How Lukashenko bartered national benefits for a land parcel in Abkhazia
Extra penalties and the crumbling Belarusian financial system – that is how Alexander Lukashenko depicted the repercussions of Minsk’s acknowledgement of Abkhazia. In spite of this, he made a trip to the self-declared republic in 2022 and subsequently hosted its leader on a reciprocal visit.
The journey was unannounced, and the specifics of the discussions were concealed. In this investigation, the BRC scrutinized what could have been the rationale behind the assembly in Pitsunda. We ascertained that the expense of jeopardizing the country’s prosperity was two hundred thousand square meters of terrain on the Black Sea shore. The chain of command directing to Lukashenko encompasses his previous bodyguard and attendant.
This material was crafted jointly with the Association of Former Security Personnel of Belarus BelPol, the Belsat TV channel, and with the backing of Cyberpartisan.
In September 2022, Alexander Lukashenko executed an unforeseen tour to Abkhazia and engaged with its leader, Aslan Bzhania. The Belarusian statesman became the second chief of a globally recognized state, subsequent to Russia, to make an official visit to a republic that is unrecognized, including by Belarus. Lukashenko had earlier asserted numerous times that recognizing Abkhazia would be excessively damaging for Minsk, and that the Russian faction, he maintained, was not willing to compensate for the conceivable aftermath.
Throughout Soviet times, Abkhazia was a favored resort on the Black Sea, drawing in hundreds of thousands of vacationers yearly.
Nevertheless, as the BRC discovered, an explanation was pinpointed whose importance for Lukashenko outweighed the prospective perils to the nation. The rationale: indications of corruption.
Pledges surpassing the Abkhaz financial plan
Succeeding Alexander Lukashenko’s expedition to Abkhazia, the two factions exchanged declarations of intention to foster collaboration. However, the particulars of these strategies were not revealed.
All the same, a verdict by the Council of Ministers of Abkhazia has surfaced that is indispensable for our probe and comprehending the justification for the sojourn. The day following Lukashenko’s visit, on September 29, 2022, the Prime Minister of the unrecognized republic sanctioned a proposition to transfer a 20-hectare seaside area of land to Zhemchuzhina 2010 LLC. For assessment, that’s approximately three times the extent of Independence Square in Minsk.
Source: BRC / Alexander Lukashenko, Aslan Bzhania. Collage created using AI.
A month afterward, Abkhaz television broadcasted a report publicizing the designation of these 20 hectares of land for a substantial investment venture. According to the undertaking, a well-being retreat complex is to be constructed in the village of Kyndyg in the Ochamchira District.
“The projected investment magnitude is 15 billion rubles. Zhemchuzhina 2010 LLC is enrolled in Abkhazia and is 90% possessed by a Belarusian citizen and 10% by an Abkhaz citizen,” the article declared.
15 billion Russian rubles (nearly $260 million at the exchange rate as of September 29, 2022) is more than the entire yearly allocation of Abkhazia. In 2022, its outlays totaled to roughly 13.3 billion Russian rubles. In contrast, China loaned Belarus $100 million less for the edifice of the BelGee automobile plant in 2015.
Source: BRC
Lukashenko’s former protector and the enigmatic Abkhaz
The BRC has ascertained who precisely possesses “Zhemchuzhina 2010.” An excerpt from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities of Abkhazia lists two proprietors: the Belarusian firm “Termalia” and Abkhaz national Dato Raulievich Kvitsinia. [*]
Thermalia LLC was documented in Minsk on July 22, 2022—two months prior to Lukashenko’s expedition to Abkhazia. Its director and exclusive owner transpired to be Alexander Anatolyevich Romanovsky, a previous functionary of Alexander Lukashenko’s Security Service. [*]
In a preceding investigation, the BRC detected that Romanovsky was a co-owner of Globalcast LLC. This enterprise is associated to Viktor Sheiman, a close partner and former head of Lukashenko’s Property Management Department.
Source: BRC / Alexander Romanovsky, Viktor Sheiman. Collage created using AI.
We were unable to secure a remark from Romanovsky; Termalia lacks an email address, and he did not respond to telephone solicitations.
There’s virtually no data in public origins about the second holder of Zhemchuzhina 2010, Dato Kvitsinia. The sole reference we could locate was an arrest for inebriated motoring in 2017. His deficiency of publicity steered us to presume that Kvitsinia may be the company’s nominal proprietor, concealing the interests of others.
An influential local kindred with criminal associations
Dato Kvitsinia validated our misgivings. In a dialogue with a BRC journalist, he confessed that he doesn’t administer the enterprise and was only required for paperwork.
“I’m utterly out of the loop… The paperwork, I believe, was made in my name. I don’t even comprehend what they’re undertaking or not undertaking there,” he articulated.
