Pipe Of Oligarch Varabei, Close To Lukashenka, Bombed In Ukraine

There was $10 million worth of diesel.

As Nasha Niva has learnt, the Prykarpat-ZakhadTrans oil pipeline, which Ukraine was to take away from the Belarusian multimillionaire Mikalai Varabei under the decision of the Ukrainian National Security Council, was damaged at the very start of the war in Ukraine.

The pipeline was to be transferred to Ukrtransnafta with a view to its further sale or management. However, the Ukrainians could not use the property.

"There was approximately $10 million worth of diesel left in the pipeline belonging to Varabei. It is believed that the damage to the pipe affected this amount. However, it is highly doubtful that he would have been able to take anything anyway - Ukraine has arrested and nationalised Varabei's gas carriers," a well-informed source told Nasha Niva.

Varabei started controlling the pipeline in Ukraine after a deal in 2019, when his oilbitumen plant bought 51% in the share capital of Prykarpat-ZakhadTrans.

Varabei is a native of Ukraine and comes from circles that centered around Naftan in the 1990s.

The nature of his connections in Ukraine is unclear. He is sometimes described as almost related to "Putin's fellow sponsor" Viktor Medvedchuk.

It is believed that Medvedchuk sold the Prykarpat-ZakhadTrans pipeline to Varabei to divert attention.

Varabei's main business is wholesale of Russian oil products on the Belarusian market and their export abroad.

Varabei, like Aleksin, has been associated with the "additives" and "solvents" scandal. These people are very close and have common assets. For example, they own the so called "Orshor", a preferential economic zone near Vorsha, together.

Aliaksandr Lukashenka personally decides who has the right to run the highly profitable oil business in Belarus. Varabei was granted such a right.

Before the war, Ukraine was the main market for Belarusian oil products. After the outbreak of the war, supplies to Ukraine ceased.