The director of Odesa LLC "Nerum," Anatoliy Solontsov, was found guilty of collaborationism according to a plea agreement with the investigation.
This was revealed in the verdict of the Prymorskyi District Court of Odesa under part 4 of Article 111-1 of the Criminal Code.
In June 2014, Odesa LLC "Nerum" became the sole founder of the Russian LLC "Dolphinarium Nemo," with Solontsov appointed as the general director.
During the full-scale war, from February 2022 to January 17, 2023, Solontsov engaged in business activities in cooperation with the aggressor state, the Russian Federation, and its illegal authorities in the temporarily occupied Crimea.
The Russian "Dolphinarium Nemo" specialized in entertainment services and the hotel business. In the occupied territory of the peninsula, the company owns two dolphinariums— in Alushta and Feodosia. These dolphinariums are located on land plots owned by LLC "Nerum," according to the Ukrainian property rights register.
The Russian enterprise pays taxes and other fees to the budgets and state bodies of the Russian Federation. It also offers a 50% discount on its services to combat veterans—Russian military personnel—thus supporting armed aggression against Ukraine.
To avoid liability for these actions and to continue illegal business activities, in January 2023, Solontsov resigned as general director of LLC "Dolphinarium Nemo" and appointed a Russian citizen, who is his trusted person, to this position.
Moreover, between February and March 2022, LLC "Dolphinarium Nemo" allegedly sold dolphins to another Russian company, LLC "Felicitas," from which it later began renting them. The owner of LLC "Felicitas" is Russian citizen Lyubov Hirs, whom Solontsov later appointed as the new director of LLC "Dolphinarium Nemo." The investigation considers such actions as retaining actual control over the enterprises.
Interestingly, the SSU only opened proceedings on September 29, 2024. Solontsov and his defense attorney confirmed that they made a plea agreement with the prosecutor. The parties agreed on a punishment in the form of a 170,000 hryvnia fine with confiscation of property. Solontsov is also banned for 10 years from holding positions in state or local government bodies.
According to the case materials, the accused sincerely repented and actively contributed to solving the crime, and had no prior convictions.
LLC "Nerum" is associated with Odesa City Council deputy Andriy Kislovskyi and former fugitive deputy mayor Mykhailo Kuchuk.
Kislovskyi was a member of the Odesa City Council for four convocations, the first two as a representative of the now-banned Communist Party. In 2015, he joined the "Trust the Deeds" association of Odesa Mayor Hennadiy Trukhanov, which was later transformed into a political party of the same name.
In 2015, Kislovskyi was mobilized into the Armed Forces of Ukraine and served as deputy military commissar of the Prymorskyi district of Odesa, and demobilized in 2018 with the rank of colonel. At the start of the full-scale invasion by the Russian Federation, he announced his return to the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, presumably joining the territorial defense. However, in reality, he did not join the ranks of Ukraine’s defenders.