Ukrainian hotels of the Premier brand continue their work and fulfill their obligations to partners and guests in full, the press service of the Financiere group of companies (formerly Premier Hotels and Resorts) told Interfax-Ukraine.

"Shareholders of Ukrainian hotels operating under the Premier brand are defending their rights and property in the courts to lift restrictions based on dubious grounds and unconfirmed data," the group said, commenting on media reports about the seizure of hotels.

The company recalled that earlier the court had already canceled the decision to seize property on the basis of the lack of evidence of any affiliation or ties of hotels with Russian citizens or companies associated with the Russian Federation, and the bias of the investigation.

"Since previously refuted accusations are again directed at the European shareholders of Premier hotels, it is worth recalling that on September 12, 2022, by a ruling of the Lviv Court of Appeal, a decision of an investigating judge to seize the property of the Premier Hotel Lybid and Premier Hotel Dnister was canceled and the prosecutor's office's petition was denied," the press office notes.

The group emphasizes that the shareholders of the Palace Hotel Kyiv, Premier Hotel Lybid, Premier Hotel Dnister and Premier Hotel Odesa are EU citizens, which is confirmed by data from official registers. The hotels are owned by the international group Financiere.

At the same time, the shareholders of the group publicly and unconditionally condemn the military aggression of the Russian Federation that began in 2014. The total assistance of the Financiere group to the territorial defense forces, temporarily displaced persons, hospitals and doctors since February 24, 2022 is more than UAH 60 million.

Earlier on December 14, Radio Liberty's Schemes project reported that it had a copy of the court decision, according to which the Pechersky District Court granted the request of the Prosecutor General's Office and seized seven Premier brand hotels, including facilities in Kyiv, Lviv, Odesa and Oleksandria.

According to the project, such decision was made as part of a pretrial investigation by the State Bureau of Investigations (SBI) in the case of embezzlement of property and the commission by the criminal organization Luzhniki, represented by the financial and industrial group VS Energy, of deliberate actions aimed at changing the boundaries of the territory and state borders of Ukraine. According to investigators, the VS Energy group is controlled by Russian citizens close to the Kremlin Alexander Babakov, Evgeny Giner and Mikhail Voevodin.