Ukrainian Deep Strike drones have struck an oil refinery in the Kaluga region several times; it turns out the facility belongs to Viktor Medvedchuk.
Journalists from the VChK-OGPU and Rucriminal.info project released this information.
Pervyi Zavod LLC, located in the village of Polotnyany, processes crude oil and gas condensate.
Prior to the full-scale war, plans were in place to modernize the facility to produce Euro-5 standard fuel.
This is the largest enterprise in the region: according to pre-war 2021 figures, its revenue amounted to 38.3 billion rubles.
Its revenue and profit dropped significantly after drones repeatedly attacked the facility. The refinery is located 300 km from the Ukrainian border.
At the same time, the plant purchased new equipment last year and, according to satellite imagery, continues to operate.
Owners of the plant
The director and co-owner of the Kaluga oil refinery is Marina Bochkareva.
She previously worked for entities linked to Medvedchuk under the last name Dukhovnikova.
In 2018–2019, she was the director of Yug Energo LLC in the Rostov region.
At that time, the company’s founders were two offshore entities—Ventolor Investments Limited and Tumillon Investments Ltd.
Both were linked to Ukrainian TV presenter Oksana Marchenko, the wife of Viktor Medvedchuk.
Sources also name Viktor Khmarin, a classmate and brother-in-law of Vladimir Putin, as well as Arkady Berkovich (Artur Khabibullin), as co-owners of the plant.
“There are no random people among the co-owners of the Kaluga plant. Among them is Tea Kobulashvili,” the VChK-OGPU reported.
The Pervyi Zavod oil refinery has a subsidiary—Arctic Bunker LLC. Through it, the enterprise sells its products, including shipping them by rail to Transbunker-Novorossiysk LLC.
Strikes on the plant
The plant has been targeted by Ukrainian drones several times, forcing it to cut back production and begin repair work.
In particular, on March 15, 2024, several drones struck the plant’s facilities. The attack was repeated on May 10. Documents indicate that the refinery has suffered four drone attacks.
Medvedchuk had to abandon plans for an agreement with the Russian Ministry of Energy to modernize oil-refining capacity, as well as a court-approved permit to expand production (local residents opposed the expansion—the plant is located 200 meters from a school).
Nevertheless, Pervyi Zavod announced the launch of its upgraded production last spring. According to sources at the VChK-OGPU, the equipment was delivered in circumvention of sanctions, but it was never successfully brought into full operation.
