Lukoil is denying accusations about the illegal activities of its subsidiaries on the territory of Ukraine, the director of the company's press service, Vitaly Matushkin, told journalists.

"In connection with the information that appeared on the official website of the main investigative department of the Ukrainian Security Service about the investigation being conducted with regard to a number of companies operating on the territory of Ukraine, Lukoil categorically denies the accusations of illegal actions on the part of Lukoil's subsidiaries," he said.

"Lukoil is conducting its activities with no changes, following the law. All supplies on the territory of Ukraine were carried out and are being carried out in strict compliance with international laws and Ukrainian legislation," Matushkin said.

Earlier the Ukrainian Security Service said that enterprises belonging to the group of companies of Lukoil and VETEK grossly violated the requirements of existing legislation on the import of petroleum products and their subsequent sale on the territory of Ukraine and the use of the money from the sales for financing the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics.

Advisor to the Ukrainian Security Service's head, Markiyan Lubkivsky, wrote on social networks that "Investigators have found that in 2013 and 2014 top officials from LUKOIL have arranged smuggling through sea terminals in Feodosia, Kherson, Izmail, Mykolaiv and Odesa and through the checkpoints on our western border and across the border with Belarus in contravention of customs control procedures, through the use of controlled economic entities (OAO LUKOIL, LUKOIL-Ukraine, Odesa oil refinery, the First Fuel Company, etc.) leading to the sale of over 2 million tonnes (!) of petroleum products worth about $2 billion."

He said that illegally acquired revenue under the cover of fictitious contracts was transferred to the accounts of the controlled enterprises. Later, the illegally obtained funds were sent towards financing the DPR and LPR.

The Main Investigative Department of the Ukrainian Security Service has opened criminal proceeding into the incident under Article 209 (legalization (laundering) of illegally obtained funds) and Article 258-5 (financing of terrorism) of the Ukrainian Criminal Code.