Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
Figure in Mindich tapes Astion, through corruption suspect Belashov, seeks control of Morshynska’s billion-hryvnia assets
Businessman Vasyl Astion, who appeared on tapes of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau, may obtain seized assets of the IDS Ukraine group, which owns the Morshynska and Myrhorodska mineral water plants. The National Agency for Detection, Investigation and Management of Assets Obtained from Corruption and Other Crimes (ARMA) has been looking for a manager for these enterprises for the third year in a row. Previously they belonged to sanctioned Russian businessman Mikhail Fridman and were transferred to state control in 2022. The most recent tender took place in early September this year. And although ARMA rejected the winner’s proposal, which is directly linked to Astion, the next participant is also connected to him.
IDS Ukraine is a bottled water producer. Its assets include the Morshynska and Myrhorodska plants, as well as the Alaska and Aqua Life brands. The official market value of the assets is 5 055 507 002 hryvnias.
The group was controlled by Russian businessman Mikhail Fridman, who also owned Alfa Bank. Both the bank and the mineral assets were seized in favor of the state. Today his former financial institution, which renamed itself Sense Bank, is widely talked about over what may be the largest corruption scheme since the start of the full-scale war. A criminal group led by fugitive businessman Tymur Mindich placed a supervisory board loyal to them in Sense Bank, routed unclear cash flows through it, and even collected bail for the arrested former minister Herman Halushchenko.
It is on recordings featuring the voices of the former Deputy Head of the President’s Office Iryna Mudra, MP Vadym Stolar and the former owner of the Ukrbud corporation Maksym Mykytas that a certain “Vasya” appears, who the investigation identifies as Dnipro businessman Vasyl Astion. The accomplices developed a scheme to collect bail money for Halushchenko and funnel it through the controlled Sense Bank.
Analysis of documents and the course of the tender for managing the mineral assets revealed that Astion may be interested in acquiring IDS Ukraine.
Five companies participated in the tender. It was held in three rounds. The winner was to be the company that proposed the lowest percentage fee from IDS Ukraine’s income. Coincidentally, the lowest percentages were proposed by firms connected to Vasyl Astion.
KUA Ukrkapital tried to convince ARMA that it was ready to manage one of the largest players in Ukraine’s mineral water market for just 0,01%. The law firm Prioritas allegedly offered to do it for 0,90%.
The Ukrainian Capital group of companies belongs to Poltava businessman and local council deputy Serhiy Belashov. He also owns a bank of the same name, of which Vasyl Astion was a shareholder.
Belashov has repeatedly attracted the attention of law enforcement. In 2023 he was arrested in a case concerning the sale of gas to Ukrzaliznytsia at inflated prices. Yuliya Tymoshenko personally came to vouch for the businessman, calling the case political.
Nearly 20 years earlier, investigators suspected Belashov and his accomplices of purchasing gas and petroleum products imported into Ukraine under a 0% customs rate and then reselling them to consumers with a markup of 20%.
In 2025 the bank Ukrainian Capital was suspected of participating in a scheme involving a bribe to obtain the right to develop lands of the Ministry of Defense in Kyiv. According to the investigation, the illicit payment was to be transferred through safety deposit boxes at Ukrainian Capital bank in three tranches. Separately, investigators examined the possible involvement of Belashov-Astion bank employees in the bribery scheme.
Some of Belashov’s group assets are registered to his wife, Liliyana Belashova. These include gas companies that featured in criminal proceedings. In February 2026 the businessman filed for divorce after 35 years of marriage. Belashov told the court that his wife had long lived in Spain and that they no longer lived together. Liliyana Belashova did not agree with her husband’s claim, but in August 2026 the court divorced them. She nevertheless remains a participant in a large number of companies purportedly associated with her former husband.
The Belashovs have a large house and plot of land in Spain. According to the Poltava deputy, this property appeared in their ownership as early as 2016.
According to Spanish registries, since April 2024 Liliyana Belashova has owned the firm Nali 1833 Sl with a business activity listed as restaurants. At the company’s registered address in Barcelona is the café El moli, which may belong to Belashova.
