You want to send a package, so you go to Ukrposhta, Ukraine’s national postal service branch, buy a cardboard box to pack it in, and never suspect that the box was most likely made at a factory whose owner, according to Russian tax records, has acquired Russian citizenship.
He conducts business both in Ukraine and in Russia, and, as documents show, in the occupied territories. Although the businessman himself claims that his signatures were forged. And here’s another twist: Back in the day, Viktor Medvedchuk personally saved this cardboard business from Kremlin sanctions by striking a deal with Vladimir Putin.
For more details, check out the new investigation by Slidstvo.Info, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Schemes project, and KibOrg.
The Rubizhne Cardboard and Packaging Mill (RKTK) in Luhansk Oblast was the leader in the market of corrugated packaging producers in Ukraine before the full-scale invasion.
The plant building was erected in the 1980s. Production was launched in 1991, when RKTK was headed by Hennadiy Minin, who previously worked at similar enterprises in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Russia.
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For the past 36 years, Hennadiy Minin has been the driving force behind the successful operation and growth of RKTK and its affiliated companies.
According to the YouControl platform, Minin owns six business entities in Ukraine, most of which are engaged in paper recycling and the production of cardboard packaging.
This includes the Trypillya Packaging Plant in Kyiv Oblast, which, according to the Bi Prozorro analytics module, has signed contracts worth 89 million hryvnias ($2 million) with Ukrposhta for the supply of boxes and crates since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
At the same time, it turned out that this business has another side. Journalists obtained documents indicating that Hennadiy Minin, his relatives, and business partners own enterprises not only in Ukraine but also in Russia and in the occupied Ukrainian territories.
CARDBOARD EMPIRE
At first glance, Hennadiy Minin’s ties to Russia seem obvious. For one, he was born there, and for another, his wife is Russian. But when it comes to his business connections, Minin publicly displays them while simultaneously concealing them on paper.
Journalists noticed a segment in a YouTube video about RKTK, featuring the businessman, in which it was claimed that Rubizhne Cardboard and Packaging Mill became the majority shareholder of the closed joint-stock company Packaging Kuban in Timashevsk, Krasnodar Krai, Russia.
Yet in Hennadiy Minin’s declarations for 2020–2021, there is no mention of Packaging Kuban. However, if you look at the Russian company’s financial reports for those same years, it’s clear that RKTK owns it 100%.
Like the Rubizhne Cardboard and Packaging Mill, Packaging Kuban produces corrugated packaging—but it primarily serves the Russian market and, accordingly, has congratulated its clients on local “major holidays,” such as Russia Day.
In his conversation with the journalist, Hennadiy Minin stated, “Regarding Packaging Kuban—yes, we have such a company, and it is in Russia,” but he did not explain why he failed to declare it while serving as a member of the Sievierodonetsk District Council in Luhansk Oblast.
Later, the businessman’s lawyer sent a written clarification, asserting that neither Hennadiy Minin nor RKTK had ever exercised operational control over the company. The statement also claimed that, since 2022, any possibility of control had been lost “due to Ukraine’s complete severance of relations with the aggressor state.”
If you examine the individuals connected to Packaging Kuban, you find a network of Russian business entities linked to the Rubizhne Cardboard Mill and to Hennadiy Minin’s relatives.
Kirill Minin, a member of the Packaging Kuban board of directors, is the son of Hennadiy Minin. He is also a co-owner of ten Russian companies in Krasnodar Krai and Rostov Oblast, most of which operate in the paper manufacturing, printing, and sales industries.
One of these companies, Papir Grupp, was co-owned by Hennadiy Minin’s wife, Nataliya Minina, until 2017. In another, Papir, the businessman himself received a salary, according to data from KibOrg.
Leaked records from a Russian registration database also reveal that Andrey Nikulin, a Russian national, shared a registered address with Kirill Minin. Nikulin owns five additional companies, primarily engaged in trading cardboard in the Voronezh and Rostov oblasts, as well as recycling paper in Krasnodar Krai.
Nikulin’s connections once again lead back to Ukraine: He owned the Cypriot company Caracun Investments Ltd, which, in turn, co-founded DarPak. This company is now owned by Mariia Kibireva, the daughter of Hennadiy Minin. DarPak manufactures paper products, just as two other companies in which Mariia holds a stake do.
MEDVEDCHUK TO THE RESCUE
Hennadiy Minin is not just a businessman but also a politician who ran for office with pro-Russian parties.
In October 2014, he stated, “Rushing headlong toward Europe without considering the mindsets and perspectives of the people, without giving them time to adjust—simply forcing the issue—I believe that is unwise.”
Minin was elected to the Luhansk Oblast Council from the Party of Regions in 2010, and to the Sievierodonetsk District Council from the now-banned Opposition Platform — For Life (OPFL) in 2020. At first glance, this might seem like local governance rather than politics. But not every district council member had Viktor Medvedchuk, the head of OPFL’s political council, personally intervene with Vladimir Putin to lift Russian sanctions imposed on them.
