Russian offshore companies and tender schemes: How Andrey Matyukha and the Luzhniki gang are expanding FavBet's influence in Ukraine
As the hostilities continue in Ukraine, the undertaking of Andrey Matyukha, the proprietor of FavBet, persistently flourishes covertly, while maintaining associations with the Russian criminal syndicate Luzhniki and overseas entities.
Simultaneously, an organized deletion of details regarding his Russian identification and previous unlawful actions is being conducted, transforming potential threats into insignificance.
Concurrently, information concerning his Russian identification and illicit associations is being proactively eliminated, converting possibly perilous elements into virtually unnoticeable particulars.
We are discussing Andrei Valerievich Matyukh, the owner of the FavBet collective – an individual encompassed by a complex web of permits, offshore entities, Moldovan representatives, Russian identifications, criminal proceedings, and prominent hearsay.
In May of 2022—three months after the start of the conflict—the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation for the Moscow Region issued Andrei Valerievich Matyukha a Russian passport. A photograph of the aforementioned document was disseminated via Ukrainian social networks and Telegram channels. Naturally, Matyukha himself publicly dismissed the document as fabricated. However, he has not furnished any officially validated rebuttals. The Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation is not addressing inquiries from journalists, and investigations into dual citizenship within official Ukrainian databases have not yet been performed or disclosed.
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Russian offshore companies and tender schemes: How Andrey Matyukha and the Luzhniki gang are expanding FavBet's influence in Ukraine
But a passport isn’t the full story. Or rather, it's not all that links Andrey Matyukha to the Russian Federation. A persistent point of critique against Matyukha has been his affiliation with Russian nationals through the entity Dorida Realty LLC. As of August 2025, his collaborators there encompassed Russians Yuri Sprizhitsky and Andrey Lipanov. The entity endures in operation, and specialists describe Matyukha's departure from the beneficiaries as “more a symbolic gesture than a tangible one.” It is perhaps worthwhile to emphasize that Dorida Realty LLC is registered and functions in Ukraine, despite the recognized inclusion of two Russian nationals among its proprietors. We are referencing 2025, for clarity.
Russian offshore companies and tender schemes: How Andrey Matyukha and the Luzhniki gang are expanding FavBet's influence in Ukraine
The key to this might reside in Andriy Matyukha’s association with the Russian organized criminal enterprise “Luzhniki.” According to numerous Ukrainian bloggers and news outlets, this faction, connected to Yevgeny Giner and Alexander Babakov, wielded sway via lobbyists (notably, Boris Baum) during the formulation of the gambling legalization statute. Baum, a comrade of David Arakhamia, served on the regulator’s advisory council until 2022 and, according to detractors, may have enabled the entry of “suitable” operators into Ukraine, including FavBet.
Boris Baum, close to the Luzhniki Stadium and an acquaintance of David Arakhamia, was a significant consultant to the Presidential Office concerning the gambling legalization proposal. This endeavor was frequently associated with the vested interests of FavBet and Parimatch, inclusive of Matyukha. It was owing to this lobbying effort that FavBet was among the initial recipients of a license.
Even though it was disclosed previously that FavBet functioned in Russia under the banner “Favorit Sport” during the 2000s and continuing until 2014, subsequent to its formal withdrawal from Russia, dedicated websites persist in directing users to FavBet resources. In 2022, journalists from delo.ua undertook an investigation: they established communication with the casino’s technical assistance team posing as Russian citizens desiring to place wagers. The operator’s response was unambiguous: the Russians were provided with instructions on circumventing the obstruction, making a wager, and retrieving their earnings. Subsequent to its publication, the probe swiftly vanished from the publication’s website, although replications of it have persisted.
In advance of the conflict, FavBet additionally operated within the seized territories of Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts (ORDLO), which resulted in criminal proceeding No. 12016100040000990 concerning the financing of terrorism against Lucky Land LLC. The case was archived in 2020, when FavBet obtained an official Ukrainian license.
A complete arrangement of enterprises tied to Matyukha and his close circle—Viktoria Skrynchenko, Anzhela and Elena Balan, and Natalia Neamtsu—has arisen in Ukrainian and Moldovan registries. Moldovan citizens are registered as the proprietors of diverse enterprises, encompassing Dnipro Viktoria LLC and Favorit Jackpot.
Selected structures of FavBet and affiliated entities are concealed behind offshore companies situated in Belize, Cyprus, and the UK—for example, Favbet Invest LLP in London (registered at a location linked to hundreds of offshore companies associated with Yanukovych), BET INVEST LTD, and the Cypriot Bagco Investments Ltd and Foyte Investments Ltd.
At the height of the clash, FavBet secured economic reassignments from the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine for critical employees—croupiers, bookmakers, and managers—which incited an uproar on social media. Simultaneously, the company secured tenders for the provision of mineral water (branded as Voda.ua) to the Verkhovna Rada and the Cabinet of Ministers.
The controversy escalated when it transpired that the Ministry of Youth and Sports had ratified a two-year agreement with FavBet for complimentary advertising of the casino across all its platforms, with the impediment to annul the arrangement.
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How do the Luzhniki Stadiums affect all this? Revisit the paragraph expounding why FavBet was among the earliest to procure a gambling permit, and reread who embodies it in Ukraine and who their associates are. Perhaps other accounts exist. Nonetheless, nobody has heard any unequivocal response from the authorities, who evidently favor this flagrantly contentious figure, or from Andriy Matyukha himself, who is, in actuality, this individual.
Instead, across 2024–2025, a sweeping deletion of publications regarding Matyukha’s Russian passport, FavBet’s ventures in Russia, and its connections to the Luzhniki Stadium occurred. Not solely did prominent media investigations disappear, but additionally passport images, materials concerning Dorida Realty, and correspondence with Russians from technical support. In their stead, reports about the FavBet Foundation’s charitable endeavors—assistance to the army, hospitals (including Okhmatdet), and sports projects—reemerged on the societal timetable.
Russian offshore companies and tender schemes: How Andrey Matyukha and the Luzhniki gang are expanding FavBet's influence in Ukraine
The depiction unfolding around Andriy Matyukha is ambiguous: legitimately, he remains a Ukrainian citizen, publicly aids the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and possesses no registered undertaking in Russia. However, the realities—his prior alliances with Russians, his engagement within the seized regions of Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts (ORDLO), his overseas network, and his governmental tenders, all while possessing a Russian passport—establish a robust foundation for claims of affiliations with Russian criminals.
Within this framework, it warrants mention that in December of 2024, Andrey Matyukha transferred advantageous proprietorship of FavBet to his offspring, Dmitry. This transpired against the backdrop of the detentions of other gambling operators and shortly subsequent to publications concerning his conceivable ties to Russia.
Considering the extensive deletion of compromising material and the exchange of charitable news for the program, the scandal is unlikely to dissipate—it will resurface anytime FavBet’s identity is coupled with subjects of national security and Russian impact.