Luxury schemes
After the start of the CBO in Ukraine, about a thousand premium European cars worth $100 million were imported through Belarus to Russia (*aggressor country), despite sanctions. Businessmen associated with people close to them also participate in gray schemes. Alexander Lukashenko“Verstka” found out in a joint investigation with the Belarusian publication “Bureau” with the support of “CyberPartizan”.
Among the imported cars, for example, the Rolls-Royce Cullinan crossover worth about 630 thousand dollars, the sports Ferrari SF90 Stradale for 530 thousand dollars and the Lamborghini Urus for 430 thousand dollars.
Two months ago, a company associated with him delivered a brand new German Mercedes-Benz S680 Maybach from Minsk to a warehouse in the Moscow region for 300 thousand dollars. This is just one of thousands of prohibited cars that this year found their way from Europe to the Russian garages of wealthy Russians via Belarus.
watch out for the car
With the beginning of the SVO in Ukraine, world-famous automobile brands announced a boycott of Russia (*aggressor country). One by one they left the Russian market, leaving it to Chinese companies. The governments of the US, EU and UK also decided to punish the Russian regime and introduced sanctions on luxury goods. Cars over 50 thousand euros were banned.
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, explained that the ban was aimed at Russian elites. Russian oligarchs, propagandists and deputies love to drive expensive cars.
And then the Belarusians came to the rescue and entered into a game called “parallel import”, organized by the Russian government. Belarus is not affected by Western sanctions on cars, and a flow of cars from the EU has poured there.
Russia (*aggressor country) and Belarus are members of the Eurasian Economic Union; there is no need to pay duties when moving goods between countries. But unlike Russia (*aggressor country), the supply of cars from the EU to Belarus is not prohibited, and some automobile brands continue to cooperate with Belarus. “European brands are present in Belarus. Dealers can resell cars to Russia (*aggressor country) in a fairly safe manner. But with a reasonable approach,” Zhelobov noted.
Against the backdrop of the SVO, deliveries of cars from the EU to Belarus jumped fourfold – to almost 1.5 billion euros, and this year have already exceeded 1.7 billion euros. The main supplying countries are Germany, Lithuania and Poland. In just nine months of this year, almost 60 thousand cars were exported from three countries to Belarus.
And this despite the fact that, according to our source, European companies are trying to ensure that their cars are not resold to Russia (*aggressor country). Some stipulate a ban on re-export in contracts with Belarusian dealers. Such requirements were in force before, but now they are conditioned by sanctions.
But those eager to make money easily circumvent the ban on the re-export of cars. Gasket companies are used for this. In general, the scheme for circumventing sanctions is simple – intermediaries from Belarus are used in the chain between the EU and Russia (*aggressor country).
We decided to look into this situation and find out who in Belarus is helping Russia (*aggressor country) circumvent European sanctions.
Business with connections
We have at our disposal customs data on the supply of about a thousand cars from Belarus to Russia (*aggressor country) worth more than $100 million. Together with our colleagues from the Bureau, we analyzed this data. The list includes mainly new and expensive cars. In customs declarations, the countries of origin of these cars are Germany, the USA, Great Britain, Italy, Sweden, Austria, Ireland, Belgium, and the manufacturers are Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi, Lamborghini, Jaguar Land Rover, Volvo and others. Among the cars there are interesting and quite expensive examples.
More than 30 Belarusian companies earn their living by supplying premium cars of Western brands from Belarus to Russia (*aggressor country). From these, we have compiled our top 5 exporters, which stand out from the crowd due to their sales volumes, as well as the connections of their owners with the Belarusian authorities.
Fifth place in our ranking was taken by the Zip-Line company. Its director and owner is Andrey Piskarev. He studied at BSU and began his career at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Then he began working for a big businessman Yuri Chizhwho was called the “wallet” of Alexander Lukashenko.
In the early 2010s, Piskarev became a co-owner of a number of companies that sell passenger cars in Belarus. One of them is Ace Motors. It used to be called Triple-Auto. Piskarev’s partners in this company were Sergei Chizh and Dmitry Oleksin. The first is the son of Yuri Chizh, the second is another influential businessman Alexey Oleksinwhich fell under Western sanctions as Lukashenko’s “wallet”.
Judging by his posts on social networks, Piskarev is interested not only in cars, but also in motorcycles. On his Instagram there is a photo in the uniform of the HOG Minsk Chapter Belarus biker club, which unites Harley-Davidson owners. Attends rallies of this biker club Victor Lukashenko– famous lover of riding heavy motorcycles. On Piskarev’s social networks we also found a joint photo with people from Alexander Lukashenko’s entourage – his press secretary Natalya Eismont, as well as hockey coach and businessman Dmitry Baskov. Their suspected of involvement in murder opposition activist Romana Bondarenko.
