The Knauf group, presented as the world leader in the production of plasterboard, and the company WKB Systems, which produces cellular concrete, supply materials for these sites, according to this investigation by Monitor magazine scheduled for Thursday evening on the channel public television ARD.
The magazine says it has analyzed numerous images of construction sites where Knauf logos appear and detailed activity reports, attesting to the manufacturer’s activity in this large port city located in eastern Ukraine, a target of Russian forces. from the first day of the invasion on February 24, 2022 and fell under their control after more than two months of siege, at the cost of tens of thousands of deaths and almost total destruction.
A Bavarian group with a strong presence in Russia
The magazine also cites “an official Knauf distributor who is promoting a residential building project in Mariupol, built with Knauf products on behalf of the Russian Defense Ministry.”
Products from the company WKB Systems, whose main shareholder is Russian businessman Viktor Budarin, were also identified at the Mariupol construction sites, according to the magazine. In a statement sent to AFP, the Knauf group said it “respects all sanctions from the EU, Great Britain and the United States against Russia.”
The Bavarian group, very present in Russia with 14 production sites and 4,000 employees, explains that it has “decided to remain on the Russian market until further notice”, citing “its responsibility” towards its local employees.
“Any company that participates in it must ask itself who it is serving”
Many Western companies, including large German groups, ceased, sometimes sold, their activities in Russia after the invasion of Ukraine. Since the conquest of Mariupol, Russia has presented a plan for the reconstruction of the city which had more than 400,000 inhabitants before the military offensive.
This “so-called ‘reconstruction’ only serves Russian propaganda,” the German Foreign Ministry told AFP when asked about the alleged participation of German companies in construction sites.
“Any company that participates in it must ask itself who it is serving,” added the ministry. The German Ministry of Economy told AFP that “the competent investigative authorities (customs judicial police, public prosecutor’s office) must quickly clarify the facts and determine whether there has been a violation of sanctions.”