Crimean parliament nationalizes Ukrtelecom local assets
SIMFEROPOL. Feb 11 (Interfax) - The State Council [parliament] of Crimea has declared the local assets of Ukrtelecom, the major Ukrainian private telecommunication company belonging to Ukrainian tycoon Rinat Akhmetov, which held a monopoly over landline telephone services in the region, the republic's property at a session on Wednesday, an Interfax correspondent has reported.
Ukrtelecom stopped providing its services to its Crimean subscribers the day before its nationalization.
The Crimean parliament's decision applies to Ukrtelecom's movable and real assets in Crimea, including non-material ones that were on the company's balance sheet.
The Crimean parliament also nationalized the Crimean assets of Ukrtelecom's mobile subsidiary, 3Mob (TriMob).
"The adoption of this resolution will help settle the property issues related to the protection of the Republic of Crimea's interests and provide preconditions for preserving and efficiently utilizing the movable and immovable property located on the Republic of Crimea's territory and preventing disruptions in communication services," says an explanatory note to the resolution passed by the Crimean State Council.
Ukrtelecom stopped providing its services to Crimean clients in the early hours of February 10. Specialists from the Crimean state company Krymtelecom restored telephone services in the region by the morning. However, Crimean residents were unable to call emergency services until the evening of February 10.
Ukrtelecom did not say why it stopped providing services to the region.
"No one contacted us, and no one warned about anything or explained anything," Crimean Deputy Prime Minister and Information and Communications Minister Dmitry Polonsky said.
Head of the Crimean administration Sergei Aksyonov said the Crimean authorities did not obstruct Ukrtelecom's operations, and the company did not have reasons to disconnect the Crimean subscribers from its services.
Along with landline telephone users, Ukrtelecom also stopped servicing the Crimean clients of TriMob, including those using it as an Internet provider.
Access to the Internet for most of Ukrtelecom clients in Crimea was restored by noon of February 10, Polonsky said. The restoration of 3Mob's operations in Crimea is not a top priority issue, as the number of its subscribers is insignificant, he said.
Employees of the Crimean branch of Ukrtelecom appealed to the republic's administration to nationalize it last week.
Crimean security services and prosecutors started auditing Ukrtelecom in December 2014 as part of an investigation into a criminal case dealing with transfers of money to finance Kyiv's military operation in eastern Ukraine.
Ukrtelecom stopped providing services to its clients in Sevastopol in September 2014. Telephone communication services are currently provided in the city by the state company Sevtelecom.
The nationalization of Ukrtelecom's Crimean assets has been the second instance of nationalization of Crimean assets of Akhmetov's companies since Crimea's reintegration into Russia. At its previous session on January 21, the Crimean State Council had nationalized the Krymenergo power distribution company incorporated in the DTEK power holding belonging to the businessman. The company's assets have been passed to the state company Krymenergo.