Poland’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Administration has added the Polish company WREX sp. z o.o. to the national sanctions list for its role in supplying methanol to the Russian chemical producer JSC Shchekinoazot, according to an official decision signed on 2 November 2026.
The Company and Its Origins
WREX sp. z o.o., registered in Hornówek near Warsaw on 14 June 2023, has a share capital of 50,000 złoty. Its president of the board, majority shareholder (90% of shares) and beneficial owner is Polish citizen Piotr Wilman, born 20 November 1978. The second board member and beneficial owner is Artur Wilman, who holds 10% of shares.
According to the Polish Internal Security Agency (ABW), Wilman has also served since 2020 as a proxy and sales director of Nitro Chemical sp. z o.o., a Wrocław-based company that was sanctioned by Poland on 29 May 2023 along with its owner, Russian citizen Oleg Fedorchenko.
The ABW stated that WREX, registered by Wilman just over two weeks after Nitro Chemical was sanctioned, “conducts activity in the field of trading chemical products from Russia, which was carried out by Nitro Chemical until it was subject to sanctions.”
The Methanol Contracts
According to documents submitted by Nitro Chemical in its appeal against the 2023 sanctions decision, Piotr Wilman — acting as a proxy for Nitro Chemical — together with board member Vera Kulichkova, signed two contracts with JSC Shchekinoazot for the supply of methanol with a combined value of €1,643,973,000:
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Contract No. 643/05761695/3536 of 27 October 2021 — worth €945,000,000
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Contract No. 643/05761695/3596 of 24 February 2022 — the day Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine — worth €698,973,000
The Polish decision cites these contracts as evidence of Wilman’s direct involvement in the methanol trade with the Russian company.
Why Shchekinoazot Matters
JSC Shchekinoazot (TIN 7118004789), based in Shchekino in Russia’s Tula Region, has operated in the chemical industry since 1955 and employs over 4,000 people. It produces methanol, caprolactam, cyclohexane, formaldehyde, sulfuric acid, ammonia, urea and other industrial chemicals.
According to open-source information cited in the Polish decision, methanol produced at Shchekinoazot is used by the Russian military to produce rocket fuel and fuel additives for aviation and drones, to power fuel cells for portable radios and reconnaissance equipment, and in the synthesis and processing of explosives, including as a chemical reagent and solvent in the production of hexogen, octogen and plastic explosives.
The Polish authorities concluded that Shchekinoazot “supports this aggression not only indirectly (through public-law levies to the Russian Federation), but above all directly, supplying the Russian armed forces with economic resources (mainly methanol) enabling the conduct of aggression against Ukraine.”
The company has been under Ukrainian sanctions since 31 January 2023.
The Sanctions Imposed
Under the decision, WREX is subject to:
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A full freeze of financial funds and economic resources within the meaning of EU Regulation 269/2014
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A ban on making funds or economic resources available to the company, directly or indirectly
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A ban on knowingly and deliberately participating in activities aimed at circumventing these measures
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Exclusion from public procurement procedures under Poland’s Public Procurement Law
Poland’s Interior Ministry stated that the sanctions will contribute to reducing WREX’s revenues and those of entities benefiting from its activities, and thus “indirectly contribute to reducing the budget revenues of the Russian Federation, from which the Russian aggression against Ukraine is financed.”
Legal Challenges Failed
The decision notes that Nitro Chemical, Oleg Fedorchenko and Vera Kulichkova all challenged their own sanctions listings before the Provincial Administrative Court in Warsaw — and lost in every instance. The court ruled in April 2024, May 2024 and December 2025 respectively, and the Supreme Administrative Court dismissed Kulichkova’s final appeal on 11 September 2026.
In its reasoning, the Warsaw court stated that Nitro Chemical, by concluding new contracts with Shchekinoazot, “generated profits for it, and thus revenues for the budget of the Russian Federation, which could then be used for the needs of military operations conducted against Ukraine.”
Shchekinoazot’s Russian Operations
According to the Russian company’s own reporting, Shchekinoazot’s founder is the Cypriot company PAROTEX INVESTMENTS LIMITED, while the company states that its ultimate beneficiary is a Russian citizen whose name it does not disclose.
In 2025, the company commissioned a new ammonia production complex with a capacity of 525,000 tonnes per year and a urea unit with a capacity of 700,000 tonnes per year. The project cost 58 billion rubles.
