Director of Ukrainian Nemo dolphinarium convicted of collaboration with Russians

The Prymorskyi District Court of Odesa has convicted Anatolii Solontsov, the director of the Ukrainian Nemo dolphinarium, of collaboration with the Russians.

Source: Solontsov pleaded guilty, according to the verdict published on 11 October 

Details: Solontsov is the CEO of Nerum, an Odesa limited liability corporation which has owned the Nemo chain of dolphinariums since 2015.

In 2014, the business opened a dolphinarium in Russia. Solotsonov was appointed as its director.

Since the start of the full-scale Russian invasion, from February 2022 until 17 January 2023, Solontsov ran his entertainment and hotel business in collaboration with the Russian Federation and the unlawful authorities in occupied Crimea.

There are Nemo dolphinariums in two cities on the peninsula: Alushta and Feodosiia.

From 2022 onwards, Solontsov’s businesses in Crimea and Russia paid taxes to the Russian state treasury and offered a 50% discount to Russian soldiers.

In addition, Solontsov signed rental agreements for marine mammals with a Russian company, Felisistas, on behalf of the Nemo Dolphinarium, and animal sales contracts as the director of Nerum. Essentially, Solontsov sold the animals to Russia.

In January 2023, he resigned as CEO of the Nemo Dolphinarium. The position was taken by a Russian citizen who is a confidant of Solontsov.

The defendant and his lawyer reached an arrangement with the prosecutor to plead guilty.

Solontsov was fined UAH 170,000 (about US$4,000) with confiscation of assets. He was also barred from holding positions in state or local governments for ten years.

One mitigating factor was that Solontsov "expressed sincere remorse and actively cooperated in the investigation of the crime".

Background: A previous investigation showed that the Nemo dolphinarium is linked to Russia's ruling party, United Russia, and may have branches in the country.

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