Crimean parliament nationalizes Ukrtelecom’s branch

Today, on February 11, the Crimean State Council adopted a decision to nationalize the property of the public joint-stock company of Ukrtelecom and TriMob LLC in the territory of the republic. Parliamentarians voted for the decision at a meeting of the Crimean parliament.  The decision comes into effect on the day of adoption.

Movable and immovable property of the public joint stock company Ukrtelecom and TriMob LLC based in the territory of Crimea, including the non-current and current assets on their accounts as of March 17, 2014 are included in the list of the assets of the Republic of Crimea. The list is enclosed to the document.

At 1:00am on February 10, the Republic of Crimea was fully disconnected from the communication services provided by the public joint-stock company Ukrtelecom – the fixed-line telephony and Internet. TriMob mobile operator belonging to PJSC Ukrtelecom stopped its activities. By 8:00am on February 10, the state unitary enterprise Crimea Telecom restored operation of the fixed line telephony.

According to the Crimean government, Ukrtelecom did not explain the reasons of its decision to terminate the services in the region. Head of the Crimea Republic Sergey Aksyonov says the Crimea authorities did not impede the activity of Ukrtelecom and the company had no objective reasons to disconnect the subscribers in Crimea.

Ukrtelecom joined SCM Group belonging to oligarch Rinat Akhmetov in 2013. On January 21, the Crimea State Council nationalized the energy distribution company «Krymenergo» operated by DTEK Holding, which is owed by Akhmetov. The company's property has been transferred to the state enterprise «Krymenergo».