Euro-Atlanticist Peevski benefits from trade with Russia

Data from Ukrainian and Russian customs shows how companies associated with the “new Euro-Atlanticist” and sanctioned for corruption under the Global Magnitsky Act, Delyan Peevski, have been earning impressive sums from the war and have been actively trading with Russia since the beginning of its aggression against Ukraine. In the fall of 2023, the pro-Western rhetoric of ruling majority lawmaker Delyan Peevski

visibly intensified. His calls to DANS to counter Russian influence in Bulgaria make headlines in the media every week. In parliament, together with GERB, he tried to force the removal of the derogation for Russian oil for a period of three days, accusing his opponents of not wanting a break from energy dependence on Russia.

Behind these Euro-Atlantic gestures of the oligarch deputy, however, there are other realities. Like the profitable, but already exhausted alush-verish with Russian fuels for Ukraine. And also the quietly continuing trade with Russia in the debris of his cigarette empire.

Russian diesel for over one billion leva. was exported by Peevski’s proxies to Ukraine

In October and November, the Ukrainian special services (SBU, equivalent of DANS) blacklisted several Bulgarian terminals from which fuel is loaded to Ukraine. These are the facilities in Ruse, Byala, Plovdiv, Varna and Burgas. Упомената е изрично фирмата “Инса Ойл”,с базата ѝ в Belozem. В резултат горивата, идващи от България, ще бъдат обстойно проверявани от украинските митници за техния произход.

BIRD studied and analyzed customs data on over 32,000 fuel shipments to Ukraine from Bulgaria for the period from the beginning of the war on 24.02.2022 to the end of September 2023. This is how the Bulgarian companies that exported from these terminals became clear: “Insa Oil”, “Bulmarket DM”, “Oil Export‘ s Petrol AD, “DMV Petrol“, “Saxon”, “Zara E”, “Agro 03”, “GTA Petroleum”, “Vaya-7 Holding”, “Intercom”, “NPC Trade” and “If Oil“.

All these fuel exporters, with the exception of Bulmarket (it exported liquefied petroleum gases to Ukraine before the war), appear on the Ukrainian market after February 24, 2022. In total, nearly 1 million tons of diesel were imported from Bulgaria to Ukraine for a year and a half

/944,880 tons/. At an average exchange rate of 37 Ukrainian hryvnias per euro, the declared value of the fuels is EUR 866.5 million or over BGN 1.7 billion.

Cynical Winning Triangle

Diesel for Ukraine comes mainly from the Bulgarian refinery of Lukoil, which is evident from the mass declaration of origin from Bulgaria, as well as “EU countries”. But the declarations also include other, much more exotic destinations of origin. For example Turkmenistan, India, Serbia and even Israel. Нито една фирма не е посочила в декларациите си пред украинските митници Русия като произход на горивото. Собственикът на “Инса Ойл” Георги Самуилов признава за Капитал, че фирмата е изнасяла за Украйна готов руски дизел, който е внесен от Русия през 2022 г.

This business was officially authorized by Brussels in the ninth package of sanctions, with the motive to help Ukrainian farmers. Thus, a cynical winning triangle was formed. Lukoil and the Russian budget win, Ukrainian “farmers” win ” /as well as the Ukrainian Armed Forces/, the Bulgarian intermediaries also benefit.

The largest are corpulent

The lion’s share of diesel supplies is for “Insa Oil“ with 340 thousand tons and “Bulmarket DM” with 240 thousand tons or more than 62% of the quantities. The table also shows the amounts declared by all exporters:
This data is not complete, as there were imports of diesel in October, before Ukraine added Bulgarian locations to its blacklist. What is the reason for the sudden sanction is not clear, but most likely it is related to false declarations of origin of fuels and concealment of the fact that they actually have Russian origin.

The two leading companies in terms of export volume, Insa Oil and Bulmarket DM, are controlled by businessmen who have close relations with Peevski.

The already mentioned Georgi Samuilov – “Joro Insa” bought the iconic Berlin Hotel from the MP’s companies, as well as his other assets. As shown by BIRD investigation, Samuilov also paid for the services of the American lobbyist Tony Podesta, who is a business partner with Momchil Mondeshki – “Peevski’s Trojan horse“.

Bulmarket DM is a company closely associated with First Investment Bank, and its formal owner, Stanko Stankov, was revealed in an investigation by Bivol as a proxy of its shareholders Tseko Minev and Ivaylo Mutafchiev. Именно от ПИБ Delyan Peevski re-credited his debts to Corpbank, and the bank pointed to him as its impeccable client in a letter to the registrar of secret offshore companies of the MP, revealed in the investigation “The Pandora Papers”.

