Ladies and gentlemen, esteemed participants, first of all, I would like to thank you for invintation to attend this online meeting. It is an honor to be here and participate as a speaker.

For ARMA, it is symbolic that Malta chairs the Economic and Environmental Committee of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. Asset Recovery Bureau of Malta is the first agency with which ARMA has signed a Memorandum of Partnership and Cooperation. This agreement will provide a basis and a sustainable platform for further initiatives and will strengthen interaction and cooperation between Ukrainian and Maltese entities.

As of today, ARMA is the only public authority in Ukraine modeled on similar institutions in EU member states.

It stands as a fully independent operational institution that has no analogues in the system of public authorities in Ukraine in terms of content, scope of functions and

legal status.

ARMA is a key element of Ukraine's anti-corruption architecture, as one of our main tasks is to manage and sell assets derived from corruption. Our work is especially important in the context of russian aggression.

ARMA plays a major role in ensuring compliance with international sanctions imposed on individuals and organisations linked to the russian federation. By the initiative of ARMA in February 2024 Medvedchuk and his associates were proposed for inclusion in the EU's 14th Sanctions List.

I assumed the role of the Head of ARMA on June 30, 2023.

In this short time, our new team has managed to achieve significant results, including opening public access to the State Register of Seized Assets.

ARMA combines the following functions:

ARMA's functions include finding, tracing and management of assets. Please find more information on the slide.

2023 was a record year for the number of asset tracing requests received by the Agency.

We have received almost 13,000 requests, which is almost 40% more than in the previous year, when there were 7,960 such requests.

This demonstrates the growing effectiveness and credibility of ARMA at the national and international levels.

In February, ARMA representatives took part in a meeting of the Europol Oscar Working Group at Europol Headquarters (The Hague) together with EU Member States, Eurojust and Frontex to support financial investigations by EU Member States of criminal assets of persons under sanctions related to the russian invasion to Ukraine.

As I mentioned ARMA opening public access to the Unified State Register of Assets Seized in Criminal Proceedings. Law enforcement agencies had doubts about opening the register, explaining that it was impossible to provide full information about assets during martial law. But my team and I have always been in favour of openness and transparency, so public access to the registry was opened.

ARMA's unique character as a state agency lies in its unbroken chain of authority: from identification and tracing to management and sale of seized assets.

At the moment, ARMA has been given control of unified property complexes, enterprises of the production, processing and food industries, social facilities, agricultural machinery, special transport, water transport, etc.

To date, 68,500 of the more than 244,000 records of seized assets in all criminal proceedings, 68,500 have been transferred to ARMA's management. Of these, 1,064 are assets in which 100% of the rights belong to Russian citizens. The assets include corporate rights owned by Russian citizens are less than 100 per cent or less than 50 percent, are more than three thousand. Among the latest such assets of ARMA transferred to management - 100% of the corporate rights of Aerok LLC, PrJSC "VinnytsiaPobutkhim, Morshynska, Myrhorodska and Borjomi, Vinnytsiy Aviation Plant, and Motor Sich and others.

ARMA is the only central executive body in Ukraine that buys military bonds. 

Therefore, it is the only state body that strengthens the country's defence capability by means of seized assets of russian origin.

For today the Agency purchased government bonds "Military Bonds" worth almost UAH 3.7 billion. (USD 100 millions) Among them UAH 1.8 billion is the money of a sanctioned person that ARMA found in a commercial bank and returned to the state budget.

In 2024, we plan to continue to finance the budget expenditures necessary for the needs of the Ukrainian Defence Forces by buying military bonds and develop new effective solutions.

In 2023 ARMA became a member of the European Partners Against Corruption Network (EPAC/EACN) and was granted a member of the Supervisory Board of the Balkan Asset Management Interagency Network (BAMIN).

In November, at the initiative of ARMA, the Government improved the procedure for selling seized assets and introduced the possibility of selling them abroad.

The first case of sale of seized property abroad in the history of Ukraine and in the practice of ARMA was the luxury 92-meter yacht Royal Romance, which was purchased by state traitor Viktor Medvedchuk in 2015. ARMA tracked down the vessel in Croatia. The vessel was arrested by Ukrainian and Croatian courts and transferred to ARMA for further sale.

In February, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the sale of the Royal Romance, and authorized ARMA staff conducted a due diligence inspection.

In March 2024, ARMA announced a competitive selection of asset sellers. It is worth to note that ARMA does not conduct the sale of the yacht, ARMA selects an auction organizer on a competitive basis, who, after signing the contract, organizes an auction for the sale of the yacht ROYAL ROMANCE. On April 23, 2024, the winner of this competitive selection will be announced.

However, Royal Romance is not just about money. Whoever buys this yacht will go down in world history. Medvedchuk will be punished, and Putin will be punished. And the more expensive the asset is sold, the more the new owner will help Ukraine and the world.

We would like to take this opportunity to ask our foreign colleagues and partners to follow the process of selling the yacht.

The National Agency not only makes every effort to continue its effective work, but also cares about openness, transparency, and accountability, so for the first time since its establishment, ARMA held a public presentation of its annual report for 2023 on March 26, 2024.

We will send you this brief report after our meeting.

But the numbers will speak more clearly about the results of the agency's activities. The slide shows the state budget revenues for previous years and only for the first quarter of 2024. According to our predictions, the budget revenues for 2024 will already reach hundreds of millions of dollars. 

Every fact in my presentation is the result of hard work and mutual successes that have been made possible by our full commitment.

We strive to be transparent and open so that everyone can see the real results of our activities.

Thank you for the opportunity and time provided to present the Agency's activities! We will continue our work, seeking justice and recovering what was taken!