Swiss
Swiss may refer to:
* the adjectival form of Switzerland
* Swiss people
Places
* Swiss, Missouri
* Swiss, North Carolina
*Swiss, West Virginia
* Swiss, Wisconsin
Other uses
*Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports
*Swiss Internation ...
-registered venture company that transports
natural gas
Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...
from
Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan ( or ; tk, Türkmenistan / Түркменистан, ) is a country located in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the sout ...
to East European countries. 50% of the company is owned by Gazprom, through its daughter Swiss-registered Rosgas Holding A.G., and another 50% by Swiss-registered private company Centragas Holding A.G., acting on behalf of a consortium of GDF Group owned by
Dmytro Firtash
Dmytro Vasylovych Firtash ( uk, Дмитро́ Васи́льович Фі́рташ; born 2 May 1965) is a Ukrainian businessman who heads the board of directors of Group DF. He was highly influential during the Yuschenko administration and th ...
Naftogaz Ukrainy
Naftogaz of Ukraine ( uk, НАК "Нафтогаз України", ''Naftogaz Ukrayiny''; literally "Petro-Gas of Ukraine") is the largest national oil and gas company of Ukraine. It is a state-owned company
. Critics have questioned Gazprom's claimed need for RUE as a middleman. RUE has been accused of simply being “a corrupt intermediary” but has dismissed suggestions that Russian or Ukrainian politicians benefit from the arrangement.
History
The company was created in July 2004 in a deal by former
Ukrainian President
The president of Ukraine ( uk, Президент України, Prezydent Ukrainy) is the head of state of Ukraine. The president represents the nation in international relations, administers the foreign political activity of the state, condu ...
Leonid Kuchma
Leonid Danylovych Kuchma ( uk, Леоні́д Дани́лович Ку́чма; born 9 August 1938) is a Ukrainian politician who was the second president of Ukraine from 19 July 1994 to 23 January 2005. Kuchma's presidency saw numerous corru ...
Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...
to replace
Eural Trans Gas RosUkrEnergo is a Switzerland, Swiss-registered venture company that transports natural gas from Turkmenistan to Eastern Europe, East European countries. 50% of the company is owned by Gazprom, through its daughter Swiss-registered Rosgas Holding A. ...
.Nation’s gas trade has volatile history rife with murky dealings
Kyiv Post
The ''Kyiv Post'' is the oldest English-language newspaper in Ukraine, founded in October 1995 by Jed Sunden.
History
American Jed Sunden founded the ''Kyiv Post'' weekly newspaper on Oct. 18, 1995 and later created KP Media for his holdings. ...
(February 4, 2011) Until 2006 the company acted as a middleman between Turkmenistan and Ukraine. The company also sells Turkmenistan gas to
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
. Due to an agreement between Gazprom and Naftogaz, from 2006 till January 2009 the company supplied all of Ukraine's natural gas imports from
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
and other Central Asian countries, in addition to Turkmenistan. On October 24, 2008 Gazprom and Ukraine's national energy company
Naftogaz
Naftogaz of Ukraine ( uk, НАК "Нафтогаз України", ''Naftogaz Ukrayiny''; literally "Petro-Gas of Ukraine") is the largest national oil and gas company of Ukraine. It is a state-owned company
signed a long-term cooperation deal in which was stated that Ukraine will receive Russian natural gas directly from Gazprom and Naftogaz will be the sole importer of Russian natural gas.
After weeks of disputes the head of Gazprom Alexei Miller and the head of
Naftogaz Ukrainy
Naftogaz of Ukraine ( uk, НАК "Нафтогаз України", ''Naftogaz Ukrayiny''; literally "Petro-Gas of Ukraine") is the largest national oil and gas company of Ukraine. It is a state-owned company
Oleh Dubyna
Oleh Dubyna (; born 20 March 1959) is a former chairman of the board of the Ukraine's national oil and gas company Naftogaz Ukrainy.