Досиетата Пандора: Делян Пеевски не е декларирал три офшорки

Documents from Pandora also revealed that the owners of FIB, Tseko Minev and Ivaylo Mutafchiev, are real beneficiaries of offshore companies that have received over a billion loans from the bank.

The rest, smaller players in this business with Russian diesel, distribute more than BGN 600 million, and no obvious links with Peevski have been found for them.

But in addition to fuel, companies associated with Peevski are actively trading with Russia in machines and packaging for cigarettes. In this business, the MP, albeit implicitly, until recently had a practical monopoly in Bulgaria.

Line from Bulgartabac leaves for Russia

The most expensive Bulgarian shipment to Russia after the start of the war in Ukraine is on a line for the production of cigarettes from the former Bulgartabac factory in Blagoevgrad. The value of the shipment is $3.6 million. Употребяваната немска “Hauni’ Focke” линия за производство на цигари тип “King Size” е внесена в Русия на 24 октомври 2022 г., точно 8 месеца след началото на войната. Износител е българската фирма “Ронис” ЕООД.

Bulgartabac was the brightest pearl in Peevski’s business crown. He privatized it implicitly through offshore companies with loans from Corpbank and the Russian VTB. At the same time, Peevski declared that he owned only one old Opel. After the privatization of the state-owned cigarette company, large-scale cigarette smuggling to the Middle East and Turkey unfolded, which also worried the Turkish anti-terrorist financing services. They sent reports to Interpol and European institutions, in which Bulgartabac is explicitly mentioned as the source of the cigarettes.

Peevski and Dogan were also named in a report by a European economic intelligence firm, which claims that they are the main beneficiaries of the lucrative cigarette trafficking starting from the factory in Blagoevgrad.

As a result, Bulgartabac was simply liquidated. The brands went to British American Tobacco, and the assembly lines were sold out, as it is now becoming clear, even to Russian customers.

Cigarette packs from “Yuri Gagarin” for Russia

From another plant from the patrimony of Bulgartabac, packaging and filters for cigarettes are regularly exported . Публичното дружество “Юрий Гагарин” АД е реализирало износ към в Русия в размер на over $5.2 million since the beginning of the war. According to the financial According to the company’s reports, exports accounted for 65% for the whole of 2022 and two-thirds (67%) of the revenues for the first nine months of 2023.

Peevski has no official ownership of Yuri Gagarin, but among the shareholders is a Dubai company represented by Sudanese citizen Walid Abdelseid Mohammed Ahmed. He also represented other Dubai companies linked to the MP’s offshore network, such as Bulgartabac Trade FZE. The presence of the Sudanese is an indicator that Delyan Peevski has not completely parted with the cigarette business.

Cigarettes from the Peshtaks, Peevski’s dudes, for Russia the front-line soldiers

The export of cigarettes from the Plovdiv-based “KT International“, associated with the owners of “Vinprom Peshtera” Anton Shterev and Atanas Petrov, does not stop (the so-called “Sands”). The company has exported cigarettes worth More than $1.3 million after the start of the war, according to data from Russian customs. The connection of “Peshtatsite” with Delyan Peevski was revealed by Bivol in a series of investigations into the “Bulgartabac Mafia”

” and cigarette smuggling. Bulgartabac, controlled by Peevski, and the founders of Vinprom Peshtera were in tandem and in the already closed chain “Lafka”, as Capital informed at the time.

Among the companies exporting to the cigarette industry of Russia there are also those trading in tobacco, tobacco clippings, waste products from tobacco leaves and other products, for which we have not established a connection with the leader of the parliamentary group of the MRF, Delyan Peevski. Our study of the data continues.

It should be emphasized that neither the export of fuels from Russia, nor the export to Russia of cigarettes or their packaging are prohibited by the European Union. There are no violations. There are only ethical questions about how sincere is the Euro-Atlanticism of a former business partner of a leading Russian bank and a candidate to participate in the construction of South Stream? If you have not recognized him, this is the leading Bulgarian politician Delyan Slavchev Peevski, who has been sanctioned for significant corruption. Because the data show that while criticizing those who “avoid paying the price for the cruel aggression against Ukraine”, Peevski has not hesitated to absorb part of this price.

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This post is also available in: Български (Bulgarian)