Burisma Holdings is an oil and gas company engaged in gas exploration and production in Ukraine (in the Dnieper-Donetsk, Carpathian and Azov-Kuban basins) [1] . The Expo-Pivnich and Pari companies owned by Burisma Holdings hold licenses for the development of the Rakitnyansky, Kayrakozovsky and Rogansky deposits in the Kharkiv region , Peremyshlyansky, Chukvyansky, Semigonovsky and Niklovichsky deposits in the Lviv region , Chemingovsky and Pilipovsky - in Ivano-Frankivsk region also Shermetovsky in the Chernivtsi region [2] .
| Burisma Holdings Ltd. | |
|---|---|
| Type of | Private company |
| Base | 2002 |
| Founders | Nikolai Zlochevsky |
| Location |  Cyprus : Limassol |
| Key figures | Alan Apter (Chairman of the Board) Alexander Kwasniewski (independent director) |
| Industry | oil and gas production, oil and gas exploration |
| Site | burisma-group.com/uk/ |
The largest private gas company in Ukraine [3] . The main office is located in Limassol , Cyprus [4] .
History
Burisma Group was founded in 2002 by Nikolai Zlochevsky and Nikolai Lisin .
The company collaborated with the London-based PR agency Bell Pottinger [5] .
At the end of 2013, the company produced 1.8 million cubic meters of natural gas per day, with all gas sold on the domestic market of Ukraine [6] .
On May 12, 2014, it was reported that the son of US Vice President Joe Biden, Hunter Biden, joined the Board of Directors of Burisma Holdings, becoming the director of the legal department [7] with a monthly salary of 150 thousand dollars [8] . Moreover, the company’s website indicated that he began working there back in April of that year [3] . Hunter commented on his appointment with these words: “I believe that my help in advising the company on transparency, corporate governance, and international expansion will serve the economy of Ukraine and the prosperity of its people” [7] . 4 weeks earlier, Biden Sr. made an official visit to Kiev , during which he called on the Ukrainian government to “reduce its dependence on Russia for natural gas supplies” [9] . A CNN observer noted that “the appointment of [Hunter] caused a stir, given that this happened around the same time that his father and the White House were engaged in diplomatic missions in the region to rid Ukraine of Russian energy sources. Critics argued that Hunter’s work for a country promoting Ukrainian energy independence was a blatant conflict of interest. But the Vice President’s office dismissed the dispute, insisting that Hunter is a private citizen whose actions do not represent the government’s vision ” [10] .
The Washington Post journalist Adam Taylor noted that the appointment of the vice president’s son to the post appears to be nepotism [11] , but White House spokeswoman Jay Carney stated that “the Biden family are obviously private citizens and where they work, they don’t reflects the approval of the administration, vice president or president ” [12] . According to the Russian political scientist Timofei Bordachev , the inclusion of Hunter Biden on the board of directors of the company is an attempt to extend the US practice of semi-colonial relations to Ukraine, like the countries of Latin America [2] .
In 2016, the Prosecutor General of Ukraine Viktor Shokin began a corruption investigation against Burisma Holdings [13] . From spring 2014 to autumn 2015, the American company Hunter Biden Rosemont Seneca Partners LLC received from Burisma Holdings regular transfers to one of its accounts, and usually more than 166 thousand dollars a month [13] . American edition of The Hill citing senior Ukrainian officials, it was reported that Shokin’s team prosecutors identified Hunter Biden, a business partner of Devon Archer and their firm Rosemont Seneca as potential recipients of money [13] . According to Shokin himself, at that time he drew up a plan of investigation, which “included interrogations and other criminal investigation procedures against all members of the board of directors, including Hunter Biden” [13] . March 29, 2016 Shokhin was dismissed from the post of Prosecutor General of Ukraine [14] . In January 2018, at a public discussion at the Council on Foreign Relations, Joe Biden admitted that during a visit to Kiev in the spring of 2016, he demanded that Shokin resign from Poroshenko if Ukraine wants to receive 1 billion credit guarantees from the United States [15] .
In May 2019, information appeared that Hunter Biden resigned in April after his term expired [16] , however, according to Bloomberg , Hunter is still on the board of directors of the company [17] .
Board of Directors
- Alan Apter - Chairman of the Board of Directors [18]
- Alexander Kwasniewski
- Kofer Black
- Karina Zlochevskaya
- Christina Sofocleus
- Riginos Caralambus
- Marina Periclesus
Notes
- ↑ Mikhail Shakhov. Sale at the conflagration . View (May 20, 2014). Date accessed July 23, 2019.
- ↑ 1 2 Maria Amirjanian. Biden's Ukrainian appointment is colonial practice . Izvestia (May 13, 2014). Date of treatment July 24, 2019.
- ↑ 1 2 Vladimir Kozlovsky. I don’t like your prosecutor general . New newspaper (April 26, 2019). Date of treatment July 24, 2019.
- ↑ Company Overview of Burisma Holdings Limited . Bloomberg. Date accessed July 23, 2019.
- ↑ Roman Goncharenko. Who is behind the Ukrainian gas company Burisma? . DW (May 19, 2014). Date of treatment July 24, 2019.
- ↑ Biden’s son joined the board of directors of a Ukrainian gas production company . RIA Novosti (May 13, 2014). Date accessed July 23, 2019.
- ↑ 1 2 The son of US Vice President Joe Biden joined the board of directors of a Ukrainian gas production company . RT (May 13, 2014). Date accessed July 23, 2019.
- ↑ Former U.S. intelligence chief called presidential candidates too old . FAN (May 15, 2019). Date accessed July 23, 2019.
- ↑ Andrew Higgins and Andrew Roth. Biden Offers Strong Support to Ukraine and Issues a Sharp Rebuke to Russia . New York Times (April 22, 2014). Date accessed July 23, 2019.
- ↑ Justin Peligri. Who is Hunter Biden? (eng.) . CNN (October 18, 2014). Date accessed July 23, 2019.
- ↑ Adam Taylor. Hunter Biden's new job at a Ukrainian gas company is a problem for US soft power . Washington Post (May 14, 2014). Date of treatment July 24, 2019.
- ↑ Tom Llamas, Lucien Bruggeman, Matthew Mosk. Biden sidesteps questions about his son's foreign business dealings but promises ethics pledge . abcnews (June 20, 2019). Date of treatment July 24, 2019.
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 John Solomon. Joe Biden's 2020 Ukrainian nightmare: A closed probe is revived . The Hill (April 1, 2019). Date of treatment July 24, 2019.
- ↑ Having played Shokin, Poroshenko drove himself to a standstill . New Newspaper. Date of treatment July 24, 2019.
- ↑ Foreign Affairs Issue Launch with Former Vice President Joe Biden . Council on Foreign Relations (23 January 2018). Date of treatment July 24, 2019.
- ↑ Kenneth P. Vogel and Iuliia Mendel. Biden Faces Conflict of Interest Questions That Are Being Promoted by Trump and Allies . New York Times (May 1, 2019). Date of treatment July 24, 2019.
- ↑ Robert Hunter Biden . Bloomberg. Date of treatment July 24, 2019.
- ↑ Board of Directors of Burisma Group . burisma-group.com. Date accessed July 23, 2019.