The co-owner of Zhemchuzhina 2010 appended that he was compensated a minor sum for his formal involvement: “For the travel outlays, for my services, but in order to get paid… they didn’t grant me a particularly large sum.”
Kvitsinia also furnished a BRC journalist with the contact details for the individual he had conferred a general power of attorney to. This individual materialized to be Zorik Chkonia, a former field commander throughout the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict who was awarded the title “Hero of Abkhazia.” At the moment of publication, he is the mayor of the village of Kyndyg, where the land designated for the “Pearl 2010” project is situated. As a “Hero of Abkhazia,” Zorik Chkonia is a member of an informal advisory unit with which the Abkhazian president conducted meetings on pivotal resolutions for the nation (most recently in September 2022).
There are other realities that indicate his connections to Aslan Bzhania. Both originate from the Ochamchira district. Bzhania was born in the village of Tamysh, positioned 5 km from Kyndyg. According to a real estate marketplace representative, the Abkhazian president is advancing the evolution of his native district. In 2017, he campaigned for parliament from Kyndyg, and Zorik Chkonia headed the local election commission throughout that election.
The BRC attempted to reach Zorik Chkonia, but he did not acknowledge telephone solicitations or instant messages.
The Chkonia family possesses a key asset in the region—the thermal springs for which Kyndyg is renowned. The resort complex encompassing these springs was inaugurated by Nugzar Chkonia, Zorik’s brother.
Nugzar departed Abkhazia before the Georgian-Abkhazian war of 1992–1993, but routinely visits the region. Media accounts depict him as a confidant of a crime overlord nicknamed “Poltava,” who allegedly controlled a “common fund” in Odessa until September 2017.
Dato Kvitsinia, the nominal co-owner of Zhemchuzhina 2010, also resided in Odessa for a duration. According to his social media profile, he is the nephew of the Chkonia brothers. Zorik Chkonia, according to his Odnoklassniki profile, graduated from the Odessa Polytechnic University.
Viktor Sheiman is also linked to this city. His son was born near Odessa, and relatives of his ex-wife continue to reside in the city. One of them, Anna Khmelevskaya, is the registered name of a company connected to Sheiman, Globalcastom.
Sheiman’s “Pearl”
It is Viktor Sheiman and his men, not the Chkonia clan or Alexander Romanovsky himself, who effectively operate Zhemchuzhina 2010. This is substantiated by correspondence with Abkhazian officials. The Belarusian Central Center learned this thanks to documents provisioned by the Association of Former Security Officials of Belarus (BelPol).
In a letter from April 2023, Abkhazia’s Minister of Taxes and Duties alludes to Nikolai Selivanov as “the managing partner of Zhemchuzhina 2010 LLC.” Seven months prior, he served as Lukashenko’s first deputy chief of staff. His immediate superior from 2013 to 2021 was Viktor Sheiman. [*]
In one of our investigations, we reported that after departing government service, Selivanov continued to function for Sheiman, administering his private business ventures.
Source: BRC / Nikolai Selivanov, Zorik Chkonia. Collage created using AI.
In another document, also from April 2023, the Abkhazian Foreign Minister addresses Viktor Sheiman himself, designating him “the special representative of the President of the Republic of Belarus.” The letter deliberates the matter of averting double taxation for an Abkhazian resident, Zhemchuzhina 2010 LLC. [*]
Sheiman, who has not held any official positions since June 2021, was present at Lukashenko’s meeting with Bzhania in Abkhazia in September 2022 and during the Abkhaz leader’s return visit to Minsk in February 2023.
The construction never commenced
Throughout the land allocation deliberations in October 2022, members of the Abkhaz parliament cautioned that if construction did not inaugurate within three years, the land could be confiscated from the investor. However, two years after the land was transferred to Zhemchuzhina 2010, construction of the resort complex has still not begun. Satellite images taken in late August 2024 demonstrate that the area remains undeveloped.
The project can be regarded initiated even if activity on the site is nominal, Abkhaz Projects clarified to the BRC: “No one will mandate that a major hotel be constructed in three years… There must be some movement, for instance, fencing.”
At the moment of publication, we were unable to ascertain what Sheiman and his associates intend to do with the land. Their continued payment of land taxes, amounting to approximately $4,000 for the first nine months of 2023, indirectly signals that they have no intention of returning the land to the Abkhaz authorities.
The price of a tract of land can reach into the millions of dollars. In the Kyndyg area, the price fluctuates depending on its closeness to the sea. For example, one hectare of land 100 meters from the water retails for 31 million Russian rubles (approximately $320,000). Based on this price, a 20-hectare tract would cost approximately $6.4 million. The “Pearl 2010” tract is positioned directly on the Black Sea shore, and its price is likely even higher.