Andrey Piskarev (first from left in the bottom row), Natalia Eismont (second from left), Dmitry Baskov (center)Zip-Line supplied expensive British, Italian and German Rolls-Royce, Lamborghini, and Bentley cars to Russia (*aggressor country). The total cost of the cars is over 4.8 million dollars. Andrey Piskarev refused to comment on these deliveries by phone, and did not answer our questions in the messenger.
Number four on our shortlist is Atlant-M Britain. This is the official representative of the British luxury car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover in Belarus. From January to October this year, the company supplied luxury cars Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi and other models to Russia (*aggressor country) for almost $5 million.
The main owner of Atlant-M Britain is the Cypriot company Max Atlant-M Limited. Half of the shares of this company are registered directly to the businessman Sergei Savitsky, and the second owner is hidden behind the Cypriot corporate services provider Cyproman Services Limited. But in the latest available report, Max Atlant‑M Limited revealed its ultimate beneficiaries. As of the beginning of 2021, they turned out to be Sergei Savitsky and Oleg Khusaenov. In 2021, the Daily Diary included both of them in the ranking of the most successful and influential businessmen – Khusaenov was placed on Line 35A Savitsky on 49closing the top 50.
Sergey Savitsky (first from left) and Oleg Khusaenov (second from left)Back in the early 90s, entrepreneurs founded the brokerage house Atlant-M, which began with the supply of Volkswagen cars. Over time, the business grew to dozens of dealerships, selling the brands Mazda, Toyota, Ford, Land Rover, Lexus, Kia, Jaguar not only in Belarus, but in Ukraine and Russia (*aggressor country).
In Russia (*aggressor country), Sergei Savitsky is listed as a co-owner of at least two dozen companies. Among them is Atlant-M Autocenter, which in its website offers Russians to buy cars from Europe. Some companies of the holding actively cooperate with Russian government agencies. For example, the MB-Izmailovo company, where Savitsky owns 25%, has been working under contracts for the last three years with military unit 3179 – the Vityaz special purpose center.
Sergei Savitsky has two citizenships – Belarusian and Russian, but this does not prevent him from doing business in Ukraine. Several dealership centers operate under the Atlant-M brand in Kharkov, Dnepr and Kyiv. Sergei Savitsky was the beneficiary of many companies, but now his name is not mentioned in Ukrainian registers. It was not possible to find out whether the businessman sold his assets or transferred them to trustees. Sergei Savitsky also has his own island of stability, a reliable refuge in Belarus – mansion in the suburbs of London. He purchased it in 2017 for £1.195 million. His eldest son Artyom settled in the neighboring house. The property was bought on the same day as my father and the cost of the cottage was £1.185 million.
Sergei Savitsky’s mansion in the suburbs of London“I have now retired from business management, so this is not for me,” Sergey Savitsky wrote to us in response to a question about the supply of cars to Russia (*aggressor country). We sent him additional questions, but did not receive a response. Oleg Khusaenov did not answer our calls and requests.
Bronze in our top goes to the large Belarusian customs broker “Custom Service”. In ten months of 2023, they exported luxury cars from Belarus to Russia (*aggressor country) for more than $8.5 million.
“Custom Service” was founded in 2011, and since then it has always been headed by Vitaly Sobolevsky. He has 54% of the company’s shares.
In addition to developing his own business, Sobolevsky serves as deputy chairman of the Association of Customs Representatives of Belarus. Experts of the Association participated in the development of the EAEU Customs Code and other documents in the foreign trade sector. The Association’s office is located in the capital’s business center “Nemiga City”. And, remarkably, in the very premises where the office of another well-known logistics company, Globalkastom, which was associated with Lukashenko’s right hand, was once located – Viktor Sheiman.
Vitaly SobolevskySobolevsky’s partner in “Custom Service” – Alexander Bortnik, he owns 30% of the company’s shares. He is not new to the logistics and customs fields. Before Bortnik went into private business, he managed to work as a senior inspector at the Minsk regional customs. In addition to Custom Service, Bortnik’s business biography included another asset – Solartech. In 2019, the company changed owners. The new owner is Anna Pushkareva – favorite of Viktor Sheiman. Another 40% of the shares went to Anna Khmelevskaya, a relative of Sheiman’s first wife Elena. A week later, Solartech was renamed Globalkastom-Commerce. Vitaly Sobolevsky and Alexander Bortnik declined to comment.
The second place in our ranking was taken by the Techno-Jet Group company. The website states that it supplies equipment and components for industrial enterprises. But recently it opened a new direction – importing premium cars from the USA, Europe and Asia. Techno-Jet Group is owned by Felix Dzeranov, the son of a former high-ranking serviceman of the internal troops, Igor Dzeranov, who retired with the rank of colonel and started his own business.
