In Zakarpattia they are dismantling a strategic oil pipeline, stealing fuel and destroying forests

In Zakarpattia they are dismantling a strategic oil pipeline, stealing fuel and destroying forests

Right now in Zakarpattia a unique oil pipeline is being destroyed. Even locals didn’t know they were walking on a strategic object that was in fully working condition.

As reported in the TSN.Week segment, the pipes are being cut. The fuel left in the tanks is being drained and sold. The main thing is that everyone knows about it, because there is even a detailed and categorical decision of the Verkhovna Rada on this matter.

A video camera and livestreams on the internet are the constant attributes of Pavlo, who for several years has been fighting one of the largest state thefts. The Kremlin, its emissaries in Ukraine, our corrupt officials and judges are carrying out a transnational-scale scheme in front of everyone’s eyes. They are stealing a unique product pipeline that was once a military secret of the USSR. To stop this crime, the activist did more than all our expensive law enforcement structures combined.

Pavlo heads the organization DOSTA. In the local dialect this means "enough." That is the word the state should have said many years ago when the Kremlin asserted rights to the special military pipeline system that ran through Ukraine’s territory.

The pipeline was such a secret object that only a few knew of its existence. It was built over 10 years during Soviet times from 1957 to 1968. The Samara–Western Direction product pipelines are what we see now, and the second — Grozny–Armavir–Trudova — no longer exists because in 2002 the Russians cut that pipe out — they were created in case of war to support the Warsaw Pact states. The total length is almost one and a half thousand kilometers. Now it is being dug up along with the trees. Where there once was forest — now a desert. Such strips run across almost the whole region. “Per kilometer they destroyed 800 cubic meters of timber. These are astronomical sums, you understand, these are not even six-figure numbers, they are much more. This does not even account for what we’re seeing: contamination has reached the shallow groundwater layer, contamination has reached the rivers and streams,” said Bohdan Rushchak, public inspector for environmental protection of the State Eco-Inspection in Zakarpattia region.

According to him, with the proclamation of Ukraine’s independence the property should have become state-owned, but that was not done. Then the Russian company Transneft in 1993 unilaterally declared that it owned this pipe. On what grounds or for what reasons is unclear. Since then court cases began. Ukraine said the pipe was theirs, Russia pulled the blanket toward itself. And all that time someone was using this asset for their own interests. But in 2017 a Special Commission of the Verkhovna Rada put all the i’s and t’s.

Parliament ruled that the pipe is state property of Ukraine, so all work should have been frozen until final resolution of the many criminal cases in court. But the decision is not a decree to Russian Transneft. “In 2001 they carried out a reorganization: they brought in, it seems, a Swiss owner. I would like to see that this Swiss owner would do such things in Switzerland,” Rushchak added.

The company Prykarpatzakhidtrans, which represents the interests of the Russian side, decided that the pipeline should not go to anyone, effectively starting economic sabotage. The complex system of pipelines with tanks and large bases was mercilessly cut out, the remaining fuel along with metal was sold. The enterprise even offered the Ministry of Defense to buy diesel from it. There is a document in which Minister Stepan Poltorak asks Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman to allow buying diesel for the military from that firm.

“We do not know exactly which pipelines, say, fall within their sphere of interest and which do not; that is, that the pipeline up to Dubrynychi is absolutely serviceable — that's one hundred percent, but what goes beyond Dubrynychy — unfortunately we do not know,” activist Rushchak said.

Carpathian springs are poisoned with oil, and there are remnants in the ground of pipe insulation that should have been disposed of in a certain way due to its toxicity. “On the black market a meter of pipe is valued at approximately 1000 hryvnias, and if it’s taken as scrap metal, from 630 to 700 hryvnias per meter, and one meter of pipe contains from 100 to 130 kilograms,” said Pavlo Pavlov, head of the public organization DOSTA-ZAKARPATTIA.

The pipes are in perfect condition. They could have served for many more decades. In the village of Dubrynychi in Perechyn district there is a receiving oil storage base that then sends diesel further to customers. This unregistered oil river, without any customs control and without hiding, ends up in the tankers of the most well-known gas station brands. The base is not touched because it is the largest and possibly has a special patron. Others were less lucky. “We anticipate the dismantling of the entire property complex so that this structure remains the monopolist in transporting light petroleum products in our region. In the village of Rososh you will see a similar storage and pumping complex, but the pipe leading to it is already being dismantled,” added Bohdan Rushchak.

There are about fifty illegal gas stations operating in the district. They simply couldn’t operate without corrupt local fiscal officials, law enforcement officers and officials who for some reason are sure nothing will happen to them.

A gray gas station stands next to an official one. Everyone knows, but they quietly stay silent. The price at the illegal gas station is 30 hryvnias 30 kopecks, which is cheaper than the official one by 3 hryvnias 30 kopecks. Mykhailo Konchi is one of those who saw the scale of the base’s pilfering because a few months ago he managed to get onto the territory. He says the scale is gigantic. 120 barrels with a capacity of about 1000 tons each. Dimensions — 37 meters long and 8 meters in diameter.

The regional prosecutor’s office is waiting for the results of examinations regarding soil and water contamination. No suspicions have been announced and the examinations are ongoing. While law enforcement investigate these cases and the Verkhovna Rada adopts yet another final decision, the Kremlin calmly carries out the scam of the century and in front of everyone’s eyes is destroying a unique pipeline system in Ukraine, killing Ukraine’s ecology, cutting down forests and even profiting from it.