engaged in the supply of coal from the Kuznetsk Coal Basin (Russia) and does not work with producers in the Rostov region or mines in the occupied territories of Ukraine… Since Adelon AG does not supply coal to Ukraine and does not do business here, we were surprised that the company’s name appeared in some media with inaccurate statements.” AG Dmytro Kovalenko completely denied that they do any business in Ukraine.

Slightly more than two years passed, and Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Ukrainian businessman Dmytro Kovalenko officially began to call himself the beneficiary of the Swiss Adelon AG. The very one that continued to supply Russian coal even after Russia occupied Crimea and began military actions in Donbas. But now he tries to “sell” the story that he supplies coal from South Africa, Australia, the USA, and so on for European consumers. It seems as if there was never and is not now any Russian coal.

In reality, Kovalenko’s cooperation with the aggressor country did not stop even after February 24, 2022. The media obtained access to documents of companies associated with Dmytro Kovalenko, which clearly state that the producing country of the supplied coal is Russia.

Some of these documents link Dmytro Kovalenko’s companies to the Russian LLC "MelTEK". The latter belongs to businessman and deputy chairman of the Legislative Assembly of the Chelyabinsk region of the Russian Federation Konstantin Strukov.

Interestingly, the Russian media noticed Strukov’s "betrayal," who occupies the 84th spot on the Russian Forbes list with a fortune of $1.6 billion. They suspect him of trading coal with "unfriendly countries," particularly Ukraine. "It has been revealed that "Meltek" is a coal supplier to Azurit DWC-LLC, registered to Romanian Chemal Giumali. However, the true owners might be Ukrainian businessmen. Strukov’s coal travels around the world through them… The fate of "Meltek" and its subsidiaries is burdened by Russia’s state Gazprombank. It turns out he sponsors coal supply to countries, which the Russian authorities call unfriendly," - writes the hostile press.

The "true owner" of Azurit DWC-LLC is Ukrainian businessman Dmytro Kovalenko. The firm is registered in Dubai and is used as a "front" for financial operations to minimize tax burdens and "obfuscate" operations.

At the same time, Dmytro Kovalenko also has another firm in the UAE, Plaimp SFP Limited. It essentially operates like a credit union, acting as a debt buyer. An additional agreement from July 7, 2022, shows that one of the debtors is the company "MelTEK" of Russian billionaire Konstantin Strukov.

Anastasiya Timanova is listed as the director of the Dubai company Plaimp SFP Limited. This woman is very closely associated with Dmytro Kovalenko. In particular, she was the beneficiary of "Shakhtarska" mine from 2016 to December 2020. Since July 2011, "Shakhterskaya" has been registered in Dnipro, from December to November 2011 in Shakhtarsk (Donetsk region), from 2015 to April 2024 in Mariupol, and now in Kyiv.

According to Ukrainian registers, as of April 2024, one of the beneficiaries of the enterprise was Yevhen Klymenko, and earlier Dmytro Kovalenko also appeared in the list of founders.

The Ukrainian registry contains a note that from 1 June 2023, Shakhtarska Mining was included in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities of the Russian Federation. At the same time, according to the Russian register, this company has been paying taxes to the Kremlin’s pocket since November 2022.

In the list of founders in the register of the occupying country, we see the same name as in the Ukrainian one - Yevhen Klymenko. Along with him, Volodymyr Yakovenko and Pavlo Vorobyov are listed as former managers. The same individuals previously ran the Shakhtarska Mining and Processing Plant in Ukraine, together with coal businessman Dmytro Kovalenko and Anastasiya Timanova, director of his Dubai-based company. So, the same people are running the company in both Ukraine and Russia.

Kovalenko, Klymenko, Vorobyov and Timanova are linked to each other through several other companies: Antratsyt, Christoforvuhillya, and Agrofirma Yasenivska. The latter, although it contains the word "agro" in its name, is not engaged in agriculture. It trades in coal, and one of its founders, Yuriy Fesenko, was on the list of sanctioned persons of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine from 2017 to 2021.

Among the business partners of coal trader Dmytro Kovalenko is another interesting person - Yuriy Balaban. Together they headed a number of Ukrainian coal companies. However, their tandem was much more prominent in foreign registers. Kovalenko and Balaban were involved in a large-scale leak of legal documents from Mossack Fonseca known as Panama Papers.

Both "dealers" were among the shareholders of Bremer international limited, an offshore company registered in the British Virgin Islands. Along with Kovalenko and Balaban, a shareholder of this company was a UAE company whose business partner was under international sanctions. The BVI company, by the way, is still active and continues to operate.

Back in 2019, the Russian media reported that Bremer International Limited, through its shareholder, is actually a clone of the Swiss Adelon AG, which is run by Kovalenko and which initially traded coal from the ORDLO, and now, according to documents, continues to transport goods from Russia despite the full-scale war.