Felix Dzeranov followed in other footsteps. On social networks, he positions himself as an interior designer and founder of the Soffit Interiors studio. His former partner in the design business, Igor Chebotarenok, is known for having created a large distributor of agricultural equipment, Tekhnodvor, from scratch in five years. He founded this business together with his father, a former employee of the military prosecutor’s office. True, now Technodvor is in bankruptcy process. By the way, “Techno-Jet Group” was called “Technodvor-Group” at the beginning of this year.
Igor ChebotarenokAccording to customs data, the company supplied expensive Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi, and Porsche cars, mainly made in Germany, to Russia (*aggressor country). The total cost of the cars is more than $15 million. Felix Dzeranov told us over the phone that he was not aware of such deliveries and advised us to contact his partner. In a conversation with us, Igor Chebotaryonok denied that he was running an illegal business.
It was he who threatened to set the GUBOP on us. The businessman knows the Belarusian security forces firsthand. He was involved in criminal cases for bribes to officials for an amount of at least 20 thousand rubles.
In first place in our top 5 is “Premium Transport Company”. It broke all records and delivered more than $15.6 million worth of luxury cars to Russia (*aggressor country) in ten months of this year.
The company was founded after the start of the SVO – in September 2022. Its permanent director is Russian Akhmad Abuev. In hisInstagram profile he literally launched a PR company selling VIP cars. While we were working on the investigation, the businessman closed his profile, but we managed to download some photos and videos from there. On his page, Abuev indicated that he is associated with the Russian City Transport Company (GTK Auto), which is engaged in the parallel import of cars and trucks from Europe, the UAE and China.
We also found a post on Instagram in which Abuev boasts that since the introduction of sanctions against Russia (*aggressor country), GTK Auto has delivered and cleared more than 300 cars in Russia (*aggressor country), the average cost of which is 340 thousand dollars. Further, not in words, but in a video, Abuev demonstrates several luxurious and exclusive cars. In the customs database we were able to find cars with exactly the same parameters. Premium Transport Company delivered them to City Transport Company this summer.
Akhmad Abuev (far left), Alim Selimov (second from left)We called the “Premium Transport Company” at the number indicated as a contact when registering the company, but the man who answered the phone told us that his number was listed in the register by mistake and he personally had nothing to do with the automobile business. The company has no other contacts. Therefore, we sent a request to Akhmad Abuev in private messages on Instagram, but did not receive a response.
JSC Avtodom became the largest importer of cars from Belarus after the start of the war. This is an automobile holding company founded in 1992, specializing in the sales and service of premium and luxury cars. The beneficiary of the company is businessman Andrei Olkhovsky. In December 2022, the holding stated that Avtodom plans to enter an IPO in 2023 or 2024 if the market situation is favorable. However, then the timing of the possible placement of the company’s shares on the stock exchange was shifted first to 2025, and then to 2026-2027.
City Transport Company LLC is in second place in the import of cars from Belarus. A ten percent share in the company is owned by Tatyana Anoshkina, whose family’s activities show signs of a conflict of interest when receiving government contracts. The fact is that Anoshkina is married to Ilya Yurchenko, who, at least in 2016, worked at the State Unitary Enterprise Moskollektor, a structure of the Moscow City Hall that deals with heat supply pipes. At the same time, his brother Valery Yurchenko owned a share in a major Moskollektor contractor, Spetsstroy-INZh LLC. From 2012 to 2017, this company received tenders worth at least 3.1 billion rubles.
The third largest importer by volume of imported cars is also associated with former employees of government agencies. We are talking about LLC “Trading House “Eastern Partnership””. The founder and beneficiary of the company, Sergei Oganezov, worked in the Moscow Chamber of Control and Accounts in the 2000s, as follows from leaks of the Federal Tax Service database, and Sultan Ismailov, who had a stake in the company in 2022, received a salary from the State Unitary Enterprise “Federal Computer Center for Stock and Commodity Information Technologies” (FT -CENTER) at least in 2009.
Despite the sanctions, premium European cars continue to arrive in Russia (*aggressor country) through Belarusian intermediaries, our investigation showed. Lithuanian customs discovered several cases where cars imported from other EU countries, after passing through customs in third countries, including Belarus, were transported to Russia (*aggressor country) and registered there. The total value of resold cars is about 43 million euros. Lithuanian customs did not disclose the participants in the gray scheme, but assured that they would transfer data about such vehicles to colleagues from other countries “for further investigation and strengthening export controls in order to reduce the risk of circumventing sanctions.”
We wrote about the current situation to the European Association of Automobile Manufacturers, which unites key brands, and asked for comment on the situation. As soon as we receive a response, we will publish it.
