After the NSDC imposed sanctions against Dnipro businessman Vadym Yermolayev in December 2023, the State Geology and Subsoil Service of Ukraine twice renewed a special permit for gabbro-labradorite mining for his company Korostyshivskyi Karier PJSC. About this it is said in hromadske investigation.
At first, special permit No. 3297 for the development of the Slobid deposit in the Zhytomyr region was suspended due to the imposition of sanctions. However, already two weeks after that, a notary from the Poltava region, Ludmila Rusnyak, made changes to the Unified State Register — his daughter Sofya Kononenko became the ultimate beneficiary of the enterprise instead of Yermolayev. After that, on March 14, 2024, the State Geological Survey renewed the permit for the first time.
At the end of April, the notary appealed to the Ministry of Justice with a complaint, in which she stated that she had not taken any actions in the registry, and that her electronic key was allegedly used by outsiders. The Ministry of Justice found these changes invalid, and on May 2 the permit was blocked again.
However, on June 24, the National Security and Defense Council updated the sanctions list, in which the license of PJSC “Korostyshivskyi Karier” no longer appeared. Two days later, on June 26, the State Geological Survey renewed the permit for the second time, despite the fact that Yermolaev is again listed as the final beneficiary.
According to the SBU, Vadym Yermolaev, who has been a Cypriot citizen since 2018, re-registered his alcohol business in Crimea in accordance with Russian legislation and paid taxes to the budget of the Russian Federation. Along with the “Korostyshivsky Quarry”, at the beginning of 2024, the special permits of two more companies owned by Yermolayev – “Potoky” and “Trends System” – were frozen. Both companies later succeeded in renewing their permits.
