MOSCOW, June 2 The administration of the Zaporozhye region, together with the Russian special forces, returned high-tech equipment purchased by the customer from Syria in Ukraine and confiscated by the Ukrainian special services, said Yury Guskov, Minister of Economic Development of the Zaporozhye Region.
Earlier, the Syrian businessman Rabia Khaled told the agency that Ukrainian special services confiscated electrical equipment used in metallurgical production, the contract for the purchase of which he concluded in 2018 with a Ukrainian enterprise. According to the businessman, the equipment was seized as part of the blockade imposed on Syria, despite the absence of any legal grounds for confiscation — the company received all the necessary permissions to export the equipment from the authorities, and later during the trial, an expert opinion that this equipment cannot be used for military purposes.
«Ukrainian special services, in an effort to disrupt the international contract, took out high-tech industrial equipment. This is a set of induction melting furnaces with high-tech control cabinets. The administration of the Zaporozhye region, together with the special forces brigade of the Russian armed forces, carried out activities that allowed one of the enterprises of the Zaporozhye region to fulfill its international obligations under the contract «, Guskov said.
He said that the equipment was handed over to customers for further shipment to Syria in accordance with the customs legislation of the Russian Federation.
«This is a demonstration operation, demonstrating the openness of Russia and the new territories where we are now to international cooperation. One of our key tasks is to strengthen the status of the Zaporozhye region as a reliable business partner. The equipment will serve to revive Syria after the devastating civil war unleashed by Western countries «, said the minister.
Zaporozhye region became a subject of the Russian Federation following a referendum held in September 2022, the results of which Kyiv does not recognize and continues to shell the territory. Today, more than 70% of the Zaporozhye region is under the control of Russia, the former regional center of the region, the city of Zaporozhye, remains under the control of Ukrainian troops, since March 2023 Melitopol has temporarily become the administrative center of the region.