More than 2000 companies with hidden russian roots in the ownership structure were found in Ukraine

What happened? 2088 companies in Ukraine have hidden russian or belarusian roots in a complex ownership structure.

Source. This is evidenced by the data of the VKURSI platform.

Details. In the process of analysis, two types of connections were taken into account:

• the company is the founder of another legal entity in which citizens or residents of the russian federation and/or the republic of belarus have a share: these companies are not subject to laws and regulations on the moratorium on russian business, protection of national interests or the financial system;
• citizens or residents of the russian federation and/or the republic of belarus have indirect influence on a legal entity through a chain of other companies in the ownership structure: these companies are subject to laws and regulations concerning cooperation with russian business.

As of January 2023, the register included 23,859 companies with direct and indirect (hidden) russian or belarusian roots, as well as 29,943 citizens and residents of the russian federation and belarus.

It is noted that 704 companies have a historical connection with russia and belarus (registration actions in the Unified State Register were carried out after February 24, 2022).

"Such a 'find me if you can' game is the most problematic for banks and financial companies, which are subject to fines in the field of financial monitoring. In particular, subjects of initial financial monitoring are obliged to establish a high risk of business relations with clients whose activities are related to the russian federation.

In total, in 2022, the National Bank of Ukraine applied 31 measures of influence for violations in the field of financial monitoring. The largest fines among banks in 2022 were received by JSCB Concord in June, as well as by Sense Bank (formerly Alfa-Bank) in December. The fines amounted to 60.4 million UAH and 47.7 million UAH, respectively," VKURSI notes.