Russia hands over Mariupol steel mill to Kadyrov's looters – WSJ

In Mariupol, Donetsk region, temporarily occupied by Russian troops, the Ilyich Iron and Steel Works, which survived the bombing at the beginning of the invasion, is being looted. The plant, which belonged to Rinat Akhmetov, "became a trophy of the Kadyrov clan" – it was taken over by people close to the Chechen leader to loot.

This is stated in the article of The Wall Street Journal. As noted, the Kremlin "allowed" Kadyrov's men to loot the plant.

Prior to the occupation of Mariupol, Azovstal and the Ilyich Iron and Steel Works of Mariupol successfully operated there, with tax payments accounting for a third of the city's budget. "Azovstal was destroyed by the occupiers when they seized the city and cannot be restored.

At the same time, the newspaper writes, Kadyrov's men, Ruslan Geremeyev and Vakhit Geremeyev, deputy head of the Chechen Ministry of Construction and Housing, took control of Ilyich Iron and Steel Works. Both are relatives of Senator Suleiman Geremeyev, an ally of Kadyrov. His son Valid received half of the shares.

According to the documents, Kadyrov's clan sells off modern metallurgical equipment in Russia for use by sanctioned automakers and transports industrial gases for Moscow's space program. According to the article, trucks with rolled products often leave the plant's territory and head towards the aggressor state.

The occupiers dismantled and shipped to Russia a $220 million production line that was installed at the plant on the eve of a large-scale war. They also exported 130,000 tons of metallurgical by-products worth about $16 million.

Back in September 2022, a Moscow-based trading company removed $380,000 worth of steel cargo from the plant. Other companies from Russia then regularly sold the coal and other products that remained at the plant. In January 2023, a batch of metal products worth $50 thousand was exported to Uzbekistan.

It is also noted that last year, another Kadyrov associate, Alash Dadashov, became a co-owner of Ilyich Iron and Steel Works. Through another Mariupol company, Technical Materials, which he owns together with Stanislav Komarovsky, former deputy head of the oxygen shop at Azovstal, he sends industrial gases from the plant to Russia.

Among its clients, the newspaper writes, is the Russian space agency Roscosmos.

As OBOZ.UA previously reported, a new video shot from above has been posted online, showing the current appearance of the Azovstal plant in Mariupol. This territory has become a symbol of the heroic resistance of the Ukrainian military to Russian aggression.

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