By KYIV. Nov 10 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Law enforcers exposed and curbed the illegal activities of one of the enterprises in Zakarpattia region which carried out an order from a Russian organization, Head of Zakarpattia Regional Military Administration Viktor Mykyta has said.
“One of the enterprises in Zakarpattia region, owned by an Italian citizen, secretly produced winter ski jackets of the Italian brand Vist with the symbols of the aggressor state for the national ski team of the Russian Federation, the customer of which is the Russia Ski Team organization,” he said on the Telegram channel on Friday.
Mykyta emphasized that the illegal activities were discovered, documented and stopped by the National Police and the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU).
Later, the SBU in the Telegram channel confirmed the fact of exposing the clandestine production of winter sportswear for the Russian national ski team in Zakarpattia region.
“It was established that illegal tailoring took place on the basis of one of the clothing enterprises. The factory began fulfilling orders from a Russian company supplying specialized clothing for sports teams of the aggressor country from the beginning of 2023,” it said.
According to the investigation, during this period the underground workshop produced and supplied more than 40 wholesale batches of winter jackets to Russia. When sending sportswear, the defendants covered Russian symbols on it with gauze tape.
To hide illegal supplies, their route passed through one of the European countries where the owner of the garment factory was located.
“He turned out to be a foreign citizen who was directly involved in concluding relevant contracts with Russian customers and organizing the shipment of finished products. To ensure the production process in the sewing workshop, he involved the head of this enterprise. No more than five seamstresses, selected from among trusted persons, were involved in the execution of the Russian order,” the Ukrainian special service said.
According to the SBU, the seamstresses also received additional training on non-disclosure of the fact of cooperation in favor of the aggressor country among others, acquaintances and relatives.
Currently, within the framework of criminal proceedings under Article 110-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (financing of actions committed with the aim of violently changing or overthrowing the constitutional order or seizing state power, changing the boundaries of a territory or state border of Ukraine), an investigation is ongoing to establish all the circumstances of the crime and bring the perpetrators to justice.