In October 2020, Putin met with Medvedchuk. According to the transcript of their conversation, the OPFL leader asked Putin to remove sanctions from certain Ukrainian companies, arguing that these restrictions had forced “dozens of businesses across Ukraine to shut down.”
Eight days later, Putin agreed. The Russian economic restrictions on three Ukrainian companies were lifted—one of them being Hennadiy Minin’s Rubizhne Cardboard and Packaging Mill.
The removal of sanctions allowed the company to continue supplying paper products from Ukraine to Russia. According to the international trade database ImportGenius, between 2020 and 2021, RKTK exported cardboard to Russia worth nearly 7.5 million hryvnias ($276,500).
RUSSIAN PASSPORT
According to information provided by the KibOrg project, Hennadiy Minin and his wife, Nataliya, hold Russian citizenship. This is confirmed by passport verification results on the Russian tax authority’s website. Journalists further verified this by cross-referencing the passport details with the official registry of Russia’s Federal Tax Service, where they located the Minins’ individual tax identification numbers.
In response to the investigators, the businessman denied the allegations: “I am not a citizen of the Russian Federation; I am a citizen of Ukraine.” His lawyer provided further clarification, acknowledging that a Russian tax identification number was indeed assigned but insisting: “No Russian passport documents were ever obtained by the client, as he neither holds Russian citizenship nor is eligible for it.”
However, evidence suggests that Hennadiy Minin possesses not only a Russian tax ID but also Russian citizenship. This is supported by verification results of the passport number linked to his tax ID on Russia’s Gosuslugi portal—a government website that provides access to state and municipal services for individuals and legal entities. According to Gosuslugi, the passport remains valid.
CLONE COMPANIES
In March 2022, following the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion and during heavy fighting in Luhansk Oblast, the Rubizhne Cardboard and Packaging Mill suffered significant damage.
By January 2023, under Russian occupation, the Luhansk regional administration reported that the occupation authorities were removing equipment from the plant. After Vladimir Putin’s illegal annexation of the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, Hennadiy Minin’s enterprises—RKTK and Donmakr—were re-registered in accordance with Russian law.
In the fall of 2022, clone companies for RKTK and Donmakr appeared in Russia’s legal entity registry—businesses registered under the same names as their Ukrainian counterparts.
While the Russian registry does not list the founders of the Rubezhoye Cardboard and Packaging Mill, it does identify Hennadiy Mykhailovych Minin as its director.
The co-owners of the Russian Donmakr include the Russian clone RKTK and two entrepreneurs, Aleksandr Babash and Anton Voronin. These individuals are business partners of Hennadiy Minin in the Ukrainian cardboard industry.
Could these clone companies have appeared in the Russian registry automatically or without the knowledge of Hennadiy Minin and his partners? It is possible to assume so. However, journalists’ sources within the Russian tax authorities have obtained documents that suggest otherwise.
One of the documents is an agreement for maintaining a register of securities holders between the Russian RKTK and the company Southern Regional Registrar. Dated November 15, 2024, the last page features the stamp of RKTK marked with “LNR” and a signature next to Minin’s name.
Another document is the charter of the Russian RKTK, also dated November 15, 2024. On the last page, the same RKTK stamp is marked with “LNR,” and again, a signature next to Minin’s name.
The third document pertains to the company Donmakr: it is the minutes of a meeting held on May 18, 2023. The header references the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic, and among the agenda items is the consideration of aligning the company’s documents with Russian legislation. Hennadiy Minin is listed as the representative of the co-founder, RKTK, and as the meeting secretary. Once again, the last page features a signature next to Minin’s name.
And all these signatures resemble those found on the archived versions of the Ukrainian RKTK and Trypillya Packaging Plant websites.
In a written response from Hennadiy Minin, sent by his lawyer, the businessman states that he did not sign the documents for the Russian clone companies.
“My client has never seen or signed the specified documents, and the appearance of his signature was produced either by the use of a facsimile (a stamp with the signature image -ed.) or by overlaying an electronic image of the signature, as evidenced by their complete identicality. (…) Furthermore, the existence of these document images may indicate unlawful activities by third parties aimed at seizing the assets of PJSC RKTK remaining in Rubizhne, Luhansk Oblast, or intended to cause other damages, including reputational harm, to my client. (…) Upon receiving the documents containing images that mimic my client’s signature, PJSC RKTK contacted law enforcement authorities to investigate the circumstances that may indicate unlawful actions directed against my client and PJSC RKTK,” the lawyer’s letter states.
Thus, it appears that businessman Hennadiy Minin, along with his relatives and business partners, owns dozens of paper processing and corrugated packaging manufacturing companies in Ukraine and Russia. In 2020, the largest of these, RKTK, was shielded from Russian sanctions by Viktor Medvedchuk, who is currently accused of treason.
Following the full-scale invasion and occupation of the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, Minin’s enterprises were re-registered according to Russian law. The businessman’s signatures on the clone companies’ documents closely resemble those on Ukrainian companies’ documents, but his lawyer insists they are imitations. Additionally, according to the Russian tax authorities and the Gosuslugi portal, Hennadiy Minin holds Russian citizenship.
