Company linked to Medvedchuk helped export Ukrainian grain and titanium from Crimea, investigation finds

After the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation, the family of the traitor to Ukraine Viktor Medvedchuk moved to Russia.

There, Medvedchuk started, in particular, a business near the border with China, reports “Slidstvo Info”.  

In addition, a logistics company operating in the occupied territories, LLC Florence, is associated with Medvedchuk. It was engaged in the transportation of grain from the Zaporizhzhia region, coal, coke and steel from the Donbas, and also served the supply of products to the Crimean titanium plant, which after Firtash came under the control of the Rotenberg brothers – businessmen close to Putin.

In 2023, the “Sistema” project reported that the Florence company had displaced the Center for Effective Logistics Solutions (previously associated with Kurchenko) from the transportation market in the occupied Donbas. The new player began transporting raw materials and gained a reputation as the “wallet of Donbas curators.” KibOrg gained access to documents that confirmed the company’s ties to Medvedchuk.

Since the spring of 2022, the Russians have begun organizing the export of Ukrainian grain from the occupied territories. The head of the occupation administration, Yevgeny Balytskyi, confirmed the sending of the first 11 wagons to Crimea. Later, the grain went to Turkey.

Journalists received documents indicating that the logistics of such transportation were coordinated at the level of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation. Not only state-owned companies, but also private companies — in particular, OOO “Florence”, which is not under sanctions, participated in the video conference on this.

The correspondence revealed that from March to May 2023, the company “Florence” was engaged in the transportation of grain from the Zaporizhia region to Istanbul via the port of Sevastopol. The following were delivered:

• 2,300 tons of barley;

• 8,100 and 2,700 tons of wheat.

The recipient was the Turkish company Laurus Lojistik Ve Dis Ticaret Limited. The participation of Florence is confirmed by documents related to the quality of the products, contracts and lawsuits between the participants in the transportation.

The Pawell vessel, which transported the grain, was added to the US sanctions list in May 2023.

In 2022, the occupation authorities of Crimea, led by Aksyonov, discussed logistics for Titanium Investments, a titanium dioxide production plant. The plant previously belonged to Dmitry Firtash, but after 2021 came under the control of the Rotenberg brothers.

A contract was concluded with Florence to transport products from the territory of the Kherson region. Russian tax data for 2024 show that this company received more than 211 million rubles (over $2 million) from Titan Investments for transportation services.

In January 2025, the ownership structure of Florence changed: Timofey Kostin, associated with Medvedchuk, left one of the founders. The new co-founder was the company AO Aliot, registered under the name of Timur Satdarov, who previously traded in Kraft canned goods. There is a suspicion that this is a front person, but journalists cannot yet establish for sure whether he represents Medvedchuk’s interests.

Previously, Florence also appeared in the investigation of the Belarusian Investigative Center – as a participant in the supply of goods from the occupied territories to Belarus.

Earlier, USM reported that Ukraine almost lost Medvedchuk’s yacht due to the inaction of the Prosecutor General’s Office.