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How MAZ Products Get To ‘DNR’

7
How MAZ Products Get To ‘DNR’

The secrets of the Belarusian authorities’ ‘non-official trade’.

The products of the Minsk Automobile Plant (MAZ) regularly appear at the territory beyond the control of Kyiv. Belsat.eu journalist Katsoiaryna Andreyeva made a research on how the supply chain works, and how the Nizhny Novgorod region’s representative office in Belarus relates to the trade with the “DNR”.

Belsat.eu wrote in its investigation of how large Belarusian state-owned enterprises trade with companies located in the so-called “DNR” and “LNR”. Then it was about food and alcohol. According to statistics provided by the Donetsk business portal DNR-live, the total share of Belarusian goods in the consumer market of the unrecognized republics at that time was about 25%. As the journalists of belsat.eu learned, trade usually goes through Russian laying companies, as the law does not allow concluding a direct contract with a Donetsk or Lugansk entity.

Now we have tried to figure out how the components of the MAZ get to the city of Torez, Donetsk region, where they assemble special equipment for municipal needs. Since 2014, the settlement has been under the control of the “DNR”.

Belarusian Delegation at ‘DNR Potential’

On August 23-24, 2018, an exhibition-fair “The Potential of the Donetsk People's Republic-2018” was held in Donetsk, its organizer was the “Ministry of Industry and Trade of the DPR”. According to the local press, the exhibition demonstrated products of more than a hundred enterprises from Russia, “LNR” and Belarus.

One of the objectives of the exhibition was “enhancing business cooperation” with foreign investors. The squad of the Belarusian delegation is not fully disclosed, but it is known that among its members was Sergei Petrov, the official representative of the Nizhny Novgorod region in Belarus. It is likely that Petrov is one of those who coordinates informal contacts between Belarus and the “DNR” in the industrial sphere.

In the news story on the Donetsk TV channel Union, they said that the Torez Electrotechnical Plant (hereinafter - TEP) presented at the exhibition “a joint project with one of the Belarusian factories.” According to the director of TEP Igor Nevaleny, this is related to a backhoe loader, the snow plow (ladle) of which is assembled according to the drawings of the Belarusian developer. At the same time, it stands just against the background of such a machine. Nevaleny notes: it is soon planned to start production of garbage trucks "according to a similar scheme."

In the newspiece of the Donetsk TV channel Sergey Petrov says the following:

“I agreed with the director of the MAZ, this is the former Minister of Industry of the Republic of Belarus, through appropriate structures they can deliver chassis to Rostov firms and others, and assemble garbage trucks here.”

It is noteworthy that Petrov tells this to Alexander Timofeev (callsign Tashkent), who was the “right hand” of the deceased president of the “DNR” Zakharchenko. After the explosion at the cafe "Separ", Timofeev fled to Russia.

So why does the representative of the Nizhny Novgorod region in Belarus deal with the supply of components for MAZ? Who among the Belarusians is interested in partnership with the “DNR” and how do the special services react? For answers, we went to Sergei Petrov.

LEFT TO RIGHT: SERGEY PETROV, IGOR NEVALENY

To Donetsk through Rostov

The representative office of the Nizhny Novgorod region has been working in Minsk since 1999, it is located in an office building in the center of the city and occupies two small rooms. According to the charter, its authorizations include coordination of trade, economic, cultural and humanitarian activities of enterprises, organizations and institutions of the Nizhny Novgorod region in the Republic of Belarus.

There is no talk about facilitating trade with a third party. It is separately emphasized that the representative office does not perform a political function and it is subject to Belarusian legislation. It is not included in the structure of the Russian Embassy. By the way, there are only two such “regional” Russian offices in Belarus - this one and the Krasnodar Region. Sergey Petrov has headed the representative office since 2010, he reports directly to his governor.

According to Petrov, the scheme for the supply of Belarusian heavy industry goods to the DNR was formed in 2016.

“There is no official cooperation between MAZ and “DNR ”. Although, of course, MAZ vehicles do get there. The plant in Minsk supplies products to the Moscow Trading House MAZ, then they are acquired by companies in Rostov, and from there the MAZs enter Donetsk. As far as I know, the plans of the “DNR” functionaries are to produce garbage trucks at the Torez Electrotechnical Plant based on the MAZ chassis,” the official says.

The #1 reason under which they chose the described scheme is politics.

“Due to political circumstances, Belarusian enterprises cannot trade directly with the unrecognized republic. In the case of direct deliveries to the “DNR”, Belarus would spoil relations with Ukraine, and MAZ would fall under sanctions. But private Russian business has such a right. Naturally, MAZ does not break anything when it sells its products, for example, to Rostov.”

Petrov recalls an important detail: among the shareholders of these Rostov companies, most often, there are residents of the “DNR”. In addition, he admits that the Minsk Tractor Plant and Amkodor work with the Donbas under a similar pattern.

SERGEY PETROV AT WORK, PHOTO BY KATSIARYNA ANDREYEVA

The “would-be secret” and reaction of the special services

Petrov showed us the original letter from the “Ministry of Industry and Trade” of the “DNR”, on a “not for record” basis. This is a request for the next delivery of MAZ products. In the upper left corner of the document is Petrov's visa, in which we managed to understand the words “FOA Katsiarynich ... without specifying “DNR”. He did not allow to make a photo.

Dzmitry Katsiarynich is the Director General at MAZ and former Minister of Industry of Belarus. Probably, Sergey Petrov talked about a specific agreement with him to “Tashkent” at the exhibition “The Potential of Donbas” in August.

“There is no excess marketing. If MAZs go to Russia (smiles), Dmitry Stepanovich will very much welcome this. ”

We asked Petrov to voice the names of Rostov companies. He said later that they “categorically refused” to talk with journalists.

We asked if they have ever faced a negative reaction to the trade with the unrecognized republic on the part of the Belarusian special services.

“Well no. As a representative of the Nizhny Novgorod region, I contribute to the entry of both state-owned and private Belarusian companies to the markets of the Russian Federation and the DNR, including. Why should there be some kind of negative? These are not dual-use items. I do not see any negative about our work. ”

On the question of whether the authorities in Minsk know about the trade scheme with Donetsk, Petrov says that this is such a so-called “would-be secret”.

“Everyone is silent about it”

At the Torez Electrotechnical Plant they promised to contact us with the commercial director in an hour, but then they told that at the moment “all the functionaries are on business trips”. After some time, the secretary delivered the message to her boss, but he refused to comment.

Siarhei Zakharevich, Deputy Commercial Director for Sales of MAZ Trucks, who oversees deliveries to Russia and Ukraine, in a comment to belsat.eu, said that he was not aware of the Donetsk direction and there was no Torez Plant among the official buyers.

“MAZ is a manufacturer of a wide range of equipment, and, working within the framework of antitrust laws, we have no obligation to track the path of each individual unit. Equipment is a commodity moving, it can be in any part of the world and used there for various purposes. In particular, I do not rule out that someone is implementing it in this region. ”

The press service of the “Ministry of Industry and Trade” “DPR” confirmed to us that they receive equipment and components from MAZ.

“Usually everyone is silent about this - and that side, and we. Otherwise there will be sanctions, we are an unrecognized republic. Even in the case of indirect deliveries - immediate sanctions. The question is very delicate. We work, of course, but we are silent. And no one will tell you the names of Rostov companies - it’s a commercial secret. ”

***

Since 2004, MAZ has an official dealer in Ukraine - Avto-MAZ LLC with representative offices in Kyiv and Ternopil. Today the company is among the leaders in the Ukrainian truck market. In 2017, the parent company announced its plan to occupy 23-25% in this market. It is noteworthy that several joint projects with Ukraine have already seen the light: for example, the production of agricultural garbage trucks has been established on the basis of the MAZ chassis. And Ukrgasbank even offered loans for MAZ products with an interest rate of 10%, which is partially compensated by Belarus. Thus, the cooperation of the MAZ and its presence in Ukraine plays a significant role in both economies.

***

Yury Tsaryk, the director of the Center for Strategic and Foreign Policy Studies, suggests that there is nothing surprising in the existence of such a supply chain through Russia.

“Most likely, the scheme was initiated and proposed by the Russian partners. It is possible that the MAZ bosses are not aware of its existence.

Deliveries are indirect and, on the one hand, this allows Minsk to continue to exploit its quasi-neutral political status in the Donbas, and on the other, to have an additional market.

This means only one thing: at MAZ, they calculated the possible risks and concluded that the benefit from the scheme outweighs the potential reputational losses, considered such a risk acceptable.”

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