The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) is an independent humanitarian organisation helping people forced to flee We protect displaced people and support them as they build a new future The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas brings renewed hope to Gaza and we are ready to scale up our work to meet the enormous needs We started our relief efforts after World War Two we work in both new and protracted crises across 40 countries where we help save lives and rebuild futures NRC works to protect the rights of displaced people during crisis NORCAP works to better protect and empower people affected by crises and climate change We collaborate with partners on finding solutions to meet the needs of people at risk Get the latest news from our work in the field +47 23 10 98 00nrc@nrc.no +47 90 56 23 29media@nrc.no fundraising@nrc.no Over 90 per cent of our global revenue goes directly to fulfil our purpose Connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of information Bloomberg quickly and accurately delivers business and financial information A combine harvester harvests wheat near from Myronivka 2023 at 5:26 AM EDTBookmarkSaveLock This article is for subscribers only.Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba laid out his country’s plans to counter Russia’s influence in Africa while saying he has no indication of what leaders from the continent are proposing in a planned peace initiative who spoke to African journalists on a conference call on Wednesday said his country will open 10 new embassies on the continent It will also seek to boost agricultural exports to the continent and strengthen military relations the radiation levels in Chornobyl stand at 18 µR/h According to the Central Geophysical Observatory named after Borys Sreznevskyi the radiation levels in Kyiv and the Kyiv region are as follows (in µR/h): The State Emergency Service of Ukraine reports that the safe radiation threshold is up to 50 µR/h in Chornobyl and up to 30 µR/h in other cities the radiation level in Chornobyl was recorded at 19 µR/h a Russian attack drone with an explosive warhead struck the shelter above the destroyed fourth reactor of the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant The Security Service of Ukraine discovered debris from a Russian Shahed-type Geran-2 kamikaze drone inside and near the protective structure Experts believe the attack was a deliberate strike on the facility Get quality reporting directly into your inbox a large multi-billion money laundering machine uncovered last year by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) used the services of several residents of a small town near Kyiv the directors of the British and Russian companies that comprised the scheme never even knew of their power – or their involvement OCCRP reporters in Moldova noticed that judges in their country were issuing numerous rulings of the same kind: Russian firms and Moldovan citizens would be ordered to pay a considerable sum of money to an offshore company to settle a previous debt that it had guaranteed on behalf of another company The involvement of the Moldovan citizen ensured that Moldovan courts would have jurisdiction and Moldovan judges consistently ruled that the Russian companies must pay—legalizing the transfer of dirty money out of the Russian Federation The money was then transferred from the same Moldovan bank to the same Latvian bank safely within the European Union The Laundromat’s complex cleanse-and-spin cycle made up of dozens of offshore companies and proxy agents moved $20 billion from Russia to the EU from 2010 to 2014 While its impossible to know exactly where all the money came from and ended up its most likely that they elaborate system was set up to hide money stolen by corrupt politicians or earned through criminal activity Ukrainian citizens played an important role in the scheme They were involved at various stages of the operation mostly as phony directors of the web of fake companies Three Ukrainians involved in the Laundromat are neighbors in Myronivka, a small town of 12,000 residents located 100 kilometers from the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv. In 2014, the budget of Myronivka and the surrounding district barely exceeded US$ 10 million The money washed in the Laundromat makes the region’s annual budget seem like pocket change Four years ago, the British firm Valemont Properties filed a lawsuit in the Moldovan capital of Chisinau demanding the return of US$ 180 million from a London-based company called Seabon Limited. The debt was guaranteed by the Russian firm Laita M Ltd., headed by Myronivka resident Oleg Bilonog Bilonog had been a worker in a local construction company, Rayagrobud. In Soviet times, the company employed 700 people. Now it doesn’t produce anything, says the construction company's director Vasyl Dikhtyar, who told OCCRP journalists he remembers Bilognog clearly working there without any arrogance or pomposity He was a little bit younger than the others from (his construction) team but he was working as a stonemason and was a good specialist." It is hard to see how this former stonemason’s company could guarantee nearly US$200 million of debt Reporters wanted to ask Bilonog about that but he no longer lives at his registered address on Gorkogo Street and said their son had moved to Russia in 2006 Bilonog’s mother says her son is firmly established in Russia "I know that he is working at a building site His parents then called Bilonog in Russia and handed OCCRP reporters the phone He told them he was not the head of the Laita M company In the house next door to the Bilonog family lives another Ukrainian involved in cross-border Laundromat transactions. Oleksiy Romaniuk, 28, is listed as a director of that same Seabon Limited which, according to the Moldovan court The OCCRP reporters also talked to Bilonog’s cousin Romaniuk "graduated from the Trade and Economic University I know that he worked in the Coffee House (a chain of coffee shops) and I don't know where he is now," Terzi says Romaniuk has still not commented on his overseas business Mykola Kislov, the third Myronivka citizen involved in the Laundromat, was a legal representative of the U.S. company Albany Inc. In 2013, he agreed to repay the British firm Mirabax Investments a debt of US$ 580 million nobody was home when OCCRP reporters visited and the neighbors claimed they didn’t know him which says he works as a cook in various sport clubs And yet documents from the Spark database of companies and searches on social networks indicate Zhmutskyi’s business partner is connected to the Myronivka millionaires In the early 2000s, Zhmutskyi founded the Industrial and Construction Company Ukrtransbud. His partner in this company was another Ukrainian Podvishevskyy is married to Karina Terzi, Oleg Bilonog’s niece and Natalia Terzi’s daughter. Podvishevskyy also owns 99 percent of the company Konsultek, which is the sole shareholder of Soyutek Development - another Russian firm involved in the Laundromat scheme Yet another company that Podvishevskyy heads - the service cooperative Evans, which manages real estate - shares a cell phone number (+380503565595) with Jet Business Limited, a Ukrainian company that until recently was owned by Moldovan businessman Vyacheslav Platon. Platon is a shareholder in Moldincombank, the Moldovan bank used in the Laundromat's transactions Reporters called Podvishevskyy for comment He denied he shared numbers with Jet Business Ltd although he admitted to having known Zhmutskyi for a long time “As I understand you have received an order. Someone has sponsored you to pour dirt on me. Tell me who pays you?” Podvishevskyy asked the reporter. “Good-bye, forget this number, and it is better for you not to meddle where you should not be.” the president of the Association of Ukrainian Banks believes the Laundromat scheme had to originate high in the government It is clear that these things cannot be done without the assistance of the highest state authorities." Sugonyako says Support from readers like you helps OCCRP expose organized crime and corruption around the world you’ll be directly supporting investigative journalism as a public good You’ll also gain access to exclusive insights and benefits