Ukraine made money on confiscated wagons – Business – Kommersant

Ukrainian railways received $46 million in revenue from the operation of railway cars confiscated from Russian and Belarusian companies, the Bureau of Economic Security of Ukraine reported. A year ago, the country claimed to have over 15,000 Russian railcars on its territory, and new seizures continue to be reported. Russian departments, in turn, intend to compensate operators for about 22 billion rubles. for the loss of wagons abroad.

Ukrzaliznytsia (railways of Ukraine) received 1.7 billion hryvnias (about $46 million) from the commercial use of arrested railway cars and containers owned by companies from Russia and Belarus. This was reported by the Bureau of economic security of the country (BEB).

In total, it says message, BEB seized assets, property and other material assets of companies directly or indirectly related to citizens of Russia and Belarus, with a total value of more than 41 billion hryvnias (about $1.1 billion). In particular, confiscated ammonia worth over UAH 910 million ($24.6 million) has already been sold.

The exact number of wagons confiscated in Ukraine is unknown. The head of Ukrzaliznytsia, Oleksandr Kamyshin, reported in March 2022 that there are over 15,000 Russian railcars in the country, including about 11,000 gondola railcars, over 2,000 tanks, about 600 covered railcars, and about 160 platforms. Of these, he said, about 3,000 belonged to companies that are definitely Russian.

Periodically, reports of the confiscation of the park continue to come in – for example, in early February, the Security Service of Ukraine reported that it had arrested 170 wagons with fertilizers from Uralkali and Belaruskali worth 100 million hryvnias ($2.7 million).

At the same time, Russian operators estimated the number of wagons lost in general on the territory of foreign countries at 9878 units. It is precisely this assessment that the draft government decree developed by the Ministry of Transport provides for the allocation this year from the government’s reserve fund of compensation for the loss of railcars abroad in the amount of 22.3 billion rubles. (see “Kommersant” of January 31).

Earlier, in October 2022, the government decided on similar compensation to road carriers for lost vehicles and cargo: a total of RUB 1.64 billion was allocated. for seizing at least 258 trucks.

Natalya Skorlygina