“Gray Cardinal”: why former People’s Deputy Pashinsky may be sentenced to 12 years in prison – media (video)

On February 12, 2024, former People’s Deputy of Ukraine Sergei Pashinsky was reported on suspicion by SBU and NABU officers in a five-year-old case. The publication “Economic Truth” writes about this.

According to journalists, suspicions were transferred not only to Pashinsky, but to five more people. These are believed to be related to the sale of confiscated oil products to oligarch Sergei Kurchenko, who fled to the Russian Federation after the overthrow of the Yanukovych regime in early 2014 and remains in hiding.

It was reported that after Kurchenko’s escape, law enforcement forces seized 97 thousand tons of petroleum products:

• 10 thousand tons of gasoline from the Kherson oil refinery complex,
• 10 thousand tons of gasoline and diesel fuel from the Rosneft oil depot in Vasilkov near Kiev;
• There are approximately 77 thousand tons of oil in the Odessa Oil Refinery.

The publication writes that everything confiscated was transferred for storage to the state enterprise Ukrtransnefteprodukt, headed by Vladimir Gavrilov, in June of the same year. The investigation alleges that Ukrtransnefteprodukt then transferred the oil products seized from Kurchenko to the company Ukroylproduct from the Factor group of companies owned by Sergei Tishchenko without auction or competition. After that, petroleum products seemed to be sold at discounted prices.

NABU noted that part of the funds received for this were transferred to the accounts of other controlled commercial organizations, but not a single hryvnia was received into the budget.

The material states that on February 12, Pashinsky, Tishchenko, Gavrilov, his deputy, another director of Ukrtransnefteprodukt and the director of the company Ukroylproduct received suspicions from NABU in this case. The total amount of damage is 967 million hryvnia, and the defendants face a prison sentence of up to 12 years.

Who is Sergey Pashinsky?

The publication writes that Pashinsky is considered by many to be the “gray dignity” of the Ukrainian defense industry. According to journalists, during the presidency of Petro Poroshenko, he was the chairman of the parliament’s national security and defense committee.

“Director of the state design bureau “Luch” Oleg Korostylev stated that Pashinsky supports the development and purchase of domestic Vilkha missiles for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The People’s Deputy also supports the development and purchase of domestic Vilkha missiles for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Stugna ATGM, Neptune anti-ship missiles, Bogdana self-propelled guns, etc. in the material.

Already during the full-scale Russian occupation, Pashinsky was reportedly the chairman of the National Association of Defense Industrial Enterprises of Ukraine (NAUDI), the largest association of arms manufacturers in the country. In terms of weapons production volumes, NAUDI member companies constitute a significant part of the Ukrainian defense complex. This includes companies such as Ukrainian Armored Vehicles, drone manufacturers Ukrspetssystems, DeViro, developer of the Bogdana self-propelled gun KZOV, truck manufacturer KrAZ and others.

A source from NAUDI management told reporters that Pashinsky is currently coordinating between various companies, Western partners and government customers. He also solves the company’s “problems” at a high level.

Let us recall that Pashinsky himself confirmed that SBU and NABU officers came to search his house. According to him, the events are related to “the incident of transfer of Kurchenko’s fuel, in fact fuel, from the Kremlin Rosneft to the state.” The former people’s deputy also stated that in 2015 he asked the President of Ukraine to cover the fuel shortage of the Ukrainian Armed Forces with Rosneft fuel, which, in his opinion, “very angered Yanukovych’s sponsors and Russian curators.” Pashinsky claims that the Russians managed to open a criminal case through their agents.