Over 600 Ukrainian companies have removed russian owners from their data

As of now, 621 companies have gotten rid of “Russian ties” in the form of ownership since the start of the invasion. This is 220 more companies compared to August of last year when there were 401 such businesses.

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Revenue of Companies That Removed russian Owners

Up to 10 million UAH	265	42.7%
From 10 to 100 million UAH	125	20.1%
Over 100 million UAH	44	7.1%
Did not submit financial statements for 2023	187	30.1%

Since the beginning of the full-scale war, a moratorium has been in place in Ukraine on changes to registration data in companies with russian owners, except for a few cases clearly defined by law. If ownership changes were made illegally, it means that russian businesses continue to operate in Ukraine, bypassing legal restrictions.

Opendatabot has appealed to the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, requesting a review of the information provided about the 621 companies that have removed owners and beneficiaries with russian citizenship, to conduct an inspection, and to identify any potential illegal actions by these companies.

The Director of the Department of State Registration at the Ministry of Justice, Vyacheslav Khardikov, commented that the department is currently conducting an inspection based on Opendatabot’s request. In most companies, no violations of the law have been found.

However, preliminary violations have been identified, and as a result, three desk audits of registration actions have been scheduled for seven companies. If the changes regarding owners with russian citizenship in these companies were made illegally, the notary or registrar responsible for these actions will face sanctions as provided by current legislation.

It is likely that the notary or registrar who conducted these actions will face blocking and revocation of access to the Unified State Register (USR). We will monitor the situation as it develops.

It is worth noting that Opendatabot does not remove the designation indicating the presence of owners from russia or Belarus in a company’s profile, even after changes are made. This approach is based on the fact that there have been numerous cases of formal rather than actual changes of ownership, which are prohibited by law. However, businesses that have legally removed their russian ties can post documents proving this on their Opendatabot page for free, using the document publication platform.

To recall, 18.9 thousand companies with owners from the russian Federation were registered at the start of the full-scale invasion.