Activists in the cities of Lviv, Kyiv, Rivne, Ternopil and two cities in Volyn Oblast announced a blockade of warehouses widely thought to be owned by Russia's largest tobacco distributor at 5 a.m. on Jan. 12.
The campaign, ongoing across six cities, is aimed at “cleaning Ukraine of Russian occupier businesses” and is being led by three lawmakers: Sergey Vysotsky, Ihor Lapin and Andriy Levus.
The targeted warehouses of Megapolis-Ukraine are subsidiaries of Russia’s Megapolis, according to organizers, and are co-owned by billionaire Russian oligarch Igor Kesaev and Ukrainian businessman Borys Kauffman.
Megapolis controls 70 percent of the market in Russia, according to Japan International Tobacco, which bought a 20 percent stake in the company in 2013. Ukraine’s Anti-Monopoly Committee announced Megapolis-Ukraine also held the monopoly of tobacco distribution in Ukraine as of 2014.
Vysotsky told Kyiv Post that as well as holding the monopoly on cigarette distribution in Russia and Ukraine, Kesaev heads a charity which supports FSB retirees and is the owner of Degtyarev, a Russian weapons factory that manufactures weapons used by separatists in the Donbas.
In an official statement in response to the blockade, Megapolis-Ukraine deny they are a subsidiary company of Megapolis Russia. According to the statement, Megapolis-Ukraine is co-owned by Ukrainian, Irish and British citizens and “is not a Russian company nor is it owned by a Russian citizen, including Igor Kaseav.”
But the Ukrainian corporate registry indicates that the Megapolis-Ukraine is owned by six Cyprus companies. And Vysotsky told the Kyiv Post by phone that they also own Megapolis Russia subsidiaries.
Vysotsky, who is also a former journalist, wrote in a Facebook post on Jan. 12 that the trio of lawmakers have repeatedly sought the removal of Megapolis’ monopoly from the Ukrainian market over the last six months. The Ukrainian Anti-Monopoly Committee began to look into the matter in October but has yet to take action against the company.
Oleh Radyk, one of the coordinators in Lviv where two of the city’s warehouses have been blockaded, told Depo.ua on Jan. 12: “With this blockade we want to draw attention to the fact that Russian business still makes a profit in Ukraine, despite the war which Russia started. We want Megapolis to leave Ukraine.”
In the Volyn oblast, fighters from the Aidar and Azov battalions as well as activists from Self-defense Volyn have surrounded warehouses in the cities of Kovel and Lutsk.
“We demand the inclusion of Mr. Kesaev on the sanctions list, as an agent of the FSB and the owner of the plant which produces weapons that kill our soldiers,” lawmaker Lapin who organised the blockade at the warehouse in his hometown of Lutsk told Hromadske Volyn on Jan 12.
Hundreds of people are reportedly participating in the blockades, including Ukrainian soldiers, veterans from volunteer battalions and civil society activists.
“We are occupying warehouses in six cities. The blockades were set up in places where there are strong civil societies and patriotic organizations,” Vysotsky told Kyiv Post by phone.
Photos from the blockade show activists have blocked doors with trucks and decorated the warehouses with banners. In Ternopil they read: “Megapolis cigarettes are shooting Ukrainian soldiers” and “Kaufman – a Kremlin agent in Ukraine.”
Activists pose for a photo at their blockade of a Megapolis warehouse in Kovel, Volyn oblast. (Hromadske Volyn)
Outside some warehouses it looks like activists have set up home and lit campfires, but it is not clear how long they will stay.
“A few days. Till old New Year probably. I can’t say for now but you have to remember that the blockade is also about political negotiations,” said Vysotsky.
Vysotsky, however, was reluctant to name who the lawmakers were negotiating with: “The talks are with the government. I don’t want to name names and blackmail people. If our political voice is listened to, everything will be ok.”
Activists have reported the appearance of paid thugs,titushki, at the Kyiv warehouse but Vysotsky stressed that this is a peaceful demonstration and that he hopes the police will intervene if there are provocations.
“We hope that the police will look into the monopoly the company holds and investigate the fact that they are connected to the weapons factory,” said Vysotsky.
Megapolis-Ukraine, however, hopes that the police will be on their side.
“In the event that the illegal blockade of the company’s activities continues, we will be forced to involve law enforcement and we will be filing a case in court for compensation damages,” read the statement of Megapolis-Ukraine.
Activists outside Kyiv blockade of Megapolis Ukraine warehouse. (Andriy Levus, Facebook)
Kyiv Post staff writer Isobel Koshiw can be reached at [email protected]
