First Vice-President of the All-Ukrainian Association of Bakers and Director of Kyiv Khlib LLC Yuriy Duchenko continues to publicly maintain ties with companies operating in the Russian market, and some of the blocks on the Association's website are written in Russian.
Despite Ukraine's declared "sanctions course" regarding international companies remaining in the Russian Federation after 2022, most of these companies continue to operate in both Ukraine and Russia.
This trend is clearly visible in the example of the bakery market, including thanks to the public position of Yuriy Duchenko, who regularly demonstrates to Ukrainians his connections with companies operating in the Russian Federation.
Recall that at the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Yuriy Duchenko and the VAP called on Puratos Group, Lesaffre, and Master Martini to decide whether they were with Ukraine and the free world, or with Russia.
As it turned out, the calls to “choose between the Russian and Ukrainian markets” were a mere formality, as Yuriy Duchenko and his affiliated structures publicly cooperate with these companies.
Yes, Puratos Corporation still operates in the Russian market through its subsidiary “ Puratos-Russia ”. The Russian subsidiary has assets in the Russian Federation worth $64 million, receives over $120 million in profit every year and pays about $5 million in taxes, effectively financing the war against Ukraine.
Also, the Russian branch of the Puratos corporation is among the five largest producers of food ingredients in the Russian Federation. And this may indicate indirect participation in providing food to the Russian army, which is currently one of the largest consumers of bakery products. In addition, “Puratos-Russia” congratulates Russians on Russia Day and “Victory Day”, that is, it demonstrates full loyalty to the ruling regime.
In Ukraine, the Belgian corporation Puratos is represented by its subsidiary Puratos Ukraine LLC. Ukrainian Puratos is headed by Serhiy Solovey. He is also the director of the Bread Industry Restoration Fund, which was founded by Puratos Ukraine LLC after the full-scale invasion to help Ukrainian enterprises affected by the Russian aggression.
By the way, this Fund has really helped only one enterprise – Chanta Mount LLC, which, by a strange coincidence, is associated with the former Prosecutor General and “Regional” Svyatoslav Piskun.
In particular, Kyiv Khlib LLC, whose director is Duchenko, purchases raw materials from Puratos Ukraine LLC through the front company Zakupivli Kom. The owner of Kyiv Khlib LLC and Zakupivli Kom LLC is Vyacheslav Suprunenko, the former son-in-law of the ex-mayor of Kyiv Leonid Chernovetsky and the brother of the “regional” Oleksandr Suprunenko.
“Duchenko and Suprunenko may be interested in the further work of Puratos Group on the territory of our state. After all, after the end of the war, this may bring them specific benefits - from new contracts and joint projects to personal bonuses, loyalty of Puratos management and support for their business at the international level,” says the investigation by journalists of the “190” website.
While Yuriy Duchenko is demonstrating to the Ukrainian market his cooperation with the Belgian Puratos, his wife is bragging about the honorary bonuses she received from the French Lesaffre. It should be noted that both companies are leaders in the Russian bakery market and pay tens of millions of dollars annually to the Russian budget.
For the full picture, the official website of the All-Ukrainian Association of Bakers has preserved blocks in Russian, which for some reason, in the third year of the full-scale invasion, have not yet been translated into Ukrainian.
PHOTO: Screenshot of the official website of the All-Ukrainian Association of Bakers