Biography
Dubyna graduated from Kamianske Industrial Institute with a bachelor's degree in Steelmaking in 1982 ...
signed the 10-year agreement on natural gas supplies to Ukraine for the period of 2009-2019 on 19 January 2009. It was agreed that RosUkrEnergo will no longer supply all of Ukraine's natural gas imports from Russia and other Central Asian countries. A claim of a $600 million debt of Naftohaz to RosUkrEnergo was also dropped.
On March 4, 2009 Officers of the
Security Service of Ukraine
The Security Service of Ukraine ( uk, Служба безпеки України, translit=Sluzhba bezpeky Ukrainy}) or SBU ( uk, СБУ, link=no) is the law enforcement authority and main intelligence and security agency of the Ukrainian ...
(SBU) and the Alfa special police unit searched the headquarters of Naftohaz Ukrainy in a case against officials of Naftohaz Ukrainy on embezzlement of 6.3 billion cubic meters of transit
natural gas
Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...
, according to Valerii Khoroshkovskyi, first deputy chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine, the RosUkrEnergo Company and a number of Verkhovna Rada’s deputies had filed in a claim against Naftohaz Ukrainy. On March 17, 2009 a criminal case was filed against officials of the Naftohaz Ukrainy national joint-stock company on suspicion of stealing 6.3 billion cubic meters of natural gas intended for transit through Ukraine by the SBU.
On March 30, 2010 an international arbitration court in
Stockholm
Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...
ordered Naftohas Ukrainy to pay RosUkrEnergo around $200 million as a penalty for various breaches of supply, transit and storage contracts. On June 8, 2010 the Stockholm Arbitration Tribunal ordered Naftohaz to return 11 bcm of natural gas to RosUkrEnergo and that RosUkrEnergo would receive from Naftohaz a further 1.1 bcm of natural gas in lieu of RosUkrEnergo's entitlement to penalties for breach of contract.Stockholm court obliges Naftogaz to return 12.1 billion cubic meters of gas to RosUkrEnergo
Kyiv Post
The ''Kyiv Post'' is the oldest English-language newspaper in Ukraine, founded in October 1995 by Jed Sunden.
History
American Jed Sunden founded the ''Kyiv Post'' weekly newspaper on Oct. 18, 1995 and later created KP Media for his holdings. ...
(June 8, 2010) On April 26, 2011 former
Ukrainian Prime Minister
The prime minister of Ukraine ( uk, Прем'єр-міністр України, ) is the head of government of Ukraine. The prime minister presides over the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, which is the highest body of the executive branch of th ...
Yulia Tymoshenko
Yulia Volodymyrivna Tymoshenko ( uk, Юлія Володимирівна Тимошенко, ; Hrihyan ();Dmytro Firtash
Dmytro Vasylovych Firtash ( uk, Дмитро́ Васи́льович Фі́рташ; born 2 May 1965) is a Ukrainian businessman who heads the board of directors of Group DF. He was highly influential during the Yuschenko administration and th ...
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
accusing them of "defrauding Ukraine's citizenry" by manipulating an arbitration court ruling, "undermining the rule of law in Ukraine" in connection with the 2010 international arbitration court ruling in Stockholm.
Eural Trans Gas
Eural Trans Gas (ETG) was an energy company registered in
Budapest
Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...
, Hungary, on December 6, 2002. It was suspected of acting as a Gazprom front. Andras Knopp, a former Hungarian communist cultural functionary with no knowledge of the gas business, became director of the company. The registered owner was Dmytro Firtash, an obscure Ukrainian national who reportedly had little if any known assets. Yet the person received almost $300 million in credits from Russian banks.Gazprom’s European Web The Jamestown Foundation. February 2009.
ETG maintained an account at a Budapest branch of Vienna's
Raiffeisen Bank Raiffeisenbank refers to cooperative banks in Europe that are rooted in the early credit unions of Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen. The name is found in:
* Raiffeisen Bankengruppe (Austria), Austrian group of cooperative banks.
** Raiffeisen Zentralba ...
and had a number of accounts in Vienna's Meinl Bank.
Owners and allegations of criminal connections
In April 2005,
Oleksandr Turchynov
Oleksandr Valentynovych Turchynov ( uk, Олександр Валентинович Турчинов; born 31 March 1964) is a Ukrainian politician, screenwriter, Baptist minister and economist. He is the former Secretary of the National S ...
Financial Times
The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...
'' that Semion Mogilevich is associated with RosUkrEnergo after the SBU had collected a 20 volume file on Mogilevich over a twelve-year period. In 2006, an ally of Tymoshenko stated in the
Rada
The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA; ) is a drama school in London, England, that provides vocational conservatoire training for theatre, film, television, and radio. It is based in the Bloomsbury area of Central London, close to the Senat ...
that Firtash's Switzerland registered RosUkrEnergo, which has been the dominant natural gas supplier to Ukraine since 2003 after it replaced the Hungarian registered
Eural Trans Gas RosUkrEnergo is a Switzerland, Swiss-registered venture company that transports natural gas from Turkmenistan to Eastern Europe, East European countries. 50% of the company is owned by Gazprom, through its daughter Swiss-registered Rosgas Holding A. ...
which had replaced
Itera
ARETI International Group of Companies is a private energy company headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. ARETI was created by Igor Makarov in 2015 as a result of rebranding of Itera International Group of Companies, which was started in 1992. T ...
in December 2002, has
Semion Mogilevich
Semion Yudkovich Mogilevich ( uk, Семен Юдкович Могилевич, Semén Yúdkovych Mohylévych ; born June 30, 1946) is a Ukrainian-born Russian organized crime boss. He quickly built a highly structured criminal organization, in ...
, who has many Russian mafia associates, as a silent partner. In an April 2006 ''Financial Times'' interview, Firtash explained relationships with various holding companies after Firtash's bank Raiffeisen hired
Kroll, Inc.
Kroll is an American Private investigator, corporate investigation and Risk and strategic consulting, risk consulting firm established in 1972 and based in New York City. In 2018, Kroll was acquired by Duff & Phelps. In 2021, Duff & Phelps decid ...
to investigate connections to Mogilevich.
Former Ukrainian Prime-Minister
Semion Mogilevich
Semion Yudkovich Mogilevich ( uk, Семен Юдкович Могилевич, Semén Yúdkovych Mohylévych ; born June 30, 1946) is a Ukrainian-born Russian organized crime boss. He quickly built a highly structured criminal organization, in ...
, while in 2009 Vladimir Putin was quoted as claiming that RosUkrEnergo is owned by a business ally of
Viktor Yushchenko
Viktor Andriyovych Yushchenko ( uk, Віктор Андрійович Ющенко, ; born 23 February 1954) is a Ukrainian politician who was the third president of Ukraine from 23 January 2005 to 25 February 2010.
As an informal leader of th ...
. The Ukrainian investigation into RosUkrEnergo begun during Tymoshenko's previous term as Prime Minister was closed after she lost her position as Prime Minister in September 2005. According to a document uncovered during the
United States diplomatic cables leak
The United States diplomatic cables leak, widely known as Cablegate, began on Sunday, 28 November 2010 when WikiLeaks began releasing classified cables that had been sent to the U.S. State Department by 274 of its consulates, embassies, and d ...
US-diplomats shared Tymoshenko's suspicions.
In April 2006, London-based corruption watchdog
Global Witness
Global Witness is an international NGO established in 1993 that works to break the links between natural resource exploitation, conflict, poverty, corruption, and human rights abuses worldwide. The organisation has offices in London and Washin ...
published a report focusing on RosUkrEnergo and other transit companies that have acted as intermediaries between Turkmenistan, Russia and Ukraine. The report highlighted the many links in personnel between RosUkrEnergo and the previous intermediary Eural Trans Gas. According to the report, Israeli lawyer Zeev Gordon had registered Eural Trans Gas on behalf of Ukrainian businessman Dmytro Firtash. Also in late April 2006, ''
Izvestia
''Izvestia'' ( rus, Известия, p=ɪzˈvʲesʲtʲɪjə, "The News") is a daily broadsheet newspaper in Russia. Founded in 1917, it was a newspaper of record in the Soviet Union until the Soviet Union's dissolution in 1991, and describes ...