ARMA rejected KUA Ukrkapital’s proposal, which had won the management tender for IDS Ukraine’s assets, due to an abnormally low offer of just 0,01%. At the same time, in the first round Belashov’s firm offered 40%, which was not even the lowest offer.
The second-largest bid in the tender came from the law firm Prioritas, which has a charter capital of only 1000 hryvnias. The company allegedly offered to manage IDS Ukraine’s assets for 0,90% of income.
Registry data show the firm is registered to Zhanna Yefremova, who works as a lawyer. She also runs a similarly named firm — Legal Company Prioritas — with a more substantial charter capital of 1 million hryvnias.
Another co-founder of Prioritas is Olena Ivanova. A woman with the same surname, name and patronymic previously worked in enforcement departments of the Dnipropetrovsk justice administration. She also likely served as an arbitrator at the Spring Human Rights Association’s arbitration court and was deputy head of the Association of Lawyers of the Leninsky District of Dnipropetrovsk.
Recall that anti-corruption agencies suspect Vasyl Astion of using informal connections and influence in the judicial system to obtain favorable decisions. Astion may also be involved in raiding and money legalization in the “Midas” case. He is originally from Dnipro, where his main assets are located and where he served as a regional council deputy. Like the Prioritas co-founder, who worked in justice structures.
Astion’s link to the law firm Prioritas is confirmed by court documents in which the firm participates in proceedings concerning the Agromars group. In particular, Prioritas is mentioned in a court ruling on imposing an asset freeze in the context of searches. The companies are connected by court case No. 757/19486/17-k.
The Agromars group once owned one of the largest poultry farms — Havrylivski Kurchata. Its former owner was prominent businessman Yevhen Sihal. After the scandal in 2017, when burials of birds were found near the farm in Kyiv region, which could have caused an environmental disaster, Sihal and his wife were arrested.
In 2025 the Agromars group came under the control of Vasyl Astion. In political circles he is now called the main sponsor of the Batkivshchyna party, whose MP is the founder of KUA Ukrkapital, Serhiy Belashov.
At the first stage of the IDS Ukraine asset auction the lowest management fee proposals were made by Yuvelirny Meat Processing Plant LLC. It is part of Universal Holding, owned by former ATB co-owner Serhiy Tarasyuk. The holding’s main activity is focused on construction. Tarasyuk was responsible for that direction at ATB as well.
On the NABU recordings where Vasyl Astion is identified, two well-known developers are also present — Vadym Stolar and Maksym Mykytas.
Yuvelirny initially offered to manage Fridman’s former mineral assets for a fee of 30%, and by the third round the offer was lowered to 10%. Meanwhile KUA Ukrkapital and the law firm Prioritas, which are connected to Astion, started at 40% and 31% respectively. As a result, by the third round their bids sharply fell to 0,01% and 0,90%. Such actions could be part of a conspiracy so that ultimately at least one of the affiliated companies would obtain an asset estimated at more than 5 billion hryvnias.
Two other firms that bid for Morshynska were Alliance-D, from the orbit of Varus and Eva store owners, and KUA Ready-Invest, which is linked to the distributor company Global Foods.
If ARMA recognizes the law firm Prioritas the winner of the tender to appoint manager of IDS Ukraine, this could mean that Astion and his accomplices in the Midas case would gain control of Fridman’s second asset after the formally state-owned Sense Bank. Recently it was Tymur Mindich’s birthday — the businessman whom investigators consider the head of the criminal organization. Journalist Mykhailo Tkach jokingly wrote on his Telegram channel that in a published photo he and Servant of the People faction leader David Arakhamia are discussing whether it’s better to gift Mindich a bank or a plant.
Since Vasyl Astion turned out to be a likely participant in Mindich’s “gang,” isn’t the journalist hinting at the Morshynska plant, which through Astion would work for the pocket of the former friend of the President?
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Фігурант плівок Міндіча Астіон через підозрюваного в корупції Бєлашова намагається отримати контроль над мільярдними активами «Моршинської»". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: ANTIKOR.