Belarus has been on Russia's side since the beginning of the aggression against Ukraine.

Alexander Lukashenko has allowed Russian troops to use Belarusian territory and airspace to shell and move Russian military equipment and manpower to Ukraine.

According to UN General Assembly Resolution 3314 of December 14, 1974, Belarus is a participant in Russian aggression on these grounds and should bear international legal responsibility.

While experts are discussing the practical consequences for Belarus and its current leadership, Ukrainian law enforcement agencies have begun to actively confiscate the property of Belarus in Ukraine, and first of all - those joint ventures that have been established over the years.

Svoboda has collected details from open sources of the criminal cases currently being investigated by Ukrainian investigators against Belarusian companies and their management.

The Belavtodor-Ukraine company exported assets and equipment before the war

On May 25, it became known about the confiscation of 60 units of construction equipment belonging to three Belarusian companies - road construction trust No. 2 (Gomel), trust No. 4 (Brest) and construction and assembly trust No. 8 (Minsk).

But the case was opened on April 9 - on the fact of misappropriation of state funds allocated for the construction and repair of roads, as well as possible funding for actions to seize state power, change the boundaries of the territory or state border of Ukraine (Part 5 of Article 191, Part 2 of Article 110- 2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

Now investigators are trying to arrest three asphalt plants used by Belarusian road workers - in Kiev, Ochakov, Mykolaiv region and Vaskovichi, Zhytomyr region.

During the investigation it turned out that all these plants were transferred to the Belarusian company on lease.

Proved that the property is the property of "Belavtodor-Ukraine" has not yet been found.

Separately in the case file it is noted that the company before the war withdrew from Ukraine all its assets.

In February 2022, just before the beginning of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, the Belarusian companies OJSC “Construction and Assembly Trust № 8”, OJSC “Road Construction Trust № 2, Gomel” and OJSC “Road Construction Trust № 4, Brest ”took part of construction equipment and employees from among the citizens of the Republic of Belarus outside Ukraine, and money assets were taken abroad,” the case file says.

According to the investigation, the money was withdrawn by the management represented by the citizens of Ukraine, natives of Donetsk, through the companies under their control: the financial company "Finance Capital", LLC "Investfors", LLC "Ukrbelpharma", LLC "Consulting Group" Vozdvizhensky ".

At the same time, the courts began to consider subpoenas of at least three Ukrainian companies demanding that Belavtodor-Ukraine pay millions in debts.

The Belarusian company owed the most to the Odessa enterprise "Masterporombud" - 7,363,988.99 hryvnias (more than 200 thousand dollars in equivalent - RS).

According to the court decision, the Ukrainian company charged this debt for "improper performance of obligations under the supply contract."

For the investigation, the owners of BNC-Ukraine are a sanctioned company

On June 16, the Security Service of Ukraine announced the seizure of assets and bank accounts of the Belarusian company BNC-Ukraine on the basis of its involvement in financing Russia's aggression against Ukraine.

The value of the seized assets was then set at 20 million hryvnia (almost 600 thousand dollars in equivalent. - RS).

A criminal case was launched against the Belarusian company on April 5.

It is noteworthy that the final beneficiaries of the case are the Belarusian Oil Company and the republican unitary enterprise Belarusneft, against which international sanctions were imposed in connection with the falsification of the 2020 presidential election and the brutal crackdown on protests.

At the same time, at the end of 2021, the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine adopted and registered statutory changes, according to which "the ultimate beneficial owner of a legal entity is absent due to the fact that the founders are enterprises of the Republic of Belarus."

According to experts, such changes allowed the de facto sanctioned company to continue operating in the Ukrainian market without restrictions.

On June 10, a court upheld the seizure of BNK-Ukraine's accounts with two banks, Bank Alliance and Pivdenny.

A total of 455,573.15 euros was transferred to the management of the relevant agency dealing with confiscated property.

The director of the Belarusian company tried to appeal against the seizure of money in the account, but the court upheld the decision of the investigation.

"Service Oil" has debts for equipment rental

On June 16, it became known that the Podolsk District Prosecutor's Office in Kyiv had arrested the corporate rights of Service Oil, a large subsidiary of Belarusneft, which provided services in the field of oil and natural gas production.

Its authorized capital - almost one billion hryvnia (about 26 million dollars).

At the same time, as in the case of Belavtodor-Ukraine, Ukrainian companies filed lawsuits to recover from Service Oil debts under supply contracts.

For example, the Kiev LLC "Techpromimport" in one summons demands to collect 380 939,31 hryvnias, and in the second - 738 762,00 hryvnias (together more than 30 thousand dollars in an equivalent. - RS).

The Ukrainian Service Drilling Company also filed several lawsuits, demanding to collect debts from Service Oil for equipment rental.

Each of them is at least 30 thousand dollars in equivalent.

MAZ-Ukraine arrested vehicles already paid for by Ukrainian companies

On May 19, it became known about the arrest of 20 MAZ cars, which allegedly belonged to the Belarusian company "Trading House MAZ-Ukraine" and the company "AvtoMAZ-Ukraine", which is owned by a Russian citizen.

The equipment was arrested as a result of a search in a criminal case instituted on April 19 for misappropriation of state funds allocated for road construction and repair, as well as possible financing of actions to seize state power, change the borders of the territory or state border of Ukraine (Part 5 of Article 191, Part 2 of Article 110-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

But now it turned out that most of the equipment on the industrial site of the company "Trading House MAZ-Ukraine" at that time had already been bought by Ukrainian companies.

And now all of them - LLC "Modern Trucks", LLC "Ukravtokomplekt Ltd." and LLC "Trading House Techkomplekt" - are trying in court to force the investigation to lift the arrest of their property.

On June 9, the Kyiv Court of Appeals overturned the decision to arrest these MAZ cars.

It is unknown whether the investigation will appeal against this decision.