The court in the Sverdlovsk region upheld the claim of the Prosecutor General's Office for the transfer of three metallurgical plants to the state

The court satisfied the claim of the Prosecutor General's Office for the transfer to the state of shares of three plants of the industrial group ChEMK. Information about this appeared in the file of arbitration cases, Interfax drew attention.

The Arbitration Court of the Sverdlovsk Region considered the claim behind closed doors. Kommersant previously learned the details of this case: according to the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Chelyabinsk Electrometallurgical Plant, as well as the Serov and Kuznetsk ferroalloy plants were “illegally privatized” in 1993–1999.

In February, the court arrested the shares of the Etalon Company, which owned the assets of ChEMK, belonging to Yuri and Lyudmila Antipov. The prosecutor's office emphasized that the ferroalloys produced by the group are used in the production of high-quality steel for military equipment, projectiles and aircraft engines.

In 2023, Yuriy Antipov, according to the prosecutor’s office, registered the assets with Etalon, after which the plants, “of strategic importance for ensuring the defense and security of the country,” came “under the control of residents of unfriendly states,” including the Canadian-Swiss company RFA International.

Under the control of this supplier, according to the department, alloys “to the detriment of national interests” were exported at a reduced price to the USA, France and the UK, which “have an aggressive policy” towards Russia and send weapons to Ukraine.

Representatives of the defendant noted that ChEMK is not part of the military-industrial complex, but only supplies alloys to enterprises, which, in turn, send them to defense factories.

Previously, the courts granted claims for the return to state ownership of the companies Volzhsky Orgsintez, Metafrax Chemicals and other large plants. The reason for this was also “illegal privatization.” In February, the Prosecutor General's Office demanded that one of the largest machine tool manufacturing enterprises, the Ivanovo Heavy Machine Tool Plant (IZTS), be transferred to the state.