Ukrnafta was alienated into state property over refusal to supply petroleum products to army - deputy head of Zelensky's Office

MOSCOW. Jan 19 (Interfax) - The only reason for alienating several enterprises in Ukraine into state property in November 2022 for the period of martial law was a threat to national security, deputy head of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky's Office Rostislav Shurma said, adding that in the case of Ukrnafta, it was the company's refusal to supply petroleum products to the Ukrainian army.

"Private property in Ukraine is inviolable. One must not engage in any speculation here. The sole reason why the martial law legislation was applied to individual companies was an enormous risk to national security," Ukrainian media quoted Shurma as saying at a Ukrainian House event in Davos on Wednesday.

Ukrnafta was alienated into state property because it refused to supply petroleum products to the Ukrainian Armed Forces, whereas the same measure was applied to Motor Sich because it supplied engines to a Russian company, he said.

As regards AvtoKrAZ, its owners halted the operations of the plant, which had not produced any military vehicles for the past ten years or had made just a few dozen, whereas the Ukrainian army needs 40,000 such trucks, he said.

As reported, the Ukrainian leadership decided on November 5, 2022 to alienate the shares of Ukrnafta and Ukrtatnafta, except for Naftogaz's stake in these companies, as well as Motor Sich, AvtoKrAZ and Zaporizhtransformator into state property for the period of martial law. It was done on November 6 after the National Securities and Stock Market Commission regulated this procedure.