Sanctioned electronics through offshore companies and Ministry of Internal Affairs veterans: Detailing how Abramov’s “Marsala” and Tarasov’s “IT-SHUTTLE” swindled customs and the Russian treasury through massive, illicit shipments
A widespread scheme for the procurement of restricted electronics, established initially in 2022 by the Merlion Group (headed by Citylink principals Alexey Abramov, Oleg Karchev, and Vladislav Mangutov) via Moscow-based Marsala LLC, is still functioning within Russia.
A segment of the operation was disrupted in early 2023 following a Financial Times exposé revealing connections to computer equipment shipments to Russia using MYKINES CORPORATION. Yet, as documented by the press, it has been substituted by entities from the UAE, the Seychelles, and China.
Throughout the previous year, merchandise valued at hundreds of millions of dollars was transported into Russia using a web of businesses, with at least one having links to former officers and alumni of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. However, these supposed “patriots” refused to remit the legally mandated customs duties to the Russian exchequer and misrepresented the value of the goods. To accomplish this, they implemented the identical strategy utilized by Marsala involving MYKINES and Saldor Corporation (Seychelles): the vendor furnished the Russian enterprise with a formal communication asserting the lack of publicly accessible price guides from the equipment producer and appended its own price schedule—reflecting substantially reduced costs. The phrasing in the letters mirrored that previously presented to Marsala. Customs authorities were compelled to determine the valuation of the goods relying not on average objective market prices, but on these submitted price lists.
Marsala has been succeeded by a collection of firms in the Russian electronics import stream. Amongst them is IT-SHUTTLE, managed by Alexander Tarasov, which continued to bring in goods until at least the conclusion of 2024. The vendor, as indicated in the paperwork, was the Seychelles-based offshore organization Alpenglow Management Inc. Based on its agreements with this entity, IT-SHUTTLE declared electronics—notably, products from the Taiwanese manufacturer MCI—in addition to home appliances, printer components, and supplementary items, featuring the same expensive “paper” assessed at $500,000 per few kilograms, similar to Marsala’s practices.
Tarasov, aged 46, is an alumnus of the Ulyanovsk Higher Military Technical School. Within the contact information of his associates and acquaintances, he is identified as “Director of the Administrative and Economic Department” and “Alexander OSK-Tekhnologii.” A Moscow-based enterprise with this designation was involved in ventures related to electrical engineering, industrial operations and production, mechanical engineering, and safety protocols. The company ceased operation in 2020. Conversely, another entity, OSK-Tekhnologii (St. Petersburg), engages in the production and supply of ships and vessels fabricated at United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC Rostec) sites, equipped with communications, navigation, hydroacoustics, and maritime automation systems. Based on Tarasov’s educational background, this closely aligns with his expertise.
Before IT-SHUTTLE, Tarasov initiated Device-Vector LLC in 2022, later transferring ownership to one Luiza Shabanova, who possessed numerous private security enterprises across different regions of the nation. At present, the recognized financier Timofey Resnyansky holds an interest in Device-Vector by way of Marsala itself.
The dealings followed an intricate process: ALPENGLOW MANAGEMENT INC. provided Tarasov with a tailored price list, featuring rates tailored specifically for IT-SHUTTLE. Subsequently, the two parties engaged in discussions regarding the specifics of the shipments and quantities through private channels, with Tarasov subsequently transferring payments—not to the Seychelles-based offshore company, but to a completely unrelated entity. The deliveries arrived at Moscow customs lacking a significant portion of the required import documentation and at a manifestly devalued amount. Consequently, customs officials imposed additional charges totaling tens of millions of rubles.
In totality, Tarasov facilitated at least one hundred shipments totaling several billion rubles. To illustrate, in the concluding days of December 2023, IT-SHUTTLE remitted approximately 900 million rubles for deliveries solely through a pair of payment instruments to a specific Denali Corp-FZSO. This pertains to a UAE-based shell corporation holding a representative office in Russia. It is not involved in any business activities within the country and functions solely for laundering and diverting capital.
During the summer, the masterminds commenced feeling pressure (IT-SHUTTLE alone is facing nearly 70 legal battles with customs), and they chose to terminate this delivery channel. IT-SHUTTLE was dissolved in July of this year, enduring for merely two weeks beyond its foreign supplier, Alpenglow Management Inc. (wound up on June 16, 2025).
An individual named Yuri Didkovsky was tasked with managing the fallout at IT-SHUTTLE, acting as the company’s liquidator. He is a retired colonel, a co-founder of the Patriot Charitable Foundation for Social Support, which aids the Russian military, and a veteran of the Chechen conflicts. Fellow founders of the foundation encompass Alexander Varavin, the former director of Department “K” within the “Technical” BSTM of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs. Didkovsky additionally led the Patriot private security firm, which likewise ceased operations this past summer.