'' reported that the primary shareholder of RosUkrEnergo is Dmytro Firtash. The report stated that he owned 90% of CentraGas Holding, equaling 45% of RosUkrEnergo. The report stated that a further owner is another Ukrainian businessman Ivan Fursin, the primary shareholder of the
Odessa Film Studio
Odesa Film Studio ( uk, Одеська кіностудія художніх фільмів) is the Ukrainian, formerly Soviet film studio in Odesa, one of the first in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. It is partially owned by a government ...
and an owner of Misto-bank. His stake was revealed to be 10% of CentraGas and therefore a 5% owner of RosUkrEnergo.
Profits
RosUkrEnergo reported a 2005 profit of $755 million and paid $735 million in dividends.
The company's 2006 profit is listed at over $785 million.
RosUkrEnergo profit for January–September 2007 is reported at $213 million.
The company makes its profit on re-exporting gas to Europe. The size of the profit is defined by Gazprom through the export allowances of about 9 billion cubic meters a year. RosUkrEnergo supplies gas to the Hungarian gas distributor Emfesz, for example, which is also controlled by Firtash via his holding company
Group DF
Group DF is a diversified international group of companies whose assets are concentrated in the chemical industry, titanium production, gas, and banking sectors. In addition, the group has interests in several other areas: agriculture, media busine ...
.
Effectively, by engaging in this supply scheme Gazprom transfers profits from its shareholders to the shareholders of RosUkrEnergo.
Management
(As of October 2007)
Board of Directors:
* Lars Haussmann (President of the Board of Directors)
*
Hans Baumgartner
Hans Baumgartner (born 30 May 1949 in Stühlingen, Baden-Württemberg) is a retired West German long jumper.
He won the silver medal at the 1972 Summer Olympics held in Munich with a jump of 8.18 meters. Baumgartner again took part in the 1976 ...
Executive Directors:
*
Konstantin Chuychenko
Konstantin Anatolyevich Chuychenko (; born 12 July 1965) is a Russian politician, businessman, and lawyer who served as the Minister of Justice since 21 January 2020. Previously, he was Deputy Prime Minister of Russia and Chief of Staff of the ...
Valery Golubev
Valery Aleksandrovich Golubev (russian: Валерий Александрович Голубев, born June 14, 1952, Leningrad (Saint Petersburg), former Soviet Union) is a Russian politician and businessman. He is a former Head of the Vasileos ...
**
Alexander Medvedev
Alexander Ivanovich Medvedev (russian: Александр Иванович Медведев, ) (born 14 August 1955 in Shakhtyorsk, Sakhalin Oblast) is the current Deputy Chairman of the Management Committee of Russian energy company Gazprom an ...
Dmytro Firtash
Dmytro Vasylovych Firtash ( uk, Дмитро́ Васи́льович Фі́рташ; born 2 May 1965) is a Ukrainian businessman who heads the board of directors of Group DF. He was highly influential during the Yuschenko administration and th ...
**David Brown - former director of
British Gas
British Gas (trading as Scottish Gas in Scotland) is an energy and home services provider in the United Kingdom. It is the trading name of British Gas Services Limited and British Gas New Heating Limited, both subsidiaries of Centrica. Serving ...
List of Gazprom subsidiaries
Russian energy company Gazprom has several hundred subsidiaries and affiliated companies owned and controlled directly or indirectly. The subsidiaries and affiliated companies are listed by country. The list is incomplete.
Russia 100% ownership